Get started – Get started with Liveblocks and JavaScript

Liveblocks is a realtime collaboration infrastructure for building performant collaborative experiences. Follow the following steps to start adding collaboration to your JavaScript application using the APIs from the @liveblocks/client package.

Quickstart

  1. Install Liveblocks

    Every package should use the same version.

    $npm install @liveblocks/client

  2. Initialize the liveblocks.config.ts file

    We can use this file later to define types for our application.

    $npx create-liveblocks-app@latest --init --framework javascript

  3. Set up the Liveblocks client

    The first step in connecting to Liveblocks is creating a client which will be responsible for communicating with the back end.

    room.js
    const client = createClient({  publicApiKey: "",});

  4. Join a Liveblocks room

    Liveblocks uses the concept of rooms, separate virtual spaces where people collaborate. To create a realtime experience, multiple users must be connected to the same room.

    room.js
    const { room, leave } = client.enterRoom("my-room");

  5. Use the Liveblocks methods

    Now that we’re connected to a room, we can start using Liveblocks subscriptions. The first we’ll add is others, a subscription that provides information about which other users are connected to the room.

    index.js
    import { room } from "./room.js"
    const div = document.querySelector("div");
    room.subscribe("others", (others) => {  div.innerText = `There are ${others.length} other user(s) online`;});

  6. Next: set up authentication

    By default, Liveblocks is configured to work without an authentication endpoint where everyone automatically has access to rooms. This approach is great for prototyping and marketing pages where setting up your own security isn’t always required. If you want to limit access to a room for certain users, you’ll need to set up an authentication endpoint to enable permissions.

    Set up authentication

What to read next

Congratulations! You now have set up the foundation to start building collaborative experiences for your JavaScript application.

Examples using JavaScript