Supabase Realtime

Send ephemeral messages, track and synchronize shared state, and listen to Postgres changes all over WebSockets.
Multiplayer Demo · Request Feature · Report Bug

Status

Features	v1	v2	Status
Postgres Changes	✔	✔	GA
Broadcast		✔	Beta
Presence		✔	Beta

This repository focuses on version 2 but you can still access the previous version's code and Docker image. For the latest Docker images go to https://hub.docker.com/r/supabase/realtime.

The codebase is under heavy development and the documentation is constantly evolving. Give it a try and let us know what you think by creating an issue. Watch releases of this repo to get notified of updates. And give us a star if you like it!

Overview

What is this?

This is a server built with Elixir using the Phoenix Framework that enables the following functionality:

• Broadcast: Send ephemeral messages from client to clients with low latency.
• Presence: Track and synchronize shared state between clients.
• Postgres Changes: Listen to Postgres database changes and send them to authorized clients.

For a more detailed overview head over to Realtime guides.

Does this server guarantee message delivery?

The server does not guarantee that every message will be delivered to your clients so keep that in mind as you're using Realtime.

Quick start

You can check out the Multiplayer demo that features Broadcast, Presence and Postgres Changes under the demo directory: https://github.com/supabase/realtime/tree/main/demo.

Client libraries

• JavaScript: @supabase/realtime-js
• Dart: @supabase/realtime-dart

Server Setup

To get started, spin up your Postgres database and Realtime server containers defined in docker-compose.yml. As an example, you may run docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up.

Note Supabase runs Realtime in production with a separate database that keeps track of all tenants. However, a schema, _realtime, is created when spinning up containers via docker-compose.yml to simplify local development.

A tenant has already been added on your behalf. You can confirm this by checking the _realtime.tenants and _realtime.extensions tables inside the database.

You can add your own by making a POST request to the server. You must change both name and external_id while you may update other values as you see fit:

  curl -X POST \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiIiLCJpYXQiOjE2NzEyMzc4NzMsImV4cCI6MTcwMjc3Mzk5MywiYXVkIjoiIiwic3ViIjoiIn0._ARixa2KFUVsKBf3UGR90qKLCpGjxhKcXY4akVbmeNQ' \
  -d $'{
    "tenant" : {
      "name": "realtime-dev",
      "external_id": "realtime-dev",
      "jwt_secret": "a1d99c8b-91b6-47b2-8f3c-aa7d9a9ad20f",
      "extensions": [
        {
          "type": "postgres_cdc_rls",
          "settings": {
            "db_name": "postgres",
            "db_host": "host.docker.internal",
            "db_user": "postgres",
            "db_password": "postgres",
            "db_port": "5432",
            "region": "us-west-1",
            "poll_interval_ms": 100,
            "poll_max_record_bytes": 1048576,
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }' \
  http://localhost:4000/api/tenants

Note The Authorization token is signed with the secret set by API_JWT_SECRET in docker-compose.yml.

If you want to listen to Postgres changes, you can create a table and then add the table to the supabase_realtime publication:

create table test (
  id serial primary key
);

alter publication supabase_realtime add table test;

You can start playing around with Broadcast, Presence, and Postgres Changes features either with the client libs (e.g. @supabase/realtime-js), or use the built in Realtime Inspector on localhost, http://localhost:4000/inspector/new (make sure the port is correct for your development environment).

The WebSocket URL must contain the subdomain, external_id of the tenant on the _realtime.tenants table, and the token must be signed with the jwt_secret that was inserted along with the tenant.

If you're using the default tenant, the URL is ws://realtime-dev.localhost:4000/socket (make sure the port is correct for your development environment), and you can use eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJleHAiOjE3MDMwMjgwODcsInJvbGUiOiJwb3N0Z3JlcyJ9.tz_XJ89gd6bN8MBpCl7afvPrZiBH6RB65iA1FadPT3Y for the token. The token must have exp and role (database role) keys.

