Scaling Laravel Reverb WebSockets in Production | Mohamed Said [ ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MH.png) Mohamed Said Laravel Backend Engineer ](https://www.msaied.com) [ Home ](https://www.msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://www.msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://www.msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://www.msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://www.msaied.com#contact-section) [ ](https://github.com/EG-Mohamed) [ Home ](https://www.msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://www.msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://www.msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://www.msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://www.msaied.com#contact-section) [ home ](https://www.msaied.com) [ articles ](https://www.msaied.com/articles) Laravel WebSocket Broadcasting with Reverb: Scaling Beyond a Single Worker On this page 1. [ The Single-Worker Problem ](#the-single-worker-problem) 2. [ Enabling Redis Pub/Sub in Reverb ](#enabling-redis-pubsub-in-reverb) 3. [ Running Multiple Reverb Workers ](#running-multiple-reverb-workers) 4. [ Nginx WebSocket Proxy ](#nginx-websocket-proxy) 5. [ Tuning Connection Limits ](#tuning-connection-limits) 6. [ Keeping Broadcasts Reliable ](#keeping-broadcasts-reliable) 7. [ Health Checks ](#health-checks) 8. [ Takeaways ](#takeaways) ![Laravel WebSocket Broadcasting with Reverb: Scaling Beyond a Single Worker](https://cdn.msaied.com/335/b2461babce9e90ae5fe8dc789cd7046c.png) #laravel #reverb #websockets #broadcasting #redis Laravel WebSocket Broadcasting with Reverb: Scaling Beyond a Single Worker ============================================================================ 1 Jul 2026 3 min read ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MJ.jpg) Mohamed Said Table of contents 1. [ 01 The Single-Worker Problem ](#the-single-worker-problem) 2. [ 02 Enabling Redis Pub/Sub in Reverb ](#enabling-redis-pubsub-in-reverb) 3. [ 03 Running Multiple Reverb Workers ](#running-multiple-reverb-workers) 4. [ 04 Nginx WebSocket Proxy ](#nginx-websocket-proxy) 5. [ 05 Tuning Connection Limits ](#tuning-connection-limits) 6. [ 06 Keeping Broadcasts Reliable ](#keeping-broadcasts-reliable) 7. [ 07 Health Checks ](#health-checks) 8. [ 08 Takeaways ](#takeaways) The Single-Worker Problem ------------------------- Laravel Reverb is a first-party WebSocket server written in PHP using ReactPHP. Out of the box it runs as a single process, which is fine for development and low-traffic apps. The moment you deploy multiple application servers — or your connection count climbs past a few thousand — you hit a wall: clients connected to server A never receive events published from server B. The fix is a shared pub/sub backend. Reverb supports Redis as a message bus so every worker node subscribes to the same channel stream. Enabling Redis Pub/Sub in Reverb -------------------------------- In `config/reverb.php`, switch the `scaling` driver: ```php 'servers' => [ 'reverb' => [ // ... 'scaling' => [ 'enabled' => true, 'driver' => 'redis', 'connection' => 'default', // your redis connection name ], ], ], ``` Reverb uses a dedicated Redis Pub/Sub connection (not the cache or queue connection) so it never blocks your job workers. Make sure the `redis` extension or `predis/predis` is available and that your Redis instance allows enough concurrent clients. Running Multiple Reverb Workers ------------------------------- Each node starts its own Reverb process. Supervisor is the standard approach: ```ini [program:reverb-worker] command=php /var/www/artisan reverb:start --host=0.0.0.0 --port=8080 autostart=true autorestart=true stopwaitsecs=10 numprocs=1 stdout_logfile=/var/log/reverb.log ``` Behind a load balancer, every node listens on the same port. The load balancer must support **sticky sessions** (IP hash or cookie-based) for the WebSocket upgrade handshake, but once the connection is established the Redis layer handles cross-node delivery transparently. ### Nginx WebSocket Proxy ```nginx upstream reverb { ip_hash; # sticky sessions for