We’ve got a Node.js service sitting in Central time that subscribes to WFM adherence events via the Notification API. It works fine for a few hours, but when the server restarts or the connection drops, the client enters a tight reconnect loop. I’m using the standard genesys-cloud SDK for auth, but I’m managing the WebSocket lifecycle manually because the SDK docs are a bit sparse on reconnection strategies. The code below is what I’ve thrown together so far, and it seems to hang on the first reconnect attempt without throwing a clear error.
const { Client } = require('genesys-cloud');
const WebSocket = require('ws');
async function connect() {
const client = new Client({ clientId: process.env.GC_CLIENT_ID, clientSecret: process.env.GC_CLIENT_SECRET });
await client.authenticate();
const token = await client.getAccessToken();
const wsUrl = `wss://api.mypurecloud.com/api/v2/notifications?access_token=${token}`;
const ws = new WebSocket(wsUrl);
ws.on('open', () => {
console.log('Connected');
// subscribe logic here
});
ws.on('error', (err) => {
console.error('WS Error:', err.message);
setTimeout(connect, 5000); // naive retry
});
}
connect();
The issue is that after the initial connection dies, the ws.on('error') handler fires, but the subsequent connect() call doesn’t seem to establish a new socket cleanly. It just logs ‘Connected’ immediately without actually sending the subscribe message. Am I missing a step to close the old WebSocket instance before spawning a new one? Or is there a better way to handle the token refresh inside this loop?
You are likely hammering the auth endpoint without any delay. The platform will throttle you hard if you send a burst of requests the second the socket drops. Also, make sure you are checking the reason code from the close event. If it’s a 1000 or 1001, it’s a clean shutdown. If it’s 1006, it’s an abnormal closure. You don’t want to reconnect immediately on a clean shutdown.
Here is a more stable pattern using exponential backoff. It prevents the loop from spinning too fast and respects the rate limits.
const WebSocket = require('ws');
const { PlatformClientV2 } = require('@genesyscloud/genesyscloud');
async function connectWithBackoff(maxRetries = 10) {
let retryCount = 0;
let delay = 1000; // Start with 1 second
while (retryCount < maxRetries) {
try {
// 1. Get a fresh token. Don't cache this too long.
const client = PlatformClientV2.init();
await client.loginOAuthClientCredentials({
clientId: process.env.CLIENT_ID,
clientSecret: process.env.CLIENT_SECRET,
grantType: 'client_credentials',
scope: ['wfm:adherence:view', 'wfm:adherence:edit'] // Correct scopes
});
const token = await client.authApi.getOAuthToken();
const url = `${process.env.WS_URL}?access_token=${token.access_token}`;
console.log(`Connecting attempt ${retryCount + 1}...`);
const ws = new WebSocket(url);
ws.on('open', () => {
console.log('Connected.');
retryCount = 0; // Reset on success
delay = 1000; // Reset delay
// Send your subscription payload here
ws.send(JSON.stringify({
type: 'subscribe',
data: {
resource: 'wfm/adherence'
}
}));
});
ws.on('message', (data) => {
// Handle adherence event
const event = JSON.parse(data);
processAdherenceEvent(event);
});
ws.on('close', (code, reason) => {
console.log(`Closed: ${code} - ${reason}`);
// Don't reconnect if it was a clean close (1000/1001) and we aren't forcing a restart
if (code === 1000 || code === 1001) {
console.log('Clean close. Exiting loop.');
retryCount = maxRetries;
return;
}
// Trigger reconnect
scheduleReconnect();
});
ws.on('error', (err) => {
console.error('WebSocket error:', err.message);
retryCount = maxRetries; // Stop on hard errors like invalid URL
});
// Wait for the connection to stabilize or fail before breaking the loop
await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
ws.on('open', resolve);
ws.on('error', reject);
setTimeout(() => reject(new Error('Timeout')), 5000);
});
// If we are here, we are connected. Wait for the global close event to handle retry.
// This function structure is tricky for long-lived connections.
// Usually you wrap this in a main loop that waits for a 'reconnect' signal.
break;
} catch (error) {
console.error(`Auth or connection failed: ${error.message}`);
retryCount++;
if (retryCount >= maxRetries) {
console.log('Max retries reached.');
break;
}
console.log(`Waiting ${delay}ms before retry...`);
await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
// Exponential backoff: 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s... capped at 30s
delay = Math.min(delay * 2, 30000);
}
}
}
function processAdherenceEvent(event) {
// Your WFM logic here
console.log('Event:', event);
}
The key is the exponential backoff. Without it, you’ll get locked out by the gateway. Also, verify your scope includes wfm:adherence:view. If you miss that, the WebSocket will connect but immediately close with a 403 error inside the frame. It’s easy to miss that because the initial TCP handshake succeeds.