Can't get websockets API started

Configuration
1

My goal is to set up a websocket connection in order to listen on some or all events. Most of my home automation is home-grown, and moving events from HA to the rest of my system would be very useful.

I want to do this from the linux command line – so, using tools available at the shell prompt. So the provided javascript library isn’t much use to me.

Unfortunately, the WebSockets API page of the documentation doesn’t go into the same “required headers” detail that is given on the REST API page. So I can’t be sure I’m doing this right.

I’ve tried a variety of tools, and still can’t make a basic WebSockets connection. No matter what I try, the data I receive back is an HTML page which renders a splash image containing the HA logo. What I am expecting is the server’s “auth_required” message.

Here’s an example of what I’ve tried, using websocat. In this case, I’m using it in a mode where it explicitly calls on socat for the data transfer, which lets us see the exact data being tranferred to and from the server. (I don’t know this tool well, but it appears to be the most capable. And conveniently, this incantation is one of the examples provided.)

#!/bin/bash   

wshost=192.168.113.50
port=8123

token="eyJhbGci ... etc...

websocat - \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer $token" \
    --text \
    ws-c:sh-c:"socat -v -x - tcp:$wshost:$port" \
    --ws-c-uri ws://$wshost

When I run this, the transmitted headers appear correct, but the received data is for a HA splash page:

> 2023/01/04 14:36:15.453561  length=360 from=0 to=359
 47 45 54 20 2f 20 48 54 54 50 2f 31 2e 31 0d 0a  GET / HTTP/1.1..
 41 75 74 68 6f 72 69 7a 61 74 69 6f 6e 3a 20 42  Authorization: B
 65 61 72 65 72 20 65 79 4a 68 62 47 63 69 4f 69  earer eyJhbGciOi
    ...  etc  .....................................................
 63 50 6c 72 38 72 79 6e 48 30 32 5a 43 49 48 68  cPlr8rynH02ZCIHh
 78 42 78 6b 72 7a 77 42 51 4b 54 71 55 0d 0a     xBxkrzwBQKTqU..
 48 6f 73 74 3a 20 31 39 32 2e 31 36 38 2e 31 31  Host: 192.168.11
 33 2e 35 30 0d 0a                                3.50..
 43 6f 6e 6e 65 63 74 69 6f 6e 3a 20 55 70 67 72  Connection: Upgr
 61 64 65 0d 0a                                   ade..
 55 70 67 72 61 64 65 3a 20 77 65 62 73 6f 63 6b  Upgrade: websock
 65 74 0d 0a                                      et..
 53 65 63 2d 57 65 62 53 6f 63 6b 65 74 2d 56 65  Sec-WebSocket-Ve
 72 73 69 6f 6e 3a 20 31 33 0d 0a                 rsion: 13..
 53 65 63 2d 57 65 62 53 6f 63 6b 65 74 2d 4b 65  Sec-WebSocket-Ke
 79 3a 20 74 33 64 34 66 34 61 38 4c 37 74 6d 30  y: t3d4f4a8L7tm0
 6d 47 39 70 44 43 6d 4e 77 3d 3d 0d 0a           mG9pDCmNw==..
 0d 0a                                            ..
--
< 2023/01/04 14:36:15.464491  length=8192 from=0 to=8191
 48 54 54 50 2f 31 2e 31 20 32 30 30 20 4f 4b 0d  HTTP/1.1 200 OK.
 0a                                               .
 43 6f 6e 74 65 6e 74 2d 54 79 70 65 3a 20 74 65  Content-Type: te
 78 74 2f 68 74 6d 6c 3b 20 63 68 61 72 73 65 74  xt/html; charset
 3d 75 74 66 2d 38 0d 0a                          =utf-8..
 43 6f 6e 74 65 6e 74 2d 4c 65 6e 67 74 68 3a 20  Content-Length: 
 39 32 39 34 0d 0a                                9294..
 44 61 74 65 3a 20 57 65 64 2c 20 30 34 20 4a 61  Date: Wed, 04 Ja
 6e 20 32 30 32 33 20 31 39 3a 33 36 3a 31 35 20  n 2023 19:36:15 
 47 4d 54 0d 0a                                   GMT..
 53 65 72 76 65 72 3a 20 50 79 74 68 6f 6e 2f 33  Server: Python/3
 2e 31 30 20 61 69 6f 68 74 74 70 2f 33 2e 38 2e  .10 aiohttp/3.8.
 31 0d 0a                                         1..
 0d 0a                                            ..
 3c 21 44 4f 43 54 59 50 45 20 68 74 6d 6c 3e 3c  <!DOCTYPE html><
 68 74 6d 6c 3e 3c 68 65 61 64 3e 3c 6c 69 6e 6b  html><head><link
 20 72 65 6c 3d 22 6d 6f 64 75 6c 65 70 72 65 6c   rel="moduleprel
 6f 61 64 22 20 68 72 65 66 3d 22 2f 66 72 6f 6e  oad" href="/fron
 74 65 6e 64 5f 6c 61 74 65 73 74 2f 63 6f 72 65  tend_latest/core
 2e 64 64 37 37 32 65 34 31 2e 6a 73 22 20 63 72  .dd772e41.js" cr
 6f 73 73 6f 72 69 67 69 6e 3d 22 75 73 65 2d 63  ossorigin="use-c
 72 65 64 65 6e 74 69 61 6c 73 22 3e 3c 6c 69 6e  redentials"><lin
 6b 20 72 65 6c 3d 22 6d 6f 64 75 6c 65 70 72 65  k rel="modulepre
 6c 6f 61 64 22 20 68 72 65 66 3d 22 2f 66 72 6f  load" href="/fro
...   and so on ...

Questions:

  • Has anyone else done this?
  • Is the protocol exchange necessary for starting WebSockets on HA documented anywhere? It’s the only piece missing from the WebSockets API page.
  • Does websockets in HA need to be enabled, somehow, in order to work? As far as I understand, it should be “on” by default. Could I have inadvertently disabled it when I first configured HA, out of ignorance?

Many thanks in advance for your help. I’m happy to clarify in any way.

Oh – I’m running Home Assistant 2022.12.9, Supervisor 2022.12.1, Operating System 9.4, Frontend 20221213.1 - latest

2

Hi did you ever get this resolved as I have a similar need? Cheers

3

Sorry – just saw this. I need to fix my “get email when someone replies on the forum” settings.

No, I don’t think I ever did get this to work. In the end, I believe my workaround was simply to use the REST API for both retrieving data and sending events.

I run a single, simple, server on a remote host. It happens to be written in shell. That server can respond to GET requests for specific information.

For example, a REST GET of “outside_temp” will get a reply from my server containing a value from my outside thermometer (which is implemented in a way that HA can’t access directly).

But some REST GET requests are “dummy” requests, and only serve as events which the server will act on. A REST GET of “motion-sensor-1-triggered” or “red_remote_double_press” will cause the server to perform an action. The reply to the server doesn’t contain anything interesting.

paul