ALL RELEVANT OPTIONS

Note Realtime server is tightly coupled to Fly.io at the moment.

PORT                       # {number}      Port which you can connect your client/listeners
DB_HOST                    # {string}      Database host URL
DB_PORT                    # {number}      Database port
DB_USER                    # {string}      Database user
DB_PASSWORD                # {string}      Database password
DB_NAME                    # {string}      Postgres database name
DB_ENC_KEY                 # {string}      Key used to encrypt sensitive fields in _realtime.tenants and _realtime.extensions tables. Recommended: 16 characters.
DB_AFTER_CONNECT_QUERY     # {string}      Query that is run after server connects to database.
API_JWT_SECRET             # {string}      Secret that is used to sign tokens used to manage tenants and their extensions via HTTP requests.
FLY_ALLOC_ID               # {string}      This is auto-set when deploying to Fly. Otherwise, set to any string.
FLY_APP_NAME               # {string}      A name of the server.
FLY_REGION                 # {string}        Name of the region that the server is running in. Fly auto-sets this on deployment. Otherwise, set to any string.
SECRET_KEY_BASE            # {string}      Secret used by the server to sign cookies. Recommended: 64 characters.
ERL_AFLAGS                 # {string}      Set to either "-proto_dist inet_tcp" or "-proto_dist inet6_tcp" depending on whether or not your network uses IPv4 or IPv6, respectively.
ENABLE_TAILSCALE           # {string}      Use Tailscale for private networking. Set to either 'true' or 'false'.
TAILSCALE_APP_NAME         # {string}      Name of the Tailscale app.
TAILSCALE_AUTHKEY          # {string}      Auth key for the Tailscape app.
DNS_NODES                  # {string}      Node name used when running server in a cluster.
MAX_CONNECTIONS            # {string}     Set the soft maximum for WebSocket connections. Defaults to '16384'.
MAX_HEADER_LENGTH          # {string}      Set the maximum header length for connections (in bytes). Defaults to '4096'.
NUM_ACCEPTORS              # {string}     Set the number of server processes that will relay incoming WebSocket connection requests. Defaults to '100'.
DB_QUEUE_TARGET            # {string}     Maximum time to wait for a connection from the pool. Defaults to '5000' or 5 seconds. See for more info: https://hexdocs.pm/db_connection/DBConnection.html#start_link/2-queue-config.
DB_QUEUE_INTERVAL          # {string}     Interval to wait to check if all connections were checked out under DB_QUEUE_TARGET. If all connections surpassed the target during this interval than the target is doubled. Defaults to '5000' or 5 seconds. See for more info: https://hexdocs.pm/db_connection/DBConnection.html#start_link/2-queue-config.
DB_POOL_SIZE               # {string}     Sets the number of connections in the database pool. Defaults to '5'.
SLOT_NAME_SUFFIX           # {string}     This is appended to the replication slot which allows making a custom slot name. May contain lowercase letters, numbers, and the underscore character. Together with the default `supabase_realtime_replication_slot`, slot name should be up to 64 characters long.

WebSocket URL

The WebSocket URL is in the following format for local development: ws://[external_id].localhost:4000/socket/websocket

If you're using Supabase's hosted Realtime in production the URL is wss://[project-ref].supabase.co/realtime/v1/websocket?apikey=[anon-token]&log_level=info&vsn=1.0.0"

WebSocket Connection Authorization

WebSocket connections are authorized via symmetric JWT verification. Only supports JWTs signed with the following algorithms:

• HS256
• HS384
• HS512

Verify JWT claims by setting JWT_CLAIM_VALIDATORS:

e.g. {'iss': 'Issuer', 'nbf': 1610078130}

Then JWT's "iss" value must equal "Issuer" and "nbf" value must equal 1610078130.

Note:

JWT expiration is checked automatically. exp and role (database role) keys are mandatory.

