Using AnyCable with Laravel

AnyCable can be used as a WebSocket server for Laravel applications using Laravel Echo and Laravel Broadcasting capabilities. Consider it a drop-in replacement for Laravel Reverb, or Pusher, or whatever you use today.

Why choosing AnyCable over Reverb et al?

AnyCable is a battle-proofed real-time server that's been in production at scale for many years. It comes with extensive features set (reliability, various protocols support, observability tools, etc.) and it's free to use.

NOTE: Currently, this feature in the preview phase. There is some work in progress (see the limitations below).

Getting Started

Check out our demo Laravel application to see the complete example: laravel-anycable-demo

First, install the anycable-laravel library:

composer require anycable-laravel

Then, configure the application to use anycable broadcasting driver. For that, add the AnyCable service provider to the bootstrap/providers.php file:

 <?php

 return [
     App\Providers\AppServiceProvider::class,
     // ...
+    AnyCable\Laravel\Providers\AnyCableBroadcastServiceProvider::class,
 ];

Then, register the anycable driver in your config/broadcasting.php file:

'anycable' => [
    'driver' => 'anycable',
],

AnyCable supports Pusher protocol, so your client-side code stays the same. For example:

import Echo from "laravel-echo";

// We use Pusher protocol for now
import Pusher from "pusher-js";
window.Pusher = Pusher;

window.Echo = new Echo({
    broadcaster: "reverb", // reverb or pusher would work
    key: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_APP_KEY,
    wsHost: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_HOST,
    wsPort: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_PORT ?? 80,
    wssPort: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_PORT ?? 443,
    forceTLS: (import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_SCHEME ?? "https") === "https",
    enabledTransports: ["ws", "wss"],
});

Just make sure you point to to the AnyCable server (locally it runs on the same host and port as Reverb).

Finally, install AnyCable server. We provide a convenient Artisan command that automatically downloads (when necessary) and runs the server:

php artisan anycable:server -- --pusher_app_key=my-app-key

The --pusher_app_key must be the same as the VITE_REVERB_APP_KEY for your client. To use public channel, you must also provide the --public_streams flag. You can also create an anycable.toml configuration file (see docs).

Alternatively, you can install AnyCable using other available options.

That's it! Run your Laravel application, launch AnyCable server, and you should see your Echo client connecting to it and receiving updates.

Limitations

Presence channels are yet to be implemented.
Only HTTP broadcasting adapter for AnyCable is supported for now.

Using with Hotwire

Broadcasting