---
title: WebSocket Authentication
keywords:
  - API Gateway
  - Apache APISIX
  - WebSocket
  - Authentication
description: This article is a guide on how to configure authentication for WebSocket connections.
---

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Apache APISIX supports [WebSocket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket) traffic, but the WebSocket protocol doesn't handle authentication. This article guides you on how to configure authentication for WebSocket connections using Apache APISIX.

## WebSocket Protocol

To establish a WebSocket connection, the client sends a WebSocket handshake request, for which the server returns a WebSocket handshake response as shown below:

```text title="Client request"
GET /chat HTTP/1.1
Host: server.example.com
Upgrade: websocket
Connection: Upgrade
Sec-WebSocket-Key: x3JJHMbDL1EzLkh9GBhXDw==
Sec-WebSocket-Protocol: chat, superchat
Sec-WebSocket-Version: 13
Origin: http://example.com
```

```text title="Server response"
HTTP/1.1 101 Switching Protocols
Upgrade: websocket
Connection: Upgrade
Sec-WebSocket-Accept: HSmrc0sMlYUkAGmm5OPpG2HaGWk=
Sec-WebSocket-Protocol: chat
```

The handshake workflow is shown below:

![Websocket Handshake Workflow](https://static.apiseven.com/2022/12/06/638eda2e2415f.png)

## WebSocket Authentication

APISIX supports several authentication methods like [basic-auth](https://apisix.apache.org/docs/apisix/plugins/basic-auth/), [key-auth](https://apisix.apache.org/docs/apisix/plugins/key-auth/), and [jwt-auth](https://apisix.apache.org/docs/apisix/plugins/jwt-auth/).

While establishing connections from the client to server in the _handshake_ phase, APISIX first checks its authentication information before choosing to forward the request or deny it.

## Prerequisites

Before you move on, make sure you have:

1. A WebSocket server as the Upstream. This article uses [Postman's public echo service](https://blog.postman.com/introducing-postman-websocket-echo-service/): `wss://ws.postman-echo.com/raw`.
2. APISIX 3.0 installed.

## Configuring Authentication

### Create a Route

First we will create a Route to the Upstream echo service.

Since the Upstream uses wss protocol, the scheme is set to `https`. We should also set `enable_websocket` to `true`.

In this tutorial, we will use the [key-auth](https://apisix.apache.org/docs/apisix/plugins/key-auth/) Plugin. This would work similarly for other authentication methods:

```shell
curl --location --request PUT 'http://127.0.0.1:9180/apisix/admin/routes/1' \
--header 'X-API-KEY: edd1c9f034335f136f87ad84b625c8f1' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "uri": "/*",
    "methods": ["GET"],
    "enable_websocket": true,
    "upstream": {
        "type": "roundrobin",
        "nodes": {
            "ws.postman-echo.com:443": 1
        },
        "scheme": "https"
    },
    "plugins": {
        "key-auth": {}
    }
}'
```

### Create a Consumer

We will now create a [Consumer](https://apisix.apache.org/docs/apisix/terminology/consumer/) and add a key `this_is_the_key`. A user would now need to use this key configured in the Consumer object to access the API.

```sh
curl --location --request PUT 'http://127.0.0.1:9180/apisix/admin/consumers/jack' \
--header 'X-API-KEY: edd1c9f034335f136f87ad84b625c8f1' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "username": "jack",
    "plugins": {
        "key-auth": {
            "key": "this_is_the_key"
        }
    }
}'
```

## Testing the Route

Now, if you try to connect `ws://127.0.0.1:9080/raw` without the `apikey` header or an incorrect key, APISIX will return a `401 Unauthorized`.

![Connect without Key](https://static.apiseven.com/2022/12/06/638ef6db9dd4b.png)

To authenticate, you can add the header `apikey` with the value `this_is_the_key`:

![Connect with key](https://static.apiseven.com/2022/12/06/638efac7c42b6.png)