I built a native WebSocket & MQTT client for Excel VBA (Zero DLLs, streams live data without freezing)

Our take

Introducing Wasabi, a native WebSocket and MQTT client for Excel VBA that streams live data without freezing your interface. If you've struggled with traditional methods for real-time data integration, such as XMLHTTP or external DLLs, Wasabi offers a streamlined solution. This single .bas module empowers Excel with high-performance capabilities, enabling secure connections and seamless operation on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Built initially to support multiplayer gaming in PowerPoint, Wasabi now transforms Excel into a powerful tool for real-time analytics and IoT applications.

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.

submitted by /u/UesleiDev
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Tagged with

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