This is a tiny WebSocket signaling server for WebRTC. It forwards messages between peers in the same room.

Render can deploy this directly from your GitHub repo as a Web Service. Render supports WebSockets for web services.
If you use a Blueprint, keep render.yaml at the repo root. citeturn0search0turn0search2turn0search3

1. Commit these files to the root of your repo.
2. In Render: New → Blueprint and point to your repo.
3. Set the env var AUTH_KEY in the Render UI (global gate), and optionally SIGNALING_TOKEN (WebSocket token auth).

• Runtime: Node
• Build command: npm ci
• Start command: npm start

(These are the standard values Render recommends for Node services. citeturn0search1turn0search5)

Connect:

• Local:
  • ws://localhost:3000/ws?room=test
• Render (TLS-terminated, so use wss://):
  • wss://YOUR-SERVICE.onrender.com/ws?room=test

Global auth key (if AUTH_KEY is set)

All endpoints require the query param:

?auth_key=YOUR_AUTH_KEY

Examples:

• http://localhost:3000/?auth_key=YOUR_AUTH_KEY
• wss://YOUR-SERVICE.onrender.com/ws?room=test&auth_key=YOUR_AUTH_KEY

Optional shared token auth

If you set SIGNALING_TOKEN on the server, clients must include:

wss://YOUR-SERVICE.onrender.com/ws?room=test&token=YOUR_TOKEN

Messaging

Anything you send (JSON preferred) is forwarded to other peers in the same room.

Example payloads from a WebRTC client:

{ "type": "offer", "sdp": "..." }
{ "type": "answer", "sdp": "..." }
{ "type": "candidate", "candidate": { "candidate": "...", "sdpMid": "0", "sdpMLineIndex": 0 } }

The server will automatically attach:

• from: sender socket id
• room: room id

Direct messages

If you include "to": "<peerId>", the server will route the message only to that peer (if present).

npm ci
npm start

Then open:

• http://localhost:3000/?auth_key=YOUR_AUTH_KEY (info)
• http://localhost:3000/healthz?auth_key=YOUR_AUTH_KEY (health)

• Rooms are kept in-memory. If the process restarts, everyone reconnects.
• Multiple instances won't share room state without a shared pub/sub layer (Redis, etc.).