2020-02-13
4083
#nestjs
Maciej Cieślar
13963
Feb 13, 2020 ⋅ 14 min read

Scalable WebSockets with NestJS and Redis

Maciej Cieślar A JavaScript developer and a blogger at mcieslar.com.

Recent posts:

The Replay (10/22/25): AI-assisted coding, Wasm 3.0, and more

Discover what’s new in The Replay, LogRocket’s newsletter for dev and engineering leaders, in the October 22nd issue.

Matt MacCormack
Oct 22, 2025 ⋅ 29 sec read
Where AI-assisted coding accelerates development — and where it doesn’t

Where AI-assisted coding accelerates development — and where it doesn’t

John Reilly discusses how software development has been changed by the innovations of AI: both the positives and the negatives.

John Reilly
Oct 22, 2025 ⋅ 12 min read
Debugging with Chrome DevTools MCP: Giving AI eyes in the browser

Debugging with Chrome DevTools MCP: Giving AI eyes in the browser

Learn how to effectively debug with Chrome DevTools MCP server, which provides AI agents access to Chrome DevTools directly inside your favorite code editor.

Emmanuel John
Oct 21, 2025 ⋅ 6 min read
Goodbye, useState? Smarter state modeling for modern React apps

Goodbye, useState? Smarter state modeling for modern React apps

Ever opened a React file and found a graveyard of useState hooks? The problem isn’t React; it’s how we model state. Here’s how to do it smarter.

Oscar Jite-Orimiono
Oct 21, 2025 ⋅ 9 min read
View all posts

12 Replies to "Scalable WebSockets with NestJS and Redis"

  1. I’m not sure the interface AuthenticatedSocket was ever mentioned. Is this the correct typing?

    interface AuthenticatedSocket extends Socket {
    auth: {
    userId: string,
    }
    }

  2. Why implement your own solution over using socket.io-redis? i havn’t actually used socket.io-redis (currently trying to figure out the best solution) but it seems it abstracts the “socket state” so you don’t have to write your own implementation?

  3. socket.io-redis requires sticky session which is not available everywhere. Plus this way we got more control over how the connections are stored and used.

  4. Please I’m dealing with this now. How then can this be solved using s SPA like angular. I’m not aware that I can use sticky sessions with angular 8 but what are your thoughts? Can this solution work with jwt?

  5. Hello
    How I can use this websocketgateway in conjunction with graphql subscription?
    I can not find any tutorial that make relation between nestjs, graphql and socket.io

  6. I attempted to enable the swagger plugin but it is causing issues with the custom redis provider.

    https://docs.nestjs.com/openapi/introduction

    “`
    __metadata(“design:paramtypes”, [typeof (_a = typeof redis_providers_1.RedisClient !== “undefined” && redis_providers_1.RedisClient) === “function” ? _a : Object, typeof (_b = typeof redis_providers_1.RedisClient !== “undefined” && redis_providers_1.RedisClient) === “function” ? _b : Object])
    ^

    ReferenceError: redis_providers_1 is not defined
    at Object. (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:2685:58)
    at __webpack_require__ (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:749:30)
    at fn (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:60:20)
    at Object. (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:2566:25)
    at __webpack_require__ (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:749:30)
    at fn (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:60:20)
    at Object. (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:2533:36)
    at __webpack_require__ (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:749:30)
    at fn (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:60:20)
    at Object. (/usr/src/app/api/dist/main.js:2503:35)
    “`

  7. Congratulations on the content, I am learning a lot. Just a note, if you use the emitToAuthenticated method elsewhere in the code, even those who are not authenticated have access to messages sent through the socket. How to fix this?

  8. Hello, great article. I implemented your code and it works fine when I import the SharedModule and use the RedisPropagatorService from one of my application service. However when I do the same from another application service I get the following error:

    [Nest] 29876 – 07/28/2021, 11:02:25 AM ERROR [ExceptionHandler] A circular dependency has been detected. Please, make sure that each side of a bidirectional relationships are decorated with “forwardRef()”.
    Error: A circular dependency has been detected. Please, make sure that each side of a bidirectional relationships are decorated with “forwardRef()”.

    This is happening when RedisModule gets instantiated and the RedisService has an undefined value during the NestJS insertProvider call during app creation.

    There are no conflicting references that should cause any circular references between these services and I am puzzled how come it works fine from one service and not from the other.

    Any help would be much appreciated.

  9. Thanks for the great tutorial.

    I had an issue while testing my application after adding Redis as described here. The problem was that the connections to Redis are never closed, so jest never exits, breaking my CI pipeline. Adding a onApplicationShutdown function where we disconnect the redis clients did the tricks.

    “`
    @Injectable()
    export class RedisService implements OnApplicationShutdown {
    private readonly logger = new Logger(RedisService.name)

    constructor(
    @Inject(REDIS_SUBSCRIBER_CLIENT)
    private readonly redisSubscriberClient: RedisClient,
    @Inject(REDIS_PUBLISHER_CLIENT)
    private readonly redisPublisherClient: RedisClient,
    ) {}

    onApplicationShutdown() {
    this.redisPublisherClient.disconnect()
    this.redisSubscriberClient.disconnect()
    }
    “`

    @Majiec would you consider adding this to the tutorial, saving someone some time in the future? I would also argue it is good practice closing the connections on shutdown anyway.

Leave a Reply

Would you be interested in joining LogRocket's developer community?

Join LogRocket’s Content Advisory Board. You’ll help inform the type of content we create and get access to exclusive meetups, social accreditation, and swag.

Sign up now