WS upgrade server 10.0.0.1:8080; server 10.0.0.2:8080; } server { listen 443 ssl; server_name ws.example.com; location / { proxy_pass http://reverb; proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade"; proxy_set_header Host $host; proxy_read_timeout 3600s; } } ``` Tuning Connection Limits ------------------------ ReactPHP uses a non-blocking event loop, so a single Reverb process can hold thousands of open file descriptors. The OS default `ulimit -n` is often 1024 — far too low. Set it in Supervisor: ```ini [program:reverb-worker] ; ... minfds=65536 ``` Or in your systemd unit: ```ini [Service] LimitNOFILE=65536 ``` Also raise `max_connections` in `config/reverb.php`: ```php 'options' => [ 'tls' => [], 'max_request_size' => 10_000, ], ``` Reverb itself does not hard-cap connections by default, but you can add application-level guards via the `Reverb\Contracts\ServerFactory` if you need per-channel or per-app limits. Keeping Broadcasts Reliable --------------------------- Broadcasting from a queued job is the safest pattern. Never broadcast synchronously inside a request when you expect high throughput: ```php broadcast(new OrderShipped($order))->via('reverb'); // or inside a queued job: public function handle(): void { broadcast(new OrderShipped($this->order)); } ``` If the Reverb server is temporarily unreachable, the queued job will retry according to your queue configuration rather than silently dropping the event. ### Health Checks Reverb exposes a simple HTTP health endpoint when started with `--debug` or via a custom route. Wire it into your load balancer's health check so unhealthy nodes are removed automatically: ```bash curl -f http://10.0.0.1:8080/apps/{app_id}/health ``` Takeaways --------- - Enable the `redis` scaling driver in `config/reverb.php` to share state across nodes. - Use IP-hash sticky sessions at the load balancer only for the WebSocket upgrade; post-handshake routing is handled by Redis. - Raise `ulimit -n` (via Supervisor `minfds` or systemd `LimitNOFILE`) to at least 65 536 per node. - Always broadcast from queued jobs so delivery survives transient Reverb restarts. - Monitor the Redis pub/sub channel count alongside your application metrics — runaway subscriptions are a common memory leak vector. Found this useful? [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.msaied.com%2Farticles%2Flaravel-websocket-broadcasting-with-reverb-scaling-beyond-a-single-worker&text=Laravel+WebSocket+Broadcasting+with+Reverb%3A+Scaling+Beyond+a+Single+Worker) [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.msaied.com%2Farticles%2Flaravel-websocket-broadcasting-with-reverb-scaling-beyond-a-single-worker) Frequently Asked Questions ---------------------------- 3 questions Q01 Do I need sticky sessions on my load balancer when running multiple Reverb nodes? Yes, but only for the initial WebSocket upgrade handshake. Once the connection is established, the Redis pub/sub layer ensures events published on any node are delivered to all connected clients regardless of which node they are on. Q02 Can Reverb replace Pusher entirely in a high-traffic production app? Yes. With Redis scaling enabled, proper ulimit tuning, and broadcasts dispatched through queued jobs, Reverb handles the same workload as a managed Pusher cluster while keeping all traffic within your own infrastructure. Q03 What happens to in-flight WebSocket connections when I restart a Reverb worker? Clients are disconnected and must reconnect. Laravel Echo retries automatically with exponential back-off. Use Supervisor's stopwaitsecs to allow the process to drain gracefully, and deploy rolling restarts across nodes to minimise the visible impact. Continue reading More Articles --------------- [ View all ](https://www.msaied.com/articles) [ ![Filament v5 Preview: Schema Unification, Performance Shifts, and How to Prepare](https://cdn.msaied.com/340/1a05ca68637b898b676efb66f22e627f.png) filament laravel php ### Filament v5 Preview: Schema Unification, Performance Shifts, and How to Prepare Filament v5 is reshaping how panels, forms, and tables are composed. 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