Terminal.skills
Skills/ably
>

ably

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.

#realtime#pubsub#websocket#messaging#serverless#presence
terminal-skillsv1.0.0
Works with:claude-codeopenai-codexgemini-clicursor
Source

Usage

$
✓ Installed ably v1.0.0

Getting Started

  1. Install the skill using the command above
  2. Open your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or Cursor)
  3. Reference the skill in your prompt
  4. The AI will use the skill's capabilities automatically

Example Prompts

  • "Review the open pull requests and summarize what needs attention"
  • "Generate a changelog from the last 20 commits on the main branch"

Information

Version
1.0.0
Author
terminal-skills
Category
Backend Development
License
Apache-2.0

Documentation

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

  1. Token auth for clients — Never expose API key in browsers; use createTokenRequest from your server
  2. Capabilities — Scope tokens to specific channels and operations; least-privilege access
  3. Message ordering — Ably guarantees message ordering per channel; no need for manual sequencing
  4. Presence — Use for "who's online", typing indicators, cursor tracking; built-in, no custom code
  5. History — Enable message persistence; clients recover missed messages on reconnect
  6. Channel namespaces — Use chat:, notifications:, updates: prefixes; configure rules per namespace
  7. Serverless friendly — REST API for publishing from Lambda/Cloud Functions; no persistent connection needed
  8. Global edge — Messages routed via nearest edge node; <65ms median latency globally