Chef-core NPM | npm.io

chef-core

chef-core is a micro-service manager for web sockets and a static files server, designed for Node.js and written in TypeScript. It includes tests to ensure reliability.

This package is a core dependency used in three flavors:

chef-express an express web server with cache and fallback to index for 404s.
chef-socket similar to chef-express, but with socket.io plugin capabilities on the same port.
chef-uws similar to chef-socket, but uses uWebSockets.js instead of express and socket.io.

Minimal Chat Demo

Check out the minimal chat demo at https://chef-js-socket.herokuapp.com/

To set up the demo using chef-socket, run the following commands:

$ yarn add chef-socket
$ yarn chef-socket node_modules/chef-socket/demo --plugin node_modules/chef-core/chat.js

Alternatively, for microWebSockets, see https://chef-js-uws.herokuapp.com/

To set up the demo using chef-uws, run the following commands:

$ yarn add chef-uws
$ yarn chef-uws node_modules/chef-uws/demo --plugin node_modules/chef-core/chat.js

API Documentation

For detailed API documentation, and types, refer to the chef-core API

Running

This library offers three different variants/flavors. Depending on the variant you need, refer to the relevant npm package's readme for instructions.

To get started with the basic usage, follow these steps:

# Serve 'dist' folder using express flavor on localhost:4200
$ npx chef-express dist

# Serve 'dist' folder using socket.io flavor on localhost:4200
$ npx chef-socket dist

# Serve 'dist' folder using uws flavor on localhost:4200
$ npx chef-uws dist

To serve the dist folder with express flavor on localhost:443, with development ssl, disabling cache:

$ npx chef-express dist --ssl --port 443 --maxCacheSize 0

To serve the dist folder with socket flavor on localhost:4200, with a WebSocket plugin, in debug mode:

$ npx chef-socket dist --plugin ./path/to/plugin.js --debug

Configuration

You can read the default configuration by using the following code:

const config = require("chef-core/config");

Alternatively, you can declare a custom configuration by omitting the defaults that don't suit your needs. Here's how the default config looks like:

const { Config, getParams } = require("chef-core");

const config: Config = {
  // folder to static serve files
  folder: process.argv[2],
  // max cache size prevents oom, set to 0 to disable cache
  maxCacheSize: parseInt(getParam("maxCacheSize", "128")),
  // this enables http/ws logs
  debug: process.argv.includes("--debug"),
  // ssl = undefined | { key, cert }
  ssl: process.argv.includes("--ssl") ? ssl : undefined,
  // port on which the server listens
  port: Number(getParam("port", process.env.PORT || "4200")),
  // typeof Record<string, Plugin>, for cli use --plugin ./plugin.js any x of times
  plugins: {},
  // handshake event
  join: getParam("join", "/join"),
  // disconnect from room event
  leave: getParam("leave", "/leave"),
  // type of server to start
  type: "core", // "core" | "express" | "socket" | "uws"
};

You can also check the resulting server.config after the server has started.

Plugins

To use plugins, you can import the chef-socket or chef-uws package and include the desired plugin. Here's an example:

const chef = require("chef-socket"); // or chef-uws
const chat = require("chef-core/chat");

chef({ plugins: { chat } }).then((server) => {
  console.log(server.config);
});

Shim

You can use the { initialize, handshake } format for plugins as well. Here's an example:

const chef = require("chef-socket"); // or chef-uws
const shim = require("chef-core/shim");

const example = shim("example", {
  initialize: (io) => {
    // initialize your game, this happens once
    console.log("example plugin initialized");
  },
  handshake: (socket) => {
    // this happens once per socket, on connection
    console.log("socket connected");

    socket.on("event", ({ id, event, data }) => {
      // do something with an event
    });
  },
});

chef({ plugins: { example } }).then((server) => {
  console.log(server.config);
});