Django WebSocket Chatroom

Real-time chatroom built with Django Channels and WebSockets. Uses Daphne as the ASGI server and Redis as the channel layer (message broker) for handling concurrent WebSocket connections. No authentication required — users join as guests.

How It Works

Django's default request-response cycle (WSGI) is synchronous — one request in, one response out. WebSockets require persistent, bidirectional connections, which WSGI can't handle. This project uses ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) through Daphne to support both HTTP and WebSocket protocols simultaneously.

Redis acts as the channel layer, a message broker that allows different WebSocket consumers to communicate with each other. When a user sends a message, the consumer publishes it to a Redis-backed group, and Redis distributes it to all connected clients in that group.

Consumers

• GroupGuestConsumer — Group chatroom where all connected users broadcast and receive messages in real time through a shared Redis channel group.
• EchoConsumer — Simple echo room that sends back whatever message the user sends. Useful for testing WebSocket connectivity without Redis.

Project Structure

├── chatroom/              # Django project settings
│   ├── asgi.py            # ASGI config with WebSocket routing
│   ├── settings.py        # Django + Channels + Redis configuration
│   ├── urls.py            # HTTP URL routes
│   └── wsgi.py
├── chat/                  # Chat application
│   ├── consumers.py       # WebSocket consumers (GroupGuest, Echo)
│   ├── routing.py         # WebSocket URL patterns
│   ├── views.py           # HTTP views
│   ├── models.py          # Database models (User, ChatRoom, Message)
│   ├── templates/         # HTML templates
│   └── static/assets/     # CSS + Bootstrap 5.3.3
├── manage.py
└── db.sqlite3

Note: The database models (User, ChatRoom, Message) are defined but not yet integrated with the WebSocket consumers. Messages are currently broadcast in real time without persistence.

Requirements

• Python 3.12+
• Redis server
• pip packages: django, channels, daphne, channels-redis

Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone git@github.com:jaosber/djangochatwebsocket.git
cd djangochatwebsocket

2. Create a virtual environment

Using conda:

conda create -n chatroom python=3.12
conda activate chatroom

Or using venv:

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate        # macOS/Linux
venv\Scripts\activate           # Windows

3. Install dependencies

pip install django channels daphne channels-redis

4. Install and start Redis

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install redis
redis-server

Windows (WSL2):

wsl --install -d Ubuntu
# Inside WSL:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install redis-server
sudo service redis-server start

Windows (Memurai — native alternative):

Download the developer edition from memurai.com/get-started and install it. Memurai runs as a Windows service on port 6379, fully compatible with Redis.

5. Run migrations and start the server

python manage.py migrate
python manage.py runserver

Open your browser at http://127.0.0.1:8000.

Tech Stack

• Django 5.1 — Web framework
• Django Channels — WebSocket support for Django
• Daphne — ASGI server
• Redis — Channel layer / message broker
• Bootstrap 5.3.3 — Frontend styling
• SQLite — Database (models defined, not yet integrated)

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Originally developed on 3 October 2024.