Publishable keys

A publishable key lets a page or app read live data without signing anyone in and without a backend: a live scoreboard, a delivery tracking link, a public status page.

The key is public by design. Anyone can copy it from your page, so it can only ever read the topics you chose, and it never names a user.

Set it upCopy Anchor Link

1. In the segment's Settings, under Who can connect, turn on Allow anonymous connections. You can also cap how many anonymous connections may be open at once.
2. On the Publishable keys tab, choose Add key. Give it a name (e.g. "Public scoreboard"), the topic patterns it may read (e.g. scores/>, with subscribe) and, optionally, an expiry date.
3. Copy the key. It looks like rte_pk_scoreboard.4f1c….

Use itCopy Anchor Link

import { Folkways } from '@folkways/realtime';

const client = new Folkways.Realtime({
  url: 'https://rte.example.com',
  publishableKey: 'rte_pk_scoreboard.4f1c…',
});
await client.connect();

const match = client.topic('scores/match-7');
match.subscribe();

// Show every current value, and update when they change.
match.values('score').subscribe(() => {
  for (const [key, msg] of match.values('score')) render(key, msg.data);
});

The SDK trades the key for an anonymous token at the node, and trades it again before the token expires. Your code doesn't change.

What it can and can't doCopy Anchor Link

Your server writes to those topics instead, with rte.publish(), so the topic rule must allow publish for your server while the key only grants subscribe.

Pause, revoke and expiryCopy Anchor Link

On the Publishable keys tab you can pause, resume or revoke a key. Connections already using it are closed within about a minute:

If a key is misused, revoke it and ship a new one.