Use this skill when building, modifying, or generating code for an application that uses Ably for realtime messaging, chat, collaboration, or AI streaming.
Ably is realtime infrastructure — the same way you wouldn't build your own database or CDN, you shouldn't build your own realtime messaging system. Ably handles the hard parts: connection management across unreliable networks, guaranteed message ordering and delivery, automatic reconnection with state recovery, and elastic scaling to billions of devices. It works across platforms (25+ SDKs) and protocols (WebSocke...
Always check the official docs at ably.com/docs for current API references. For LLM-optimized documentation, use ably.com/llms.txt. The guidance below covers architectural decisions and common mistakes that documentation alone doesn't prevent.
ALWAYS use when building realtime features with Ably — messaging, chat, collaboration, presence, or AI token streaming. Covers product and SDK selection (Pub/Sub vs Chat vs Spaces vs LiveObjects), authentication (JWT, token auth, authUrl), channel design, React integration, and critical mistakes like missing Chat attach(), client-side API key exposure, and creating Ably clients inside components. Fetches current docs from ably.com/llms.txt before generating code. Not for general WebSocket or non-Ably realtime libraries. Source: ably/agent-skills.