By default, sails.io.js automatically connects a single socket (io.socket) almost immediately after it loads. This allows your client-side code to send socket requests to a particular Sails server and to receive events and data sent from that server. For 99% of apps, this is all you need.
However, for certain advanced use cases (including automated tests), it can be helpful to connect additional sockets from the same instance of the socket client (e.g. browser tab). For this reason, Sails exposes the SailsSocket class.
The sails.io.js library works by wrapping low-level Socket.io clients in instances of the SailsSocket class. This class provides higher-level methods like .get() and .post() to your sockets, allowing you to communicate with your Sails app in a familiar way.
Any web page that loads the sails.io.js will create a new SailsSocket instance on page load unless io.sails.autoConnect is set to false. This instance is then available as the global variable io.socket.
Additional SailsSocket instances can be created via calls to io.sails.connect:
var newSailsSocket = io.sails.connect();
If you notice something we've missed or could be improved on, please follow this link and submit a pull request to the sails repo. Once we merge it, the changes will be reflected on the website the next time it is deployed.