geckosio/geckos.io

Geckos.io occupies a specific and technically difficult niche: providing UDP-like behavior in the browser, which is restricted to TCP-based WebSockets by default. It leverages WebRTC Data Channels to bypass head-of-line blocking, making it a go-to choice for indie web-based multiplayer games. With ~1,500 stars and 7 years of history, it has significant community trust and a 'first-mover' advantage in the Node.js ecosystem for this specific workaround. However, its defensibility is capped because it is essentially a wrapper around complex C++ bindings (node-datachannel). Its primary long-term threat is not a frontier lab, but the 'WebTransport' API standard being pushed by Google and the W3C, which provides a native browser-standard way to achieve the same goals without the overhead of the WebRTC stack. As WebTransport support matures (currently in 'stable' but not universal), the need for Geckos.io will diminish. It remains a 5/10 because, despite the upcoming protocol shift, the library's API and ease of use compared to raw WebRTC implementations provide a temporary but real developer experience moat.