At a low level Cockpit communicates with the system via messages passed through various channels. These are usually exposed via higher level APIs, such as the cockpit.spawn() function. It is rare to use raw channels directly.

cockpit.channel()

channel = cockpit.channel(options)

This function creates a new channel for communication with the system. It returns a new channel object. The options argument is a plain object. At least the "payload" option is required, and based on the payload type, other options may be required.

"binary"

Set to true to transfer binary payloads. Both messages sent via channel.send() and those received via channel.onmessage should be arrays of bytes, either Uint8Array or Array depending on browser support.

"payload"

The payload type for the channel. Only specific payload types are supported.

"superuser"

Set to "require" to open this channel as root. If the currently logged in user is not permitted to become root (eg: via pkexec) then the channel will immediately be closed with a "access-denied" problem code. + Set to "try" to try to open the channel as root, but if that fails, then fall back to an unprivileged channel.

The channel object returned has the following fields and methods and events. You should call the channel.close() method when done with the channel.

A valid channel will always be returned and the is ready to channel.send(). The channel may close shortly afterword due to a failure.

channel.binary

Will be true for an binary channel. Will be set to false if the channel is textual.

channel.options

The options used to open this channel. This should not be changed.

channel.valid

Will be true for an open channel. Will be set to false if the channel closes.

channel.send()

channel.send(data)

Send a message over the channel. The contents of the message depends on the payload type of the channel. If a binary channel, then data is expected to be an Array of bytes or a Uint8Array. If not binary, then the data will be converted to a string if not already a string.

channel.control()

channel.control(options)

Notify the channel to tune certain parameters on the fly. The options is a plain javascript object, and the contents depend on the "payload" of the channel.

One common operation is to set "command" to "done" in the options field. To indicate that no further messages will be sent through the channel.

channel.wait()

promise = channel.wait([callback])

Returns a promise that is ready when the channel is ready, or fails if the client closes. If a callback is specified, it is attached to the promise. The promise will be rejected or resolved with the contents options passed to the channel.onready and channel.onclose events respectively.

In general it’s not necessary to wait for the channel before starting to use the channel.

channel.close()

channel.close([options])

Close the channel.

If options is present it can be a plain javascript object containing additional channel close options to send to the peer. If closing for because of a problem, set the "problem" field to a problem code. If options is not an object it will be treated as a "problem".

The close event will fire. A channel can also be closed by a peer or if the underlying transport closes.

channel.onmessage

channel.addEventListener("message", function(event, data) { ... })

An event triggered when the channel receives a message. The message is passed as a string to the handler in the data. In the case of binary channels data is an Uint8Array or an Array of bytes if the former is not supported by the browser. The contents of the message depends on the payload type of the channel.

channel.oncontrol

channel.addEventListener("control", function(event, options) { ... })

An event triggered when the channel receives an control message in the middle of the flow. One particular use is when the command is set to "done" then no further messages will be received in the channel. The exact form of these messages depend on the "payload" of the channel.

channel.onready

channel.addEventListener("ready", function(event, options) { ... })

An event triggered when the other end of the channel is ready to start processing messages. This indicates the channel is completely open. It is possible to start sending messages on the channel before this point.

channel.onclose

channel.addEventListener("close", function(event, options) { ... })

An event triggered when the channel closes. This can happen either because channel.close() function was called, or if the peer closed the channel, or the underlying transport closes.

The options will contain various close information, including a "problem" field which will be set if the channel was closed because of a problem.

cockpit.transport.origin

cockpit.transport.origin

The HTTP origin that is being used by the underlying channel transport. This is read-only, you should not assign a value. If the browser supports window.location.origin then this will be identical to that value.

cockpit.transport.host

cockpit.transport.host

The host that this transport is going to talk to by default. This is read-only, you should not assign a value. If the value is null that means that the transport has not been setup yet.

cockpit.transport.csrf_token

cockpit.transport.csrf_token

A cross site request forgery token for use with external channels. This becomes valid once the connection is properly established.

cockpit.transport.options

cockpit.transport.options

Initialization options received over the underlying channel transport. These will be empty until connection is properly established.

cockpit.transport.wait()

cockpit.transport.wait(callback)

Call the callback function once the underlying channel transport is initialized. This will start the initialization if not already in progress or completed. If the channel transport is already initialized, then callback will be called immediately.

In general it’s not necessary to wait for the transport before starting to open channels.

cockpit.transport.close()

cockpit.transport.close([problem])

Close the underlying channel transport. All channels open channels will close. The problem argument should be a problem code string. If not specified it will default to "disconnected".

cockpit.transport.filter()

cockpit.transport.filter((message, channelid, control) =>  { ... })

Add a filter to the underlying channel transport. All incoming messages will be passed to each of the filter callbacks that are registered.

This function is rarely used.

Filter callbacks are called in the order they are registered. If a filter callback returns false then the message will not be dispatched further, whether to other filters, or to channels, etc.

The message is the string or array with the raw message including, the framing. The channelid is the channel identifier or an empty string for control messages. If control is set then this is a control message,d and the control argument contains the parsed JSON object of the control message.

cockpit.transport.inject()

cockpit.transport.inject(message, [out])

Inject a message into the underlying channel transport. The message should be a string or an array of bytes, and should be valid according to the Cockpit message protocol. If the out argument is equal to false then the message will be injected as an incoming message as if it was received on the underlying channel transport.

This function is rarely used. In general you should only inject() messages you got from a filter().

cockpit.base64_encode()

string = cockpit.base64_encode(data)

Encode binary data into a string using the Base64 encoding. The data argument can either be a string, an Array, an ArrayBuffer or a Uint8Array. The return value is a string.

cockpit.base64_decode()

data = cockpit.base64_decode(string, [constructor])

Decode binary data from a Base64 encoded string. The string argument should be a javascript string. The returned data> will be an array of bytes.

You can pass Uint8Array, Array or String as an alternate constructor if you want the decoded data in an alternate form. The default is to return an Array. Note that if you use a String for the decoded data, then you must guarantee that the data does not contain bytes that would be invalid for a string.