Get started – Get started with Liveblocks and Next.js

Liveblocks is a realtime collaboration infrastructure for building performant collaborative experiences. Follow the following steps to start adding collaboration to your Next.js /app directory application using the hooks from the @liveblocks/react package.

Quickstart

  1. Install Liveblocks

    Every package should use the same version.

    $npm install @liveblocks/client @liveblocks/react

  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 react

  3. Create a Liveblocks room

    Liveblocks uses the concept of rooms, separate virtual spaces where people collaborate, and to create a realtime experience, multiple users must be connected to the same room. When using Next.js’ /app router, we recommend creating your room in a Room.tsx file in the same directory as your current route.

    Set up a Liveblocks client with LiveblocksProvider, join a room with RoomProvider, and use ClientSideSuspense to add a loading spinner to your app.

    app/Room.tsx
    "use client";
    import { ReactNode } from "react";import {  LiveblocksProvider,  RoomProvider,  ClientSideSuspense,} from "@liveblocks/react/suspense";
    export function Room({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {  return (    <LiveblocksProvider publicApiKey={""}>      <RoomProvider id="my-room">        <ClientSideSuspense fallback={<div>Loading…</div>}>          {children}        </ClientSideSuspense>      </RoomProvider>    </LiveblocksProvider>  );}

  4. Add the Liveblocks room to your page

    After creating your room file, it’s time to join it. Import your room into your page.tsx file, and place your collaborative app components inside it.

    app/page.tsx
    import { Room } from "./Room";import { CollaborativeApp } from "./CollaborativeApp";
    export default function Page() {  return (    <Room>      <CollaborativeApp />    </Room>  );}

  5. Use the Liveblocks hooks

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

    app/CollaborativeApp.tsx
    "use client";
    import { useOthers } from "@liveblocks/react/suspense";
    export function CollaborativeApp() {  const others = useOthers();  const userCount = others.length;  return <div>There are {userCount} other user(s) online</div>;}

  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 React application.

Examples using Next.js