Available SDKs

Ably SDKs provide a consistent and idiomatic API across a variety of supported platforms. They contain a realtime and a REST interface, each of which offer different functionality and satisfy different use cases.

Use this page to check for which version of an SDK a feature is supported from. Be aware that this can vary between the realtime and the REST interface, as well as between SDKs.

The realtime interface is implemented using an Ably-defined protocol, with communication primarily over WebSockets. It enables devices and browsers to maintain a persistent connection to Ably. A WebSocket connection to Ably is multiplexed, allowing multiple channels to share a single connection. It is also bi-directional, allowing realtime messages to be sent both to and from the Ably service without having to fall back to inefficient techniques like HTTP polling. Realtime interface APIs are only usable in environments that support asynchronous or evented IO.

The REST interface communicates with the Ably service using the HTTP protocol and is effectively stateless. The REST interface provides a convenient way to access the REST HTTP API and is intended to be used by clients that don’t require realtime updates.

Deciding which interface to use depends on your application and use case.

The following table contains a list of common platforms and languages. The Ably SDK that supports each is listed, including a link to the relevant GitHub repository.

The Spaces SDK enables you to implement realtime collaborative features in your applications.

The following tables show the minimum version that a feature is supported from in each Ably SDK.