Realtime communication allows events to be streamed directly to your application by maintaining a single connection. WebSockets enable online experiences like collaborative document editing, multiplayer games, and interactive chatrooms.
The two main approaches to apply this model to stateless serverless functions are:
- Serverless Functions have maximum execution limits and should respond as quickly as possible. They should not subscribe to data events. Instead, we need a client that subscribes to data events and a serverless function that publishes new data. Consider using one of the providers below to implement this approach.
- Rather than pushing data, you can fetch realtime data on-demand. For example, the Vercel dashboard delivers realtime updates using SWR.
These providers can help you integrate realtime communication into your Vercel application using Serverless Functions.