Pusher Compatibility

AnyCable supports Pusher protocol meaning that it can be used as a drop-in replacement for Pusher (or another Pusher-speaking WebSocket server such as Laravel Reverb, Soketi, etc.).

Configuration

To enable Pusher compatibility mode, you must specify the following parameters:

• --pusher_app_id (or ANYCABLE_PUSHER_APP_ID): Pusher application ID
• --pusher_app_key (or ANYCABLE_PUSHER_APP_KEY): Pusher application key
• --pusher_secret (or ANYCABLE_PUSHER_SECRET): Pusher secret for signing (falls back to --secret if not specified)

Example:

$ anycable-go --pusher_app_id=my-app-id --pusher_app_key=my-app-key --pusher_secret=my-secret

...
INFO 2025-01-20 12:00:00.000 INF Handle Pusher WebSocket connections at http://localhost:8080/app/my-app-key
INFO 2025-01-20 12:00:00.000 INF Handle Pusher API requests at http://localhost:8080/apps/my-app-id/

In the logs, you will see the Pusher WebSocket and HTTP API endpoints. Configure your Pusher client library and server-side SDKs accordingly.

Dedicated API port

By default, the Pusher HTTP API is served on the same port as WebSocket connections. You can configure a separate port for the HTTP API using the --pusher_api_port option:

$ anycable-go \
  --pusher_app_id=my-app-id \
  --pusher_app_key=my-app-key \
  --pusher_secret=my-secret \
  --pusher_api_port=8081

...
INFO Handle Pusher WebSocket connections at http://localhost:8080/app/my-app-key
INFO Handle Pusher API requests at http://localhost:8081/apps/my-app-id/

This is useful when you want to expose the HTTP API only within a private network while keeping WebSocket connections publicly accessible.

HTTP API

AnyCable implements a subset of Pusher HTTP API for server-to-server communication. All API requests require authentication using the Pusher signature scheme.

Trigger events

Endpoint: POST /apps/{app_id}/events

Broadcast an event to one or more channels:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:8080/apps/my-app-id/events?auth_key=my-app-key&auth_timestamp=$(date +%s)&auth_version=1.0&body_md5=$(echo -n '{"name":"my-event","channel":"my-channel","data":"{}"}' | md5sum | cut -d' ' -f1)&auth_signature=<signature>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"my-event","channel":"my-channel","data":"{}"}'

We recommend using official Pusher server SDKs which handle authentication automatically.

Get channel users

Endpoint: GET /apps/{app_id}/channels/{channel_name}/users

Retrieve the list of users subscribed to a presence channel:

curl "http://localhost:8080/apps/my-app-id/channels/presence-my-channel/users?auth_key=my-app-key&auth_timestamp=$(date +%s)&auth_version=1.0&auth_signature=<signature>"

Response:

{
  "users": [
    {"id": "user-1"},
    {"id": "user-2"}
  ]
}

Notes:

• This endpoint only works with presence channels (channels prefixed with presence-)
• Returns 400 Bad Request for non-presence channels
• Returns an empty list for unknown channels

Example using Pusher Ruby SDK:

require "pusher"

client = Pusher::Client.new(
  app_id: "my-app-id",
  key: "my-app-key",
  secret: "my-secret"
)

# Request the users for a presence channel:
response = pusher.channel_users("presence-my-channel")

response["users"].each do |user|
  puts "User ID: #{user['id']}"
end

Client configuration

Configure your Pusher client to connect to AnyCable:

JavaScript

import Pusher from 'pusher-js';

const pusher = new Pusher('my-app-key', {
  wsHost: 'localhost',
  wsPort: 8080,
  forceTLS: false,
  disableStats: true,
  enabledTransports: ['ws', 'wss'],
});

Laravel Echo

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

window.Pusher = Pusher;

window.Echo = new Echo({
  broadcaster: 'pusher',
  key: 'my-app-key',
  wsHost: 'localhost',
  wsPort: 8080,
  forceTLS: false,
  disableStats: true,
  enabledTransports: ['ws', 'wss'],
});

Compatibility

AnyCable doesn't aim to provide 100% compatibility with the current or future Pusher versions. The primary purpose of this compatibility layer is to allow applications to use AnyCable as a Pusher replacement and, optionally, gradually migrate to the AnyCable protocol to benefit from its features (such as reliable streams).

Supported features

Feature	Status	Notes
Public channels	✅
Private channels	✅
Presence channels	✅
Client events (whispers)	✅
POST /events	✅	Trigger events API
GET /channels/{channel}/users	✅	Get presence channel users
POST /batch_events	⚙️	Can be added if needed
Webhooks	⏳	Planned
Watchlist events	❌	Not planned
Encrypted channels	❓
Authentication (pusher:signin)	❓