Live Chat Enable

ZenCommunity Pro allows you to enable real-time live chat using WebSockets. Follow the steps below to enable
and configure it.

1. Enable Real time Communication in WordPress

• Go to the Settings page in your ZenCommunity admin panel.
• Find Enable Realtime Communication and toggle the switch.

2. Enable the Socket Service on the Server

You need to run the socket server on your server where the community site is hosted.

Step 2.1: SSH into your server

ssh user@your-server-ip

Then cd into your WordPress installation directory

cd /var/www/html # adjust path to your installation

Step 2.2: Generate a JWT Secret

The socket service uses a JWT token to authenticate users. Generate it using the CLI:

# From WordPress root
wp zc-jwt-secret generate

This command will generate a secret key stored in your WordPress database.

Step 2.3: Start the Socket Server

You can start the socket server using the CLI:

wp zc-socket start

Available options:

Option	Default	Description
–port	8080	Port number the socket listens on
–local	false	For local testing environment

Example

wp zc-socket start --port 8080

This command runs the socket server in the current terminal session. Press Ctrl+C (or Cmd+C on Mac) to
stop it.

Step 2.4: Run Socket Server in Background

To keep the server running even after you log out, use nohup:

nohup wp zc-socket start >> zc-socket.log 2>&1 &

This will start the server in the background and log output to

zc-socket.log

Step 2.5: Install Socket Server as a Background Service

ZenCommunity Pro provides a CLI command to install the socket server as a system service (supports Linux
systemd or init.d). This allows automatic startup on server boot.

wp zc-socket install

Options supported:

• –port — specify a custom port if running multiple instances.
• –local — for local testing.

Example: Running multiple servers on different ports:

wp zc-socket install --port 8081

3. Configure Web Server for WebSocket Proxy

In production, itʼs recommended to proxy WebSocket traffic through your web server (Nginx or Apache) so it uses
the same SSL certificate and domain.

Nginx

Edit your site config

(common path: /etc/nginx/sites-available/site-name )

and add:

location ^~ /ws/ {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/; # trailing slash matters

proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";

proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}

Test and reload Nginx:

nginx -t
nginx -s reload

Apache (Optional) (experimental config)
If your server uses Apache with SSL, enable mod_proxy and mod_proxy_wstunnel :

# Enable required modules
a2enmod proxy
a2enmod proxy_http
a2enmod proxy_wstunnel
systemctl restart apache2

Add the following to your site config (assuming site already using ssl):

<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName yourdomain.com

# Other normal Apache config here...

# WebSocket proxy
ProxyPass "/ws/" "ws://127.0.0.1:8080/"
ProxyPassReverse "/ws/" "ws://127.0.0.1:8080/"

RequestHeader set X-Real-IP %{REMOTE_ADDR}s
RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-For %{REMOTE_ADDR}s
RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
</VirtualHost>

4. Test Realtime Communication

1. Open your community site in a browser.
2. Send a message or perform an action that uses live chat.
3. Check browser console/network tab or zc-socket.log for WebSocket connection.

If the WebSocket connection is established and messages are delivered in real-time, your setup is succe.

✅ Notes

• Make sure the port used by the socket server is open and not blocked by firewall.
• You can run multiple socket servers on different ports if hosting multiple communities.
• Use background service installation for production to ensure the socket server starts on reboot.