Ably Spaces is a JavaScript SDK that enables developers to quickly add realtime collaborative features—such as live cursors, avatar stacks, member presence, component locking, and more—into their web applications. It abstracts the complexities of managing participant state and realtime updates, allowing teams to build collaborative environments efficiently without deep expertise in realtime infrastructure1.

Key Features

Avatar Stack Visualizes which users are present and online in a collaborative space.

• Shows online status of users in real time.
• Updates UI as users join, leave, or update their profile.

Live Cursors Tracks and displays the cursor positions of all members within a space.

• Shows where each user is pointing or focusing.
• Updates cursor positions in real time for all participants.

Member Location Indicates the live location of users within the app (e.g., which page, cell, or block).

• Tracks which part of the application each user is interacting with.
• Updates as users navigate through the app.

Component Locking Allows users to lock specific UI components for editing to avoid conflicts.

• Prevents multiple users from editing the same element simultaneously.
• Notifies others when a component is locked or unlocked.

Chat, Comments, Typing Indicators, and More Supports additional collaboration tools via integration with Ably’s Pub/Sub.

• Enables chat, comments, reactions, notifications, and "follow me" features.
• Extensible for custom collaborative behaviors.

React Integration Provides React hooks for seamless integration in React applications.

• Easy setup with SpacesProvider and hooks like useMembers and useSpace.
• Designed for client-side rendering.

Benefits

Rapid Implementation Reduces development time for complex collaborative features.

• Abstracts realtime infrastructure complexities.
• Simple APIs for quick integration.

Scalable Realtime Collaboration Built on Ably’s robust realtime infrastructure.

• Handles authentication, connection management, and message delivery.
• Scales to support many concurrent users with high reliability.

Extensible and Flexible Integrates with other Ably products and third-party services.

• Easily add new collaborative features as needed.
• Works with webhooks, Lambdas, and stream processors.