# Set up route responses for WebSocket APIs in API Gateway
<a name="apigateway-websocket-api-route-response"></a>

WebSocket routes can be configured for two-way or one-way communication. API Gateway will not pass the backend response through to the route response, unless you set up a route response. 

**Note**  
You can only define the `$default` route response for WebSocket APIs. You can use an integration response to manipulate the response from a backend service. For more information, see [Overview of integration responses](apigateway-websocket-api-integration-responses.md#apigateway-websocket-api-integration-response-overview). 

You can configure route responses and response selection expressions by using the API Gateway console or the AWS CLI or an AWS SDK. 

For more information about route response selection expressions, see [Route response selection expressions](apigateway-websocket-api-selection-expressions.md#apigateway-websocket-api-route-response-selection-expressions).

**Topics**
+ [Set up a route response using the API Gateway console](#apigateway-websocket-api-route-response-using-console)
+ [Set up a route response using the AWS CLI](#apigateway-websocket-api-route-response-using-awscli)

## Set up a route response using the API Gateway console
<a name="apigateway-websocket-api-route-response-using-console"></a>

After you have created a WebSocket API and attached a proxy Lambda function to the default route, you can set up route response using the API Gateway console:

1. Sign in to the API Gateway console, choose a WebSocket API with a proxy Lambda function integration on the `$default` route.

1. Under **Routes**, choose the `$default` route.

1. Choose **Enable two-way communication**. 

1. Choose **Deploy API**.

1. Deploy your API to a stage.

 Use the following [ wscat](https://www.npmjs.com/package/wscat) command to connect to your API. For more information about `wscat`, see [Use `wscat` to connect to a WebSocket API and send messages to it](apigateway-how-to-call-websocket-api-wscat.md). 

```
wscat -c wss://api-id.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/test
```

 Press the enter button to call the default route. The body of your Lambda function should return.

## Set up a route response using the AWS CLI
<a name="apigateway-websocket-api-route-response-using-awscli"></a>

The following [create-route-response](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/apigatewayv2/create-route-response.html) command creates a route response for the `$default` route. You can identify the API ID and route ID by using the [get-apis](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/apigatewayv2/get-apis.html) and [get-routes](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/apigatewayv2/get-routes.html) commands.

```
aws apigatewayv2 create-route-response \
    --api-id aabbccddee \
    --route-id 1122334  \
    --route-response-key '$default'
```

The output will look like the following:

```
{
    "RouteResponseId": "abcdef",
    "RouteResponseKey": "$default"
}
```