SocketSnap

SocketSnap wraps Unreal's FSocket in a clean, Blueprint-callable API. Connect with a timeout, exchange bytes or strings, query peer address and connection state - and let the plugin clean up handles automatically.

SocketSnap keeps the mental model of raw sockets - connect, send, receive, close - but removes every sharp edge. Connect takes a timeout so a dead host cannot hang your game thread, framed send/receive nodes give you complete messages instead of arbitrary byte chunks, Wait For Data and Get Bytes Available support polling patterns, and TCP_NODELAY plus half-close give you the low-level control real protocols need. When a handle is garbage-collected its socket closes with it, so leaked connections are impossible.

It is the ideal middle layer when a full component-based plugin is too much: quick integrations with legacy TCP services, editor utilities that query build servers, handshake-style tools that need precise open/shutdown control, or teaching projects where you want students to see the socket flow without C++.

SocketSnap is part of the Alpha XP networking collection for Unreal Engine 4.27-5.0+. Every feature is exposed to both Blueprints and C++, ships with styled HTML documentation, and follows one consistent API style across the whole collection. The plugin is compiled and verified against a clean UE 4.27 project, comes with a utility node pack (hashing, GUIDs, timestamps, tokens, validation), and is maintained under the Alpha XP brand with documentation hosted online.

Key Features:

- Simple Connect/Send/Get flow from Blueprints

- Connect timeout and connection-state queries

- Byte and string APIs with conversion helpers

- Peer address lookup

- Self-cleaning socket handles - no manual teardown

- Length-prefixed message framing with receive accumulator

- Socket control: TCP_NODELAY, half-close, wait-for-data, state queries

- Utility node pack: CRC32/MD5/SHA-1 hashing, GUIDs, timestamps, random tokens and hostname validation

Full documentation: https://demo.alphaxp.net/FabStore/Network/SocketSnap/

Support: https://alphaxp.net/