cpp-httplib/docs-src/pages/en/cookbook/w06-websocket-timeouts.md

---

title: "W06. Set Timeouts" order: 56

status: "draft"

ws::WebSocketClient has the same three kinds of timeouts as Client, with the same meaning.

Kind	API	Default
Connection	set_connection_timeout	300s
Read	set_read_timeout	300s (CPPHTTPLIB_WEBSOCKET_READ_TIMEOUT_SECOND)
Write	set_write_timeout	5s

Basic usage

httplib::ws::WebSocketClient ws("ws://localhost:8080/ws");

ws.set_connection_timeout(5, 0);  // 5 seconds
ws.set_read_timeout(30, 0);       // 30 seconds
ws.set_write_timeout(10, 0);      // 10 seconds

if (ws.connect()) {
  ws.send("hello");
}

Set these before calling connect().

Use std::chrono

Just like Client, there's an overload that takes a std::chrono duration directly.

using namespace std::chrono_literals;

ws.set_connection_timeout(5s);
ws.set_read_timeout(30s);
ws.set_write_timeout(10s);

Watch out for what the read timeout means

set_read_timeout() applies to a single read() call. If no message arrives within that time, read() returns ReadResult::Fail. For connections where long idle periods are normal — waiting on notifications, for example — set a longer timeout, or reconnect from your application code when the read fails.

Unresponsive-peer detection via Ping/Pong is a separate mechanism. See W02. Set a WebSocket Heartbeat for details.

How this differs from Client

For Client's timeout configuration, see C12. Set Timeouts. The behavior and API are nearly identical, but WebSocketClient has no equivalent to set_max_timeout() for capping the whole request — once connected, the connection stays open for as long as you keep calling read().