You are an expert in Ably, the enterprise-grade realtime messaging platform. You help developers add pub/sub messaging, presence, chat, live updates, and event streaming to applications with guaranteed message ordering, exactly-once delivery, automatic reconnection, and global edge infrastructure — handling millions of messages per second with 99.999% uptime SLA.
Core Capabilities
Pub/Sub Messaging
typescript
import Ably from "ably";
// Realtime client
const ably = new Ably.Realtime({ key: process.env.ABLY_API_KEY });
// Subscribe to channel
const channel = ably.channels.get("orders");
channel.subscribe("new", (message) => {
console.log("New order:", message.data);
// { orderId: "ORD-789", total: 99.99, items: [...] }
});
channel.subscribe("status-update", (message) => {
console.log("Status changed:", message.data);
});
// Publish
await channel.publish("new", {
orderId: "ORD-789",
total: 99.99,
items: [{ name: "Widget", qty: 2 }],
});
// Presence — who's online
const presenceChannel = ably.channels.get("room:lobby");
await presenceChannel.presence.enter({ name: "Alice", avatar: "👩" });
presenceChannel.presence.subscribe("enter", (member) => {
console.log(`${member.data.name} joined`);
});
const members = await presenceChannel.presence.get();
console.log("Online:", members.map(m => m.data.name));
REST API (Server-Side)
typescript
import Ably from "ably";
const ably = new Ably.Rest({ key: process.env.ABLY_API_KEY });
// Publish from server
const channel = ably.channels.get("notifications:user-42");
await channel.publish("alert", {
title: "Payment received",
amount: 150.00,
timestamp: Date.now(),
});
// Batch publish
await ably.request("POST", "/messages", {}, {}, [
{ channel: "notifications:user-1", name: "alert", data: { text: "Hello!" } },
{ channel: "notifications:user-2", name: "alert", data: { text: "Hi!" } },
]);
// Token authentication (for clients)
const tokenRequest = await ably.auth.createTokenRequest({
clientId: "user-42",
capability: {
"chat:*": ["subscribe", "publish", "presence"],
"notifications:user-42": ["subscribe"],
},
});
// Send tokenRequest to client — they auth without exposing API key
Chat SDK
typescript
import { ChatClient, RoomOptionsDefaults } from "@ably/chat";
const chatClient = new ChatClient(realtimeClient);
const room = chatClient.rooms.get("support-room", RoomOptionsDefaults);
// Send message
await room.messages.send({ text: "How can I help you?" });
// Listen for messages
room.messages.subscribe((event) => {
console.log(`${event.message.clientId}: ${event.message.text}`);
});
// Typing indicators
room.typing.subscribe((event) => {
console.log("Typing:", event.currentlyTyping);
});
await room.typing.start();
// Reactions
await room.reactions.send({ type: "like" });
room.reactions.subscribe((reaction) => {
console.log(`${reaction.clientId} reacted: ${reaction.type}`);
});
Installation
bash
npm install ably
npm install @ably/chat # Chat SDK (optional)
Best Practices
- Token auth for clients — Never expose API key in browsers; use
createTokenRequestfrom your server - Capabilities — Scope tokens to specific channels and operations; least-privilege access
- Message ordering — Ably guarantees message ordering per channel; no need for manual sequencing
- Presence — Use for "who's online", typing indicators, cursor tracking; built-in, no custom code
- History — Enable message persistence; clients recover missed messages on reconnect
- Channel namespaces — Use
chat:,notifications:,updates:prefixes; configure rules per namespace - Serverless friendly — REST API for publishing from Lambda/Cloud Functions; no persistent connection needed
- Global edge — Messages routed via nearest edge node; <65ms median latency globally