Laravel broadcasting with Realtime

Realtime is a managed WebSocket relay that speaks the Pusher protocol, the same protocol Laravel Reverb uses. Your app keeps its normal Reverb setup: BROADCAST_CONNECTION=reverb on the server and Echo with broadcaster: 'reverb' in the browser. dply runs the WebSocket server, so you never run php artisan reverb:start.

How it fits together#

• Browsers connect to the relay over wss:// with the app's public key.
• Your app publishes events to the relay over HTTPS, signed with the app's secret.
• Private and presence channels are authorized by your own app at /broadcasting/auth. The relay never sees your users.

This guide assumes a Laravel 11 or 12 app already deployed as a container. See Deploy a Laravel app.

Install broadcasting in your app#

Locally, install broadcasting with the Reverb driver:

php artisan install:broadcasting --reverb

This adds the reverb connection to config/broadcasting.php, resources/js/echo.js and routes/channels.php, and installs laravel-echo and pusher-js. The stock files work unchanged. Commit them.

The reverb connection reads these variables:

'reverb' => [
    'driver' => 'reverb',
    'key' => env('REVERB_APP_KEY'),
    'secret' => env('REVERB_APP_SECRET'),
    'app_id' => env('REVERB_APP_ID'),
    'options' => [
        'host' => env('REVERB_HOST'),
        'port' => env('REVERB_PORT', 443),
        'scheme' => env('REVERB_SCHEME', 'https'),
        'useTLS' => env('REVERB_SCHEME', 'https') === 'https',
    ],
],

Add a Realtime resource#

1. On the app's Overview, choose Add resource, then Realtime.
2. Redeploy the app.

The next deploy sets these variables. A value you save under Environment wins over the injected one.

Configure Echo#

The file install:broadcasting generates already reads the right variables:

import Echo from 'laravel-echo';
import Pusher from 'pusher-js';

window.Pusher = Pusher;

window.Echo = new Echo({
    broadcaster: 'reverb',
    key: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_APP_KEY,
    wsHost: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_HOST,
    wsPort: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_PORT ?? 443,
    wssPort: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_PORT ?? 443,
    forceTLS: (import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_SCHEME ?? 'https') === 'https',
    enabledTransports: ['ws', 'wss'],
});

Broadcast an event#

Broadcast as usual. For a private channel, authorize it in routes/channels.php:

Broadcast::channel('orders.{orderId}', function ($user, $orderId) {
    return $user->id === Order::findOrNew($orderId)->user_id;
});

class OrderShipped implements ShouldBroadcast
{
    public function __construct(public Order $order) {}

    public function broadcastOn(): array
    {
        return [new PrivateChannel('orders.'.$this->order->id)];
    }
}

Echo.private(`orders.${orderId}`).listen('OrderShipped', (e) => console.log(e));

ShouldBroadcast events are queued. Process them with queue workers or a Queue resource (see Deploy a Laravel app), or use ShouldBroadcastNow to publish during the request.

Test the connection#

Open the Realtime resource from the app's Overview. Under Listen in the browser, choose Connect, then Send test event. When the dply.test event appears, the relay works end to end. If it does not, the resource may be asleep, or Allowed origins may not include the dashboard.

Settings#

In the Realtime resource's Settings:

• Max connections: sockets open at once. The relay refuses connections beyond it. The largest size depends on the plan: 200 on Starter, 1,000 on Pro, 5,000 on Team.
• Allowed origins: one origin per line, such as https://example.com. Empty allows any.
• Client events: let browsers send client-* events to each other on private and presence channels (Echo whisper).

These apply at the relay right away, without a redeploy.

Rotate secret issues a new secret immediately. Browsers keep working because the key does not change, but the running app signs with the old secret until you redeploy, so its broadcasts are refused in between.

Usage and billing#

Realtime is metered by connection-minutes (each open socket, each minute) and messages (each publish; deliveries to sockets are free). They bill at these rates:

See Usage & metering and Realtime (WebSockets).

Next steps#

• Realtime (WebSockets)
• Queue workers
• Troubleshooting errors & 5xx