Implementing real-time communication using HTML5 Server-Sent Events.
Jul 08, 2025 am 01:07 AMServer-Sent Events (SSE) is a technology in HTML5 used to implement efficient one-way communication between servers and clients, suitable for notification push and data updates. It is based on the HTTP protocol and supports automatic reconnection. The message format is simple. The front-end listens to events through EventSource. The back-end needs to set the text/event-stream type and keep the connection. Common problems include connection timeout, message loss and concurrency restrictions, which are suitable for lightweight real-time scenarios.
Real-time communication is becoming increasingly important in modern web applications, and HTML5's Server-Sent Events (SSE) provides a lightweight and efficient solution. Compared with WebSocket, it is more suitable for one-way communication scenarios between servers and clients, such as notification push, data update, etc.

What are Server-Sent Events?
Server-Sent Events is part of HTML5 that allows servers to push data to browsers over long HTTP connections. Unlike traditional polling methods, SSE uses persistent connections, allowing the server to actively send updates, reducing unnecessary requests and delays.
The main features include:

- Based on the standard HTTP protocol, no special server support is required
- Automatic reconnection mechanism, after disconnection, attempt to re-establish connection
- The message format is simple and clear, easy to parse
- Only support one-way communication from server to client
How to use SSE: Front-end part
The front-end uses JavaScript to create an EventSource
object to listen for server events. The basic usage is as follows:
const eventSource = new EventSource('your-endpoint-url'); eventSource.onmessage = function(event) { console.log('Received message:', event.data); }; eventSource.onerror = function(err) { console.error('Error occurred:', err); };
You can also listen for specific event types, such as:

eventSource.addEventListener('customEvent', function(event) { const data = JSON.parse(event.data); updateUI(data); });
A few points to note:
- Make sure the URL supports correctly setting the CORS header when cross-domain
- Browser compatibility is good, and mainstream modern browsers support it
- Don't forget to handle errors and connection interruptions
How to implement SSE interface on the backend
The backend needs to return a response stream that remains open and set the correct MIME type to text/event-stream
. Different languages ??have different implementation methods, but the core ideas are the same.
Take Node.js Express as an example:
app.get('/sse', (req, res) => { res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/event-stream'); res.setHeader('Cache-Control', 'no-cache'); res.setHeader('Connection', 'keep-alive'); // Send a message res.write(`data: ${JSON.stringify({ message: 'Hello from server' })}\n\n`); // You can send updates regularly const interval = setInterval(() => { res.write(`data: ${JSON.stringify(getLatestData())}\n\n`); }, 5000); req.on('close', () => { clearInterval(interval); res.end(); }); });
Key points:
- Set the correct response header
- Message format must comply with the specification:
data: ... \n\n
- Keep the connection open until the client closes or error occurs
FAQs and Optimization Suggestions
Although SSE is simple and easy to use, there are still some details to pay attention to in actual deployment:
- Connection timeout : Some agents or load balancers may interrupt long connections and can periodically send comment lines (such as
:\n\n
) to maintain the connection. - Message order and loss : SSE does not guarantee reliable delivery of messages, and additional mechanisms should be considered for scenarios that require strict order and do not lose messages.
- Concurrency restrictions : Browsers usually have restrictions on the number of EventSources under the same domain name, so pay attention to reasonable reuse.
- Performance considerations : Each connection will occupy a certain amount of resources, and the server carrying capacity needs to be evaluated under high concurrency.
If you just want to do simple status updates or notification pushes, SSE is a good choice; if two-way communication is required, WebSocket is more suitable.
Basically that's it. Mastering the use of SSE can allow your application to achieve a smooth real-time update experience without complex protocols.
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