Quickstart - Get started with Liveblocks and React

Liveblocks is a realtime collaboration infrastructure for building performant collaborative experiences. Follow the following steps to start adding collaboration to your React application using the hooks from the @liveblocks/react package.

Quickstart

  1. Install Liveblocks

Every package should use the same version.

Terminal

npm install @liveblocks/client @liveblocks/react

  1. Initialize the liveblocks.config.ts file

We can use this file later to define types for our application.

Terminal

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

  1. Set up the Liveblocks client

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. Set up a Liveblocks client with LiveblocksProvider, and join a room with RoomProvider.

App.tsx

"use client";
import {  LiveblocksProvider,  RoomProvider,} from "@liveblocks/react/suspense";
import { Room } from "./Room";
export default function App() {  return (    <LiveblocksProvider publicApiKey={"pk_prod_xxxxxxxxxx…xxxxxxxxpk_prod_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"}>      <RoomProvider id="my-room">        {/* ... */}      </RoomProvider>    </LiveblocksProvider>  );}

  1. Join a Liveblocks room

After setting up the room, you can add collaborative components inside it, using ClientSideSuspense to add loading spinners to your app.

App.tsx

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

  1. 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, a hook that provides information about which other users are connected to the room.

Room.tsx

"use client";
import { useOthers } from "./liveblocks.config";
export function Room() {  const others = useOthers();  const userCount = others.length;
    return <div>There are {userCount} other user(s) online</div>;
}

  1. 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

What to read next

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

Examples using React



  • Collaborative To-do List \
    Next.jsVueSvelteKitSolid.jsJavaScript](/content/examples/collaborative-todo-list/nextjs-todo-list/index.html)


  • Live Avatar Stack \
    Next.jsNuxt.jsVueSvelteKitSolid.js](/content/examples/live-avatar-stack/nextjs-live-avatars/index.html)


  • Collaborative SpreadsheetAdvanced \
    Next.js](/content/examples/collaborative-spreadsheet-advanced/nextjs-spreadsheet-advanced/index.html)


  • Collaborative WhiteboardAdvanced \
    Next.js](/content/examples/collaborative-whiteboard-advanced/nextjs-whiteboard-advanced/index.html)