How to track WebSocket network requests in the developer tools Network panel?

The Network panel in modern browsers is designed not only for analyzing standard HTTP requests and responses, but also for effectively monitoring persistent connections via the WebSocket protocol. To do this, the developer needs to open the developer tools, go to the Network tab, and refresh the page or initiate a connection with the server.

To filter the data stream and see only web sockets, use the resource type filter located at the top of the panel. Click the WS button, after which only active or completed WebSocket connections will remain in the request table. Each such connection displays the server address, status, and the volume of transferred traffic in real time.

By clicking on a specific WebSocket connection in the list, you will see detailed information about it in the right sidebar under the Messages tab. This displays all frames sent by the client and received from the server, with the direction of data transfer indicated by a green or red arrow. You can see the text or binary content of each message at the time it is sent.

This is an indispensable tool when developing chats, financial quotes, multiplayer games, and other interactive services. It allows you to quickly diagnose data synchronization problems, connection drops, and verify the correctness of JSON object serialization before sending them to the transport layer.