ably-flutter

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Ably Pub/Sub Flutter SDK

Build any realtime experience using Ably’s Pub/Sub Flutter SDK. Supported on popular platforms and frameworks, including Android and iOS.

Ably Pub/Sub provides flexible APIs that deliver features such as pub-sub messaging, message history, presence, and push notifications. Utilizing Ably’s realtime messaging platform, applications benefit from its highly performant, reliable, and scalable infrastructure.

Find out more:

• Ably Pub/Sub docs.
• Ably Pub/Sub examples.

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Getting started

Everything you need to get started with Ably:

• Getting started in Pub/Sub using Flutter.
• SDK Setup for Flutter.

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Supported platforms

Ably aims to support a wide range of platforms. If you experience any compatibility issues, open an issue in the repository or contact Ably support.

This SDK supports the following platforms:

Platform	Support
Android	Android 4.4 (API level 19) or newer. Java 8 language features supported via Desugaring.
iOS	iOS 10 or newer
Flutter	Flutter 2.5.0 or higher

[!NOTE] If your project needs support for SDK Version lower than 24, Android Gradle Plugin 4.0.0+ must be used. You might also need to upgrade gradle distribution. [!IMPORTANT] SDK versions < 1.2.25 will be deprecated from November 1, 2025.

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Installation

To get started with your project, install the package:

Add the Ably Flutter package to your project by including it in your pubspec.yaml file:

dependencies:
  ably_flutter: ^1.2.44

Once added to your dependencies, import it in your Dart code:

import 'package:ably_flutter/ably_flutter.dart' as ably;

[!NOTE] When increasing the version of ably_flutter in your pubspec.yaml, if there are breaking changes, follow the updating / migration guide.

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Usage

The following code connects to Ably's realtime messaging service, subscribes to a channel to receive messages, and publishes a test message to that same channel:

  // Initialize Ably Realtime client
  final clientOptions = ably.ClientOptions(
    key: 'your-ably-api-key',
    clientId: 'me',
  );
  
  final realtimeClient = ably.Realtime(options: clientOptions);
  
  // Wait for connection to be established
  await realtimeClient.connection
      .on(ably.ConnectionEvent.connected)
      .first
      .then((stateChange) {
    print('Connected to Ably');
  });
  
  // Get a reference to the 'test-channel' channel
  final channel = realtimeClient.channels.get('test-channel');
  
  // Subscribe to all messages published to this channel
  channel.subscribe().listen((ably.Message message) {
    print('Received message: ${message.data}');
  });
  
  // Publish a test message to the channel
  await channel.publish(
    name: 'test-event',
    data: 'hello world',
  );

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Releases

The CHANGELOG.md contains details of the latest releases for this SDK. You can also view all Ably releases on changelog.ably.com.

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Contributing

Read the CONTRIBUTING.md guidelines to contribute to Ably.

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Support, feedback, and troubleshooting

For help or technical support, visit the Ably Support page or GitHub Issues for community-reported bugs and discussions.