WebSocket and Metrics

Over WebSocket the panel serves everything that updates in real time: task progress, the game server console, metrics, and the progress of archive operations in the file manager. The interface works through these same connections.

Connecting

Connections are opened at seven addresses:

Address	What it serves
`/api/ws/tasks/{id}`	Task progress and its output
`/api/ws/servers/{server}/console`	The game server console, both directions
`/api/ws/servers/{server}/attach`	An interactive session with the game server
`/api/ws/servers/{server}/file-manager/archive-operations`	Progress of file manager archive operations
`/api/ws/servers/{server}/metrics`	Game server metrics
`/api/ws/nodes/{id}/metrics`	Dedicated server metrics
`/api/ws/nodes/metrics`	Metrics of all dedicated servers

Authorization

The token is passed in a query parameter because headers cannot be set when opening a WebSocket from a browser:

wss://panel.example.com:8025/api/ws/servers/1/console?token=<token>

Only short-lived tokens with the glst_ prefix are accepted in the token parameter. A personal access token cannot be passed there — this keeps it out of web server logs and browser history.

The short-lived token itself still appears in the URL and may end up in the logs of a reverse proxy, web server or monitoring system. Until it is used or expires the token is a working credential: whoever reads it out of a log within those seconds can open the connection in your place. Single use and the 10-second lifetime narrow that window but do not close it, so strip the token parameter from any logs that are retained.

Getting a short-lived token:

curl -X POST https://panel.example.com:8025/api/auth/short-lived-token \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <session token>"

The token is single-use and lives no longer than 10 seconds, so request it immediately before opening the connection. See API and Tokens for details.

Frame Format

All messages are JSON of the same shape:

{
  "type": "task.status",
  "payload": { },
  "ts": 1711234567
}

Field	Description
`type`	Message type
`payload`	Data, depends on the type
`ts`	Timestamp, Unix seconds

Message Types

Tasks (/api/ws/tasks/{id}):

Type	When it arrives
`task.status`	The task status changed
`task.output`	New command output appeared
`task.complete`	The task finished

Console (/api/ws/servers/{server}/console):

Type	Direction	Purpose
`console.history`	From the panel	Accumulated output on connection
`console.command`	To the panel	Sending a command to the server

Interactive session (/api/ws/servers/{server}/attach):

Type	Direction	Purpose
`attach.input`	To the panel	Input into the session
`attach.detach`	To the panel	Detach without stopping the server

Archive operations (/api/ws/servers/{server}/file-manager/archive-operations):

Type	Direction	Purpose
`archive.progress`	From the panel	Progress of creating or unpacking an archive
`archive.complete`	From the panel	The operation finished, successfully or with an error

No initial state is sent on connection: open the socket before starting the operation and match frames to the operation_id returned in the 202 response to the create or extract request. Both payloads carry the operation_id, the kind of operation and the counts of processed files and bytes; archive.complete adds success and, on failure, error. See File Manager.

Metrics:

Type	Purpose
`metrics.replay`	Accumulated values for the retention period
`metrics.replay.done`	Accumulated values delivered; live values follow
`metrics.error`	Metrics collection error

On connecting to metrics, the panel first serves the history for the retention period, then sends new values as they arrive. The switch is marked by a metrics.replay.done frame.

In the game server console, the RCON password is masked: the game server prints it as part of the startup command line.

Metric Series

Metrics are collected by the daemon and passed to the panel. The sampling interval and retention time are set in the daemon configuration with metrics.collection_interval (5 seconds by default) and metrics.retention_duration (10 minutes by default), see GameAP Daemon.

Game Server

Series	Value
`gameap_server_up`	Whether the server is running
`gameap_server_cpu_usage_percent`	CPU usage, percent
`gameap_server_memory_usage_bytes`	Memory used, bytes
`gameap_server_memory_limit_bytes`	Memory limit, bytes
`gameap_server_memory_usage_percent`	Memory used, percent of the limit
`gameap_server_network_receive_bytes_total`	Network bytes received, cumulative
`gameap_server_network_transmit_bytes_total`	Network bytes transmitted, cumulative
`gameap_server_block_io_read_bytes_total`	Disk bytes read, cumulative
`gameap_server_block_io_write_bytes_total`	Disk bytes written, cumulative
`gameap_server_process_pids`	Number of server processes

The memory limit metrics are populated only by process managers that can enforce it: systemd, Docker, and Podman.

Dedicated Server

Series	Value
`gameap_node_cpu_usage_percent`	CPU usage, percent
`gameap_node_memory_usage_bytes`	Memory used, bytes
`gameap_node_memory_total_bytes`	Total memory, bytes
`gameap_node_memory_usage_percent`	Memory used, percent
`gameap_node_swap_usage_bytes`	Swap used, bytes
`gameap_node_swap_total_bytes`	Total swap, bytes
`gameap_node_disk_usage_bytes`	Disk used, bytes
`gameap_node_disk_total_bytes`	Total disk, bytes
`gameap_node_disk_usage_percent`	Disk used, percent
`gameap_node_network_receive_bytes_total`	Network bytes received, cumulative
`gameap_node_network_transmit_bytes_total`	Network bytes transmitted, cumulative
`gameap_node_load1`	Load average over 1 minute
`gameap_node_load5`	Load average over 5 minutes
`gameap_node_load15`	Load average over 15 minutes
`gameap_node_uptime_seconds_total`	Uptime, seconds

Load average is not collected on Windows.

Which network interfaces and drives to include is set with the if_list and drives_list parameters in the daemon configuration.

Limitations

Metrics are kept in the daemon’s RAM for no longer than metrics.retention_duration (10 to 60 minutes allowed) and are lost when the daemon restarts. The panel has no long-term storage or export to monitoring systems.

Metrics collection is disabled with metrics.enabled: false in the daemon configuration.