WebSocket Overview

The Rhombus platform exposes a WebSocket endpoint for real-time, bidirectional communication between your application and the Rhombus console. This allows you to receive instant notifications about security events, policy alerts, device changes, and other organizational activity without polling the REST API.

How It Works

Rhombus WebSocket connections use the STOMP 1.2 (Streaming Text Oriented Messaging Protocol) messaging protocol layered on top of a standard WebSocket connection. STOMP provides a simple, frame-based protocol for subscribing to topics and receiving structured messages.

Your Application
      │
      ▼
  WebSocket (WSS)
      │
      ▼
  STOMP 1.2 Protocol
      │
      ▼
  Rhombus Event Bus ──► /topic/change/{orgUuid}

Connection Endpoint

Connect to the endpoint matching your organization’s region:

Environment	Endpoint
Production (US)	`wss://ws.rhombussystems.com:8443/websocket`
Production (EU)	`wss://ws.eu.rhombussystems.com:8443/websocket`

Key Concepts

Topics

Once connected, you subscribe to a topic to receive messages. The primary topic for organizational events is:

/topic/change/{orgUuid}

This topic emits events for all changes within your organization, including policy alerts, device updates, and configuration changes.

Event Types

Each message on the change topic contains a JSON payload with:

Field	Description
`entity`	The type of entity that changed (e.g., `POLICY_ALERT`, `CAMERA_STATE`)
`entityUuid`	Unique identifier for the entity
`type`	The change type: `REFRESH` (default), `CREATE`, `UPDATE`, or `DELETE`
`update`	The changed entity data (present on some events)
`deviceUuid`	Associated device UUID (when applicable)

Authentication

WebSocket connections authenticate using API tokens only. Certificate-based (mTLS) authentication is not supported for WebSocket. The token is passed as an HTTP header during the WebSocket handshake.

If you currently authenticate to the Rhombus REST API using certificates, you will need a separate API token for WebSocket connections.

When to Use WebSocket vs. REST API

Use Case	Recommended Approach
React to alerts in real time	WebSocket
Build a live dashboard	WebSocket
Trigger automations on events	WebSocket
Query historical data	REST API
Manage devices or users	REST API
Retrieve video clips	REST API (DASH streaming)

What’s Next

Authentication

Configure API token authentication for WebSocket connections.

Connection Lifecycle

Establish, maintain, and gracefully close connections.

Event Monitoring

Subscribe to topics and process real-time events.

Code Examples

Full working examples in Python, JavaScript, and Go.

Getting Started

Implementation Guides

Real-time Events

How It Works

Connection Endpoint

Key Concepts

Topics

Event Types

Authentication

When to Use WebSocket vs. REST API

What’s Next

Authentication

Connection Lifecycle

Event Monitoring

Code Examples

​How It Works

​Connection Endpoint

​Key Concepts

​Topics

​Event Types

​Authentication

​When to Use WebSocket vs. REST API

​What’s Next

Authentication

Connection Lifecycle

Event Monitoring

Code Examples

How It Works

Connection Endpoint

Key Concepts

Topics

Event Types

Authentication

When to Use WebSocket vs. REST API

What’s Next