Real-Time Communication

Choose the simplest technique that meets your needs.

Technique Direction Use When
Polling Client-pull Low frequency (<1/min), simplicity paramount
SSE Server-push Notifications, live feeds, dashboards, progress
WebSocket Bidirectional Chat, multiplayer, collaborative editing

Start with SSE for server-push — it has built-in reconnection, works over standard HTTP, and is sufficient for 80%+ of "real-time" needs. WebSocket SHOULD only be used when bidirectional streaming is required. Polling MAY be used as a fallback for very low frequency updates.

References:

version
1.0.0
platforms
web
tags
networking, real-time-communication
author
Mike Fullerton
modified
2026-03-27
references
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventSourcedeveloper.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebSocketrfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6455

Change History

Version Date Author Summary
1.0.0 2026-03-27 Mike Fullerton Initial creation