I don't know what you mean by "I don't want anybody to be able listen to the events," since web apps can always be taken apart using the dev tools (including th

I don't know what you mean by "I don't want anybody to be able listen to the events," since web apps can always be taken apart using the dev tools (including the network requests). But, putting that aside for a second, since you want a node server to send events to your react app, socket.io (open source, MIT license) should be able to help you. It works with node and you can bind it to a Component's state. https://socket.io/ https://socket.io/