One way to easily test your server is to use the wscat npm module. wscat is a tool for connecting to and communicating with a WebSockets server. The module provides a command-line program that you will use as a chat client.

Open a second terminal window and install wscat globally. You may need to run this command with administrator privileges. (If you need a refresher, refer to Chapter 1.)

npm install -g wscat

When wscat is installed, you are ready to connect to your WebSockets server.

In the second terminal window, run the command wscat -c ws://localhost:3001. You should see the message connected (press CTRL+C to quit) in the second terminal window and 'client connection established' in the first window.

In the second terminal window, enter some text at the prompt. Each time you type some text and press the Return key, your text will be repeated by the WebSockets server, as shown in Figure 16.3.

Figure 16.3  Testing the server with wscat

Now that you have confirmed that you are able to communicate with your server via WebSockets, it is time to add the real functionality that will power Chattrbox’s chat system.