Soketi

What is Soketi?

Soketi is a fast, open-source WebSockets server that implements the Pusher protocol. It's a drop-in replacement for the hosted Pusher service, letting Laravel apps use laravel-echo and broadcasting locally without a Pusher account or internet access. Laradock builds it from the official quay.io/soketi/soketi image.

Start Soketi

docker compose up -d soketi

Stop Soketi

docker compose stop soketi

This stops the container. To remove it entirely: docker compose rm -f soketi.

Configuration

All settings live in soketi/defaults.env and can be overridden by adding the same line to your own .env:

Variable	Default	What it does
SOKETI_NODE_VERSION	16-debian	Node.js base image variant used when building.
SOKETI_BASE_IMAGE_TAG_PREFIX	latest	Soketi image tag prefix, combined with SOKETI_NODE_VERSION to select the exact quay.io/soketi/soketi tag.
SOKETI_PORT	6001	Host-side port the WebSockets server is published on (host:6001).
SOKETI_METRICS_SERVER_PORT	9601	Host-side port for Soketi's Prometheus-compatible metrics endpoint.

Soketi's own app-level config comes from soketi/config.json, mounted read-only into the container at /app/bin/config.json. Out of the box it only sets "debug": false; edit that file to add app credentials, SSL, or other Soketi options (see the Soketi config reference).

Connect from Laravel

1. Set your Laravel .env to broadcast over Pusher's protocol, pointed at Soketi instead of Pusher's servers:

   BROADCAST_CONNECTION=pusher
   PUSHER_APP_ID=app-id
   PUSHER_APP_KEY=app-key
   PUSHER_APP_SECRET=app-secret
   PUSHER_HOST=soketi
   PUSHER_PORT=6001
   PUSHER_SCHEME=http

2. Configure laravel-echo on the frontend to point at the same host/port with forceTLS: false.
3. Start the container:

   docker compose up -d soketi

Since config.json doesn't define specific apps by default, Soketi runs in a mode that accepts any app ID/key/secret; check the config reference above if you need to lock it down.

Common issues

• Frontend can't connect from the browser. The browser connects to localhost:6001 (or your custom SOKETI_PORT), not the container name soketi, that only resolves inside the Docker network.
• Port already in use on your host. Another local WebSockets server (or another Laradock project) is already bound to 6001. Change SOKETI_PORT in .env and restart: docker compose up -d soketi.
• Config changes to config.json don't take effect. It's mounted read-only via a bind mount in soketi/compose.yml, so edits should apply on container restart; if not, rebuild: docker compose build soketi.
• Need metrics for monitoring. Soketi exposes Prometheus-compatible metrics on SOKETI_METRICS_SERVER_PORT (9601 by default).

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Prefer Laravel's own first-party WebSocket server? See Laravel Reverb. Using the older Node-based option? See Laravel Echo Server. New to Laradock? Start at Getting Started.