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0028. disconnect(true) closes the shared Manager group

Status: Accepted · 2026-08-12 · #236 Governed by: 0000, 0010

TL;DR Server-side socket.disconnect(true) closes every connected or pending namespace socket on the same client Manager, while false closes only the current namespace and independent Managers stay connected. Smocket models that group without a transport.

Decision​

Socket.IO and socket.io-client 4.7.5 and 4.8.3 produced the same result. Calls for one origin reuse a cached Manager across distinct namespaces, while a repeated namespace, forceNew: true, or multiplex: false creates an independent Manager. Closing one server socket with true disconnected only the namespaces on its Manager, in their connection order; sockets using the other Managers stayed connected.

Smocket will replace the server-wide identity stand-in with a host-neutral logical Manager. Its supported lookup surface reuses one cached Manager for distinct namespaces at an origin, creates an independent Manager for a namespace already in that cached group, and accepts forceNew and multiplex to opt out. The Engine.IO path remains outside this grouping API because Smocket has no transport path.

With false, only the addressed namespace socket closes. With true, every connected namespace socket in the same Manager closes in connection order. Each server socket fires disconnecting and then disconnect, both with server namespace disconnect, synchronously before the call returns. Their clients then observe io server disconnect through the shared defer boundary in the same order. An admission still waiting for auth or namespace middleware is cancelled with the Manager; a later callback cannot revive it or report a new connection result.

Connection-wide here describes an observable namespace lifecycle, not a simulated transport. Each affected socket performs its ordinary acknowledgement, id, room, and roster cleanup. The server stays active, other Managers are untouched, and an affected client reconnects only when application code calls connect().

The implementation is tracked in #254. It must preserve the fluent return fixed separately by #233. This newly covered Socket.IO surface is a minor after v1 and a patch before v1 under 0019.

Alternatives rejected​

  • Ignore close because there is no transport. The transport is absent, but which namespace sockets disconnect, their reasons, and their order are observable.
  • Close every client registered on the Smocket server. One server can host several independent Managers, so this would disconnect unrelated clients.
  • Keep the Server object as the Manager identity. It cannot represent repeated namespaces or explicit opt-outs without collapsing independent connections.
  • Open a real Engine.IO connection. The selected behavior needs only an in-memory group, while transport and reconnection reproduction remain outside project scope.