# Quickstart - Get started with Liveblocks and Next.js

Liveblocks is a realtime collaboration infrastructure for building performant collaborative experiences. Follow the following steps to start adding collaboration to your Next.js `/app` directory application using the hooks from the [`@liveblocks/react`](/content/docs/api-reference/liveblocks-react/index.html) package.

## Quickstart

1. ### Install Liveblocks

Every package should use the same version.

```text
    npm install @liveblocks/client @liveblocks/react
    ```

2. ### Initialize the `liveblocks.config.ts` file

We can use this file later to [define types for our application](/content/docs/api-reference/liveblocks-react#Typing-your-data/index.html).

```text
    npx create-liveblocks-app@latest --init --framework react
    ```

3. ### Create a Liveblocks room

Liveblocks uses the concept of rooms, separate virtual spaces where people collaborate, and to create a realtime experience, multiple users must be connected to the same room. When using Next.js’ `/app` router, we recommend creating your room in a `Room.tsx` file in the same directory as your current route.

Set up a Liveblocks client with [`LiveblocksProvider`](/content/docs/api-reference/liveblocks-react#LiveblocksProvider/index.html), join a room with [`RoomProvider`](/content/docs/api-reference/liveblocks-react#RoomProvider/index.html), and use [`ClientSideSuspense`](/content/docs/api-reference/liveblocks-react#ClientSideSuspense/index.html) to add a loading spinner to your app.

```tsx
    "use client";
    import { ReactNode } from "react";
    import { LiveblocksProvider, RoomProvider, ClientSideSuspense } from "@liveblocks/react/suspense";
    export function Room({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
      return (
        <LiveblocksProvider publicApiKey={"pk_prod_xxxxxxxxxx…xxxxxxxxpk_prod_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"}>
          <RoomProvider id="my-room">
            <ClientSideSuspense fallback={<div>Loading…</div>}>
              {children}
            </ClientSideSuspense>
          </RoomProvider>
        </LiveblocksProvider>
      );
    }
    ```

4. ### Add the Liveblocks room to your page

After creating your room file, it’s time to join it. Import your room into your `page.tsx` file, and place your collaborative app components inside it.

```tsx
    import { Room } from "./Room";
    import { CollaborativeApp } from "./CollaborativeApp";
    export default function Page() {
      return (
        <Room>
          <CollaborativeApp />
        </Room>
      );
    }
    ```

5. ### Use the Liveblocks hooks

Now that we’re connected to a room, we can start using the Liveblocks hooks. The first we’ll add is [`useOthers`](/content/docs/api-reference/liveblocks-react#useOthers/index.html), a hook that provides information about which other users are connected to the room.

```tsx
    "use client";
    import { useOthers } from "@liveblocks/react/suspense";
    export function CollaborativeApp() {
      const others = useOthers();
      const userCount = others.length;
      return <div>There are {userCount} other user(s) online</div>;
    }
    ```

6. ### Next: set up authentication

By default, Liveblocks is configured to work without an authentication endpoint where everyone automatically has access to rooms. This approach is great for prototyping and marketing pages where setting up your own security isn’t always required. If you want to limit access to a room for certain users, you’ll need to set up an authentication endpoint to enable permissions.

[Set up authentication](/content/docs/authentication/index.html)

Congratulations! You now have set up the foundation to start building collaborative experiences for your React application.

- [@liveblocks/react API Reference](/content/docs/api-reference/liveblocks-react/index.html)
- [Next.js and React guides](/content/docs/guides?technologies=nextjs%2Creact/index.html)
- [How to use Liveblocks Presence with React](/content/docs/guides/how-to-use-liveblocks-presence-with-react/index.html)
- [How to use Liveblocks Storage with React](/content/docs/guides/how-to-use-liveblocks-storage-with-react/index.html)

## Examples using Next.js

-   **Collaborative To-do List**](/content/examples/collaborative-todo-list/nextjs-todo-list/index.html)
-   **Live Avatar Stack**](/content/examples/live-avatar-stack/nextjs-live-avatars/index.html)
-   **Collaborative SpreadsheetAdvanced**](/content/examples/collaborative-spreadsheet-advanced/nextjs-spreadsheet-advanced/index.html)
-   **Collaborative WhiteboardAdvanced**](/content/examples/collaborative-whiteboard-advanced/nextjs-whiteboard-advanced/index.html)