WebSocket Protocol

Real-time collaboration uses WebSocket at:

ws://localhost:8080/ws/collab/{room_id}

Connection Flow

1. Client connects to ws://host/ws/collab/my-doc-123
2. Server sends welcome: {"type":"welcome","roomId":"my-doc-123","opsCount":0}
3. If late joiner, server sends catch-up ops: {"type":"catchUp","op":{...}}
4. Client sends operations as JSON text messages
5. Server validates and broadcasts to all peers in the room

Message Types

Client → Server

{"type":"op","action":"insertText","nodeId":"0:5","offset":3,"text":"hello"}
{"type":"op","action":"formatSelection","startNode":"0:5","startOffset":0,"endNode":"0:5","endOffset":5,"key":"bold","value":"true"}
{"type":"awareness","cursor":{"nodeId":"0:5","offset":3},"user":"Alice"}

Server → Client

{"type":"welcome","roomId":"my-doc","opsCount":42}
{"type":"catchUp","op":{"action":"insertText",...}}

Room Lifecycle

• Room created on first peer join
• All operations broadcast to all peers
• Operations logged for late-joiner catch-up
• Dirty rooms auto-saved to storage every 30 seconds
• Room closed when last peer disconnects