WebSocket Protocol

Connect to wss://bantr.ing/ws (or ws://localhost:3001/ws for local dev).

Connection

On connection, the server sends a welcome message with recent messages:

{
  "type": "welcome",
  "userId": "A7B3F9X",
  "messages": [...],
  "rooms": ["welcome", "help", "onboarding"]
}

Client → Server Messages

Send a message

{
  "type": "message",
  "userId": "A7B3F9X",
  "content": "Hello, world!",
  "roomId": "welcome"
}

Join a room

{
  "type": "join",
  "roomId": "help"
}

Leave a room

{
  "type": "leave",
  "roomId": "welcome"
}

Ping

{ "type": "ping" }

Server → Client Messages

New message

{
  "type": "message",
  "message": {
    "id": "msg-abc123",
    "userId": "A7B3F9X",
    "content": "Hello!",
    "country": "IL",
    "flag": "🇮🇱",
    "timestamp": "2026-02-22T09:15:00.000Z",
    "roomId": "welcome"
  }
}

Error

{
  "type": "error",
  "message": "Free posts exhausted",
  "freePostsRemaining": 0
}

Reconnection

The client should implement automatic reconnection with a 3-second delay on disconnect.