Realtime API Reference

Overview

Realtime has two surfaces:

REST API for channel management, message history, delivery stats, permissions, and retention settings.
Socket.IO for live subscribe, publish, presence, and delivered events.

The REST API does not stream messages. Use the Socket.IO connection, or the TypeScript SDK, for live events.

Authentication

Admin REST endpoints require a project-admin token or API key.

Authorization: Bearer <project-admin-jwt-or-ik_api_key>
Content-Type: application/json

You can also pass API keys with:

X-API-Key: <ik_api_key>

Socket.IO connections authenticate through the Socket.IO auth object:

const socket = io('https://your-app.insforge.app', {
  auth: {
    token: '<user-jwt-or-anon-token>'
  }
});

Server/admin clients may pass an API key:

const socket = io('https://your-app.insforge.app', {
  auth: {
    apiKey: '<ik_api_key>'
  }
});

Socket.IO Pub/Sub

Install the Socket.IO client when you are not using the InsForge SDK:

npm install socket.io-client

import { io } from 'socket.io-client';

const socket = io('https://your-app.insforge.app', {
  auth: {
    token: '<user-jwt-or-anon-token>'
  }
});

socket.emit('realtime:subscribe', { channel: 'order:123' }, (response) => {
  if (response.ok) {
    console.log('Subscribed:', response.channel);
    console.log('Presence:', response.presence.members);
  } else {
    console.error(response.error.code, response.error.message);
  }
});

Listen For Events

socket.on('status_changed', (message) => {
  console.log(message.status);
  console.log(message.meta.messageId);
  console.log(message.meta.senderType);
});

socket.on('presence:join', (message) => {
  console.log('Joined:', message.member);
});

socket.on('presence:leave', (message) => {
  console.log('Left:', message.member);
});

socket.on('realtime:error', (error) => {
  console.error(error.channel, error.code, error.message);
});

Publish

socket.emit('realtime:publish', {
  channel: 'order:123',
  event: 'customer_viewed',
  payload: {
    viewedAt: new Date().toISOString()
  }
});

The socket must successfully subscribe to a channel before it can publish to that channel.

Unsubscribe

socket.emit('realtime:unsubscribe', { channel: 'order:123' });
socket.disconnect();

Socket Events

Event	Direction	Description
`realtime:subscribe`	Client to server	Subscribe to a channel. The acknowledgement returns success/error and a presence snapshot.
`realtime:unsubscribe`	Client to server	Leave a channel.
`realtime:publish`	Client to server	Insert a user message into the realtime pipeline.
Custom event name	Server to client	Delivered message, emitted under the message `eventName`.
`presence:join`	Server to client	A logical member became present in the channel.
`presence:leave`	Server to client	A logical member is no longer present in the channel.
`realtime:error`	Server to client	Subscribe or publish failed.

Channel Patterns

Create channel definitions before clients subscribe.

Pattern	Matches
`orders`	`orders`
`order:%`	`order:123`, `order:456`
`chat:%:messages`	`chat:room-1:messages`

Pattern matching uses SQL LIKE, so % is the wildcard. _ is not accepted in channel patterns because it is also a SQL wildcard.

Channels

List Channels

GET /api/realtime/channels

curl "https://your-app.insforge.app/api/realtime/channels" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <project-admin-jwt-or-ik_api_key>"

Response:

[
  {
    "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "pattern": "order:%",
    "description": "Order updates",
    "webhookUrls": ["https://example.com/webhook"],
    "enabled": true,
    "createdAt": "2026-04-25T17:00:00.000Z",
    "updatedAt": "2026-04-25T17:00:00.000Z"
  }
]

Create Channel

POST /api/realtime/channels

Request body:

Field	Type	Required	Description
`pattern`	`string`	Yes	Channel pattern.
`description`	`string`	No	Human-readable description.
`webhookUrls`	`string[]`	No	Webhook URLs for every delivered message.
`enabled`	`boolean`	No	Defaults to `true`. Disabled channels cannot be joined or delivered to.

curl -X POST "https://your-app.insforge.app/api/realtime/channels" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <project-admin-jwt-or-ik_api_key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "pattern": "chat:%",
    "description": "Chat rooms",
    "webhookUrls": ["https://example.com/realtime-webhook"],
    "enabled": true
  }'

Get Channel

GET /api/realtime/channels/{id}

Update Channel

PUT /api/realtime/channels/{id}

curl -X PUT "https://your-app.insforge.app/api/realtime/channels/550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <project-admin-jwt-or-ik_api_key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "description": "Active order updates",
    "enabled": true
  }'

Delete Channel

DELETE /api/realtime/channels/{id}

{
  "message": "Channel deleted"
}

Message history is preserved. Deleted channels set existing message channelId values to null.

