feat: websocket relay#112
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Introduce a WebSocketRelayBind implementation and plumbing to support TCP relay over websockets. Adds olm/ws_relay_bind.go (bind implementation, connect/read/write loops, Open/Send/Shutdown) and integrates relay handling in Olm: caching relay tunnel URL, buildRelayTunnelURL helper, updated token update handling, and shutting down wsRelayBind on Close. Adds RelayEndpointWss to peer and exit node types, a PeerManager.RelayPeerWss stub to mark peers as relayed, and a GetTokenState accessor on the websocket client. Misc: tweak logging around device startup failure and adjust tunnel registration relay flag; bump go.mod module go version string. These changes prepare the codebase to use websocket-based TCP relay transport as a fallback.
Implement per-site TCP fallback for UDP relay and the websocket relay transport switch. - Track per-site relay timers (relayTimers) with synchronization and initialize in Olm. - Add scheduleRelayTCPFallback and cancelRelayTCPFallback to start/stop an 8s timer that triggers switching to websocket relay if a peer remains disconnected. - Implement switchToWebsocketRelayBind to build the websocket relay URL, bring up a new WireGuard device using the websocket bind, reconfigure peers on the new device, and swap devices cleanly. - Hook timer scheduling into handleWgPeerRelay and cancel on handleWgPeerUnrelay. - Extend PeerManager with SetDevice, IsPeerConnected and IsPeerRelayed helpers to support device swapping and connectivity checks. - Add PeerMonitor.IsWGConnected to report current WireGuard connection state for a peer. This enables automatic fallback from UDP-relayed connections to a websocket/TCP-based relay when UDP relay connectivity does not establish within 8 seconds, and provides APIs for swapping devices and checking peer connection/relay status.
Introduce a WebSocketRelayBind implementation and plumbing to support TCP relay over websockets. Adds olm/ws_relay_bind.go (bind implementation, connect/read/write loops, Open/Send/Shutdown) and integrates relay handling in Olm: caching relay tunnel URL, buildRelayTunnelURL helper, updated token update handling, and shutting down wsRelayBind on Close. Adds RelayEndpointWss to peer and exit node types, a PeerManager.RelayPeerWss stub to mark peers as relayed, and a GetTokenState accessor on the websocket client. Misc: tweak logging around device startup failure and adjust tunnel registration relay flag; bump go.mod module go version string. These changes prepare the codebase to use websocket-based TCP relay transport as a fallback.
Implement per-site TCP fallback for UDP relay and the websocket relay transport switch. - Track per-site relay timers (relayTimers) with synchronization and initialize in Olm. - Add scheduleRelayTCPFallback and cancelRelayTCPFallback to start/stop an 8s timer that triggers switching to websocket relay if a peer remains disconnected. - Implement switchToWebsocketRelayBind to build the websocket relay URL, bring up a new WireGuard device using the websocket bind, reconfigure peers on the new device, and swap devices cleanly. - Hook timer scheduling into handleWgPeerRelay and cancel on handleWgPeerUnrelay. - Extend PeerManager with SetDevice, IsPeerConnected and IsPeerRelayed helpers to support device swapping and connectivity checks. - Add PeerMonitor.IsWGConnected to report current WireGuard connection state for a peer. This enables automatic fallback from UDP-relayed connections to a websocket/TCP-based relay when UDP relay connectivity does not establish within 8 seconds, and provides APIs for swapping devices and checking peer connection/relay status.
Introduce a new WebSocketRelay option in the OlmConfig structure, allowing users to enable or disable WebSocket relay transport. Update the configuration loading functions to support this new option from environment variables and command-line arguments. Modify the connection handling logic to utilize the WebSocket relay when enabled, including adjustments to the relay switching mechanism and logging for better visibility. This enhances the flexibility of the relay transport options available in the application.
Made-with: Cursor
nicholasliverett
requested review from
miloschwartz and
oschwartz10612
as code owners
This was referenced Apr 11, 2026
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What does this PR do?
You can read about the discussion related to this topic here: Transport flexiblity
As discussed, in more restrictive networks UDP connections may be completely blocked and clients are unable to connect to resources. To get around this we use a commonly allowed protocol: HTTPS, or more specifically websockets.
Description
OLM will try its normal direct UDP/hole punch and UDP relay. If OLM receives a relayEndpointWss (sent with relay info) it starts an 8s timer. Once that timer is up it switches from the shared UDP bind to a websocket bind. Traffic then flows OLM-(wss)->Pangolin-(tcp relay port)->Gerbil->Newt. Now since we are using a websocket the RTT is more than just raw wireguard, and it might be something to look into.
Also added a
--websocket-relayflag to use the websocket relay without the timer or trying UDP. So it forces the websocket relay at first connect.Note: the only thing changed is olm's connection to the gerbil relay, to newt nothing changes.
How to test?
Setup Pangolin, Gerbil, and Olm from companion PRs mentioned below and regular newt. Have to spin up pangolin, gerbil, newt, and olm to test this. Ideally checking, regular connections, restricted networks, and the force relay flag
Companion PRs
Gerbil: fosrl/gerbil#77
Pangolin: fosrl/pangolin#2831