Authorizing Client Connection: You can pass in the JWT by following the instructions under the Realtime client lib. For example, refer to the Usage section in the @supabase/realtime-js client library.

Error Operational Codes

This is the list of operational codes that can help you understand your deployment and your usage.

Code	Description	Action
RealtimeDisabledForConfiguration	The configuration provided to Realtime on connect will not be able to provide you any Postgres Changes	Verify your configuration on channel startup as you might not have your tables properly registered
TenantNotFound	The tenant you are trying to connect to does not exist	Verify the tenant name you are trying to connect to exists in the realtime.tenants table
ErrorConnectingToWebsocket	Error when trying to connect to the WebSocket server	Verify user information on connect
ErrorAuthorizingWebsocket	Error when trying to authorize the WebSocket connection	Verify user information on connect
TableHasSpacesInName	The table you are trying to listen to has spaces in its name which we are unable to support	Change the table name to not have spaces in it
UnableToDeleteTenant	Error when trying to delete a tenant	Contact Support
UnableToSetPolicies	Error when setting up Authorization Policies	Contact Support
UnableCheckoutConnection	Error when trying to checkout a connection from the tenant pool	Contact Support
UnableToSubscribeToPostgres	Error when trying to subscribe to Postgres changes	Contact Support
ChannelRateLimitReached	The number of channels you can create has reached its limit	Contact support to increase your rate limits
ConnectionRateLimitReached	The number of connected clients as reached its limit	Contact support to increase your rate limits
ClientJoinRateLimitReached	The rate of joins per second from your clients as reached the channel limits	Contact support to increase your rate limits
UnableToConnectToTenantDatabase	Realtime was not able to connect to the tenant's database	Contact support for further instructions
RealtimeNodeDisconnected	Realtime is a distributed application and this means that one the system is unable to communicate with one of the distributed nodes	Contact support for further instructions
MigrationsFailedToRun	Error when running the migrations against the Tenant database that are required by Realtime	Contact support for further instructions
ErrorStartingPostgresCDCStream	Error when starting the Postgres CDC stream which is used for Postgres Changes	Contact support for further instructions
UnknownDataProcessed	An unknown data type was processed by the Realtime system	Contact support for further instructions
ErrorStartingPostgresCDC	Error when starting the Postgres CDC extension which is used for Postgres Changes	Contact support for further instructions
ReplicationSlotBeingUsed	The replication slot is being used by another transaction	Contact support for further instructions
PoolingReplicationPreparationError	Error when preparing the replication slot	Contact support for further instructions
PoolingReplicationError	Error when pooling the replication slot	Contact support for further instructions
SubscriptionDeletionFailed	Error when trying to delete a subscription for postgres changes	Contact support for further instructions
UnableToDeletePhantomSubscriptions	Error when trying to delete subscriptions that are no longer being used	Contact support for further instructions
UnableToCheckProcessesOnRemoteNode	Error when trying to check the processes on a remote node	Contact support for further instructions
UnableToCreateCounter	Error when trying to create a counter to track rate limits for a tenant	Contact support for further instructions
UnableToIncrementCounter	Error when trying to increment a counter to track rate limits for a tenant	Contact support for further instructions
UnableToDecrementCounter	Error when trying to decrement a counter to track rate limits for a tenant	Contact support for further instructions
UnableToUpdateCounter	Error when trying to update a counter to track rate limits for a tenant	Contact support for further instructions
UnableToFindCounter	Error when trying to find a counter to track rate limits for a tenant	Contact support for further instructions
UnhandledProcessMessage	Unhandled message received by a Realtime process	Contact support for further instructions
UnknownError	An unknown error occurred	Contact support for further instructions

License

This repo is licensed under Apache 2.0.

Credits

• Phoenix - Realtime server is built with the amazing Elixir framework.
• Phoenix Channels JavaScript Client - @supabase/realtime-js client library heavily draws from the Phoenix Channels client library.