Messages

List Messages

GET /api/realtime/messages

Query parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
`channelId`	`uuid`	Filter by channel ID.
`eventName`	`string`	Filter by event name.
`limit`	`integer`	1 to 1000. Defaults to 100.
`offset`	`integer`	Defaults to 0.

curl "https://your-app.insforge.app/api/realtime/messages?eventName=status_changed&limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <project-admin-jwt-or-ik_api_key>"

Response:

[
  {
    "id": "660e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "eventName": "status_changed",
    "channelId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "channelName": "order:123",
    "payload": {
      "id": "123",
      "status": "shipped"
    },
    "senderType": "system",
    "senderId": null,
    "wsAudienceCount": 5,
    "whAudienceCount": 1,
    "whDeliveredCount": 1,
    "createdAt": "2026-04-25T17:00:00.000Z"
  }
]

Message Stats

GET /api/realtime/messages/stats

Query parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
`channelId`	`uuid`	Filter stats by channel ID.
`since`	`date-time`	Include only messages created after this timestamp.

{
  "totalMessages": 1250,
  "whDeliveryRate": 0.98,
  "topEvents": [
    {
      "eventName": "status_changed",
      "count": 450
    }
  ],
  "retentionDays": null
}

retentionDays: null means messages are retained indefinitely.

Permissions

GET /api/realtime/permissions

Returns user-defined RLS policies for:

Subscribe checks on realtime.channels.
Publish checks on realtime.messages.

{
  "subscribe": {
    "policies": [
      {
        "policyName": "users_subscribe_own_orders",
        "tableName": "channels",
        "command": "SELECT",
        "roles": ["authenticated"],
        "using": "pattern = 'order:%'",
        "withCheck": null
      }
    ]
  },
  "publish": {
    "policies": []
  }
}

Configuration

Get Realtime Config

GET /api/realtime/config

{
  "retentionDays": null
}

Update Realtime Config

PATCH /api/realtime/config

curl -X PATCH "https://your-app.insforge.app/api/realtime/config" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <project-admin-jwt-or-ik_api_key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "retentionDays": 90
  }'

Use null to keep messages indefinitely. Positive integers retain messages for that many days.

Webhooks

When a channel has webhookUrls, each message delivered through that channel is posted to each URL. The request body is the original message payload. Headers identify the delivery:

Header	Value
`X-InsForge-Event`	Event name
`X-InsForge-Channel`	Resolved channel name
`X-InsForge-Message-Id`	Message UUID

Delivery attempts are reflected in whAudienceCount and whDeliveredCount on message history.

TypeScript

Swift

Kotlin

REST API

Examples

Overview

Authentication

Socket.IO Pub/Sub

Listen For Events

Publish

Unsubscribe

Socket Events

Channel Patterns

Channels

List Channels

Create Channel

Get Channel

Update Channel

Delete Channel

Messages

List Messages

Message Stats

Permissions

Configuration

Get Realtime Config

Update Realtime Config

Webhooks

​Overview

​Authentication

​Socket.IO Pub/Sub

​Connect And Subscribe

​Listen For Events

​Publish

​Unsubscribe

​Socket Events

​Channel Patterns

​Channels

​List Channels

​Create Channel

​Get Channel

​Update Channel

​Delete Channel

​Messages

​List Messages

​Message Stats

​Permissions

​Configuration

​Get Realtime Config

​Update Realtime Config

​Webhooks

Overview

Authentication

Socket.IO Pub/Sub

Connect And Subscribe

Listen For Events

Publish

Unsubscribe

Socket Events

Channel Patterns

Channels

List Channels

Create Channel

Get Channel

Update Channel

Delete Channel

Messages

List Messages

Message Stats

Permissions

Configuration

Get Realtime Config

Update Realtime Config

Webhooks