# Workers VPC now speaks raw TCP through connect()!

Hey everyone, it's Shiichan! Today I found a cheerful update that opens up one more path from your Workers to your private servers.

## What was announced?

This one comes from Cloudflare's Changelog. [Workers VPC](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers-vpc/) network bindings now support raw TCP connections through the [connect()](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/runtime-apis/tcp-sockets/) Socket API! On top of the existing HTTP traffic via `fetch()`, you can now open TCP sockets too.

What can you reach? Private services that are accessible through a Cloudflare Tunnel, Cloudflare Mesh, or Cloudflare WAN on-ramp. Think Redis, Memcached, MQTT, custom binary protocols — anything that speaks plain TCP.

## The story so far

Until now, VPC Network bindings were centered on HTTP via `fetch()`. That was great for services that talk HTTP, but services like Redis and Memcached that speak raw TCP were a bit harder to reach directly.

## What changes

From your Workers, you can now open a socket straight to a TCP service sitting deep inside your private network! Send a `PING` to Redis, hit Memcached, subscribe over MQTT — things that used to need an extra relay in the middle can now be written with a single binding. If you want to use your own private DB or message queue from Workers, this is a lovely step forward.

## Dive Deep

Setup is nice and simple. You just add a VPC Network binding to `wrangler.jsonc`.

```jsonc
{
  "vpc_networks": [
    {
      "binding": "PRIVATE_NETWORK",
      "network_id": "cf1:network",
      "remote": true
    }
  ]
}
```

Then at runtime you call `connect()` on the binding. Here's an example that connects to a private Redis and sends a `PING`.

```js
const socket = await env.PRIVATE_NETWORK.connect("10.0.1.50:6379");

const writer = socket.writable.getWriter();
await writer.write(new TextEncoder().encode("PING\r\n"));
await writer.close();
```

One thing to note: for now, `connect()` over VPC Networks supports plaintext TCP only — no TLS yet. If you want more detail, check out [VPC Networks](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers-vpc/configuration/vpc-networks/) and the [Workers Binding API](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers-vpc/api/).

## Wrap-up

- Workers VPC network bindings now support TCP connections via `connect()`
- You can open TCP sockets to private Redis, Memcached, MQTT, and more over Cloudflare Tunnel, Mesh, or WAN
- Setup is just a binding in `wrangler.jsonc`; at runtime you call `connect()`
- Plaintext TCP only for now (no TLS yet)

If you're on the backend side and want to use private-network TCP services straight from Workers, this update is a perfect fit for you!