I built a native WebSocket & MQTT client for Excel VBA (Zero DLLs, streams live data without freezing)
If you've ever tried to stream real-time data (like live stock/crypto tickers or dynamic dashboards) into Excel using VBA, you know the struggle. You either end up with a freezing UI using XMLHTTP, clunky polling loops, or you have to rely on external DLLs and wrappers that your corporate IT simply won't let you register.
I wanted to solve this natively, so I built Wasabi. It's a single .bas module that gives VBA full, high-performance WebSocket (WSS) and MQTT capabilities.
The Origin Story:
This project started in a rather unexpected place. A group of friends of mine have the hobby of building entirely functional multiplayer games inside PowerPoint using VBA. They kept hitting a wall with real-time networking. I built Wasabi to give them a reliable network stack. Because it works across the entire Office suite, it translates perfectly into a powerhouse for Excel.
Why it matters for Excel devs:
- True Zero Dependencies: It's literally just one file (Wasabi.bas). Import it via the VBA editor (File → Import File) and you're ready. No references, no DLLs to register. It works on 32-bit and 64-bit Office, from XP to Windows 11.
- No UI Freezing: It operates smoothly without locking up your spreadsheet.
- Corporate/Enterprise Ready: It handles secure sockets over TLS via Windows Schannel (wss://). It also supports proxy authentication (NTLM and Kerberos), meaning it works straight out of the box in locked-down corporate networks.
- Live APIs & IoT: You can stream quotes from Binance/Coinbase straight into a cell with millisecond latency. Plus, with the built-in MQTT 3.1.1 client, you can connect Excel directly to an IoT broker (like Mosquitto) for industrial dashboards.
Community Validation:
I was incredibly honored to see the project recently starred by some of the most respected low-level VBA developers out there, including wqweto and Maatooh. Even EagleAglow starred it and is now recommending Wasabi in his own vba-websocket repository.
Getting started takes just a couple of minutes. The full documentation (API reference, architecture, etc.) is in the repo.
- Repository: https://github.com/uesleibros/wasabi
- Releases (Download the .bas): https://github.com/uesleibros/wasabi/releases
If you have ever wanted to add real-time capabilities to an Excel project and found the built-in options lacking, this module might save you a lot of low-level pain. You can even write a Discord bot that runs from a hidden sheet!
I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, or see any crazy use cases you come up with.
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