Warble

Karl

LR Warble makes Flarum's Realtime extension work on any hosting, including shared hosting where you can't run a websocket server. New posts, typing indicators and notifications reach your visitors a few seconds after they happen, and all it needs is your forum.

How it works

Flarum's Realtime extension does the live work: new posts, typing indicators, notifications and discussion-list updates. Normally it needs a websocket server running next to your forum. Warble swaps that for polling: each visitor's browser asks your forum for new updates every few seconds.

Hidden tabs stop asking, idle tabs ask less often, and every wait is slightly random so tabs never all ask at once.
Old updates clean themselves up, so there's no cron job.
Typing indicators respect privacy. A member who hides their online status is never named to someone who isn't allowed to see it.

No settings

There's no key, no server address and no interval to set. Warble measures how long polls take on your host and picks the interval for you: every 3 seconds on a quiet forum, stretching to 30 seconds if polling would keep your server too busy. It slows down at once when your host struggles and speeds back up when there's room.

Its admin page shows a Realtime health checklist of everything it depends on, as your forum sees it right now, with a Check again button.

What to expect

Updates arrive a few seconds late rather than instantly, and each open tab makes one small request per interval. That suits small and mid-size communities, which are exactly the ones that can't run a websocket server. If you outgrow it and can keep a process running on your server, switch Warble off and use Realtime's own websocket server instead.

It's free, and it doesn't depend on any outside service.

Requirements

Flarum 2.0 or later, PHP 8.3+
flarum/realtime (Composer installs it for you)

Install

composer require linkrobins/flarum-warble

Then enable Realtime and LR Warble under Admin, Extensions. That's it.

Source: https://github.com/linkrobins/warble
Packagist: https://packagist.org/packages/linkrobins/flarum-warble

Every release is posted below.

SpikeNit

I left a post on Flarum Warble discussion, letting you know there's a compatibility issue with Warble and Deck...at least on my set up.

Karl

LR Warble 1.2.2

Flarum 2.0 stable changed how realtime works in several places, and some of those changes stopped things working on forums that use Warble's polling. This release catches up with all of them. If you have upgraded to Flarum 2.0, or plan to, you want this one.

Flarum Deck works again

With Warble enabled, Deck 2.0 would open but nothing in it worked: columns could not be added, filled, resized or moved, and even the forum logo stopped taking you home. The browser console showed s.bind_global is not a function. Deck now loads normally, and new activity appears in its columns live, a few seconds after it happens, without reloading the page.

Thanks to @SpikeNit for the report and for narrowing it down to Warble.

Deck's "who is typing" column fills in

Deck can show a column of everyone currently writing a reply or a new discussion across the forum. Over polling it always said nobody was typing. It now works, and it only shows each viewer what they would be allowed to know anyway: nothing from discussions they can't see, only the tags they can see, and members who hide their online status are named only to groups with the "Always view user last seen time" permission. To use the column, give a group Flarum 2.0's new "See who is typing anywhere on the forum" permission.

Typing in private messages shows again

In Flarum 2.0 private conversations, the "is typing" line never appeared over polling. It works again, and a member who hides their online status is not shown as typing, except to groups with the "Always view user last seen time" permission, the same rule Flarum itself uses.

Leaving a private conversation no longer causes an error

Closing a conversation logged e.unsubscribe is not a function in the browser console. That is gone.

Ready for other realtime extensions too

Several of these problems came from extensions using parts of the realtime connection that Warble did not provide. Warble now provides all of them, so the next extension built on Flarum's realtime should simply work.

Forums still on a Flarum 2.0 release candidate keep working as before. Forums using a websocket server are unaffected.

After updating

No database changes. Clear the cache so browsers get the new code:

php flarum cache:clear

Update

composer update linkrobins/flarum-warble

Release notes on GitHub: https://github.com/linkrobins/warble/releases/tag/v1.2.2
On Packagist: https://packagist.org/packages/linkrobins/flarum-warble

Morgan

I left a comment in the Flarum Discuss forum but I'm realizing maybe I should post it here. How would I obtain a Warble key?

The link to /Warble redirects me to the Extensions tag here, and there's no Warble option for me under Dashboard. I'm not sure where else to look.

Karl

Morgan I replied to you on discuss. I found areas where the confusion may have started. Warble doesn’t require a key anymore and the hosted service is gone.
It only needs scheduler (cron) and the realtime extension itself now.
I’ll push another update after I thoroughly scope through all readmes, docs, and posts and lay it all flat.

Karl

LR Warble 1.3.0

Warble now does one thing, polling, and looks after itself. There is nothing to set up and nothing to tune.

No more key, no more settings

The admin page used to ask for a "Warble key" from a hosted service that no longer exists, and offered a choice between polling and a websocket server. Both are gone. Warble runs Realtime over polling, full stop. If you want instant updates from a websocket server, disable Warble and run Realtime's own server instead.

The polling interval is automatic

Warble now measures how long its checks take on your host and how many there are, and picks how often browsers check for updates: every 3 seconds on a quiet forum, stretching up to 30 seconds if polling would otherwise keep your server too busy. It slows down at once when your host is struggling and speeds back up gradually when there is room. The old interval setting is removed.

A health checklist instead of settings

Warble's admin page now shows a short checklist of everything it depends on, as your forum sees it right now:

whether the Realtime extension is enabled
whether visitors' browsers can reach the polling address (a firewall or security plugin can block it)
how your queue sends updates out. If it is not the default sync, updates wait for the queue to be processed, which is the usual reason they show up minutes late
whether the scheduler (cron) is running, when your queue needs it
the interval Warble picked and why
when a browser last checked in, and when the last update went out

You do not need the scheduler for Warble itself on a standard install.

Cleanup

Upgrading removes the old hosted-service settings, including any saved key. If your config.php still has a websocket section from the hosted service, Warble ignores it; the checklist points it out so you can remove it.

After updating

php flarum migrate
php flarum cache:clear

Thanks to @Morgan for pointing out that the admin page still asked for a key.

Update

composer update linkrobins/flarum-warble

Release notes on GitHub: https://github.com/linkrobins/warble/releases/tag/v1.3.0
On Packagist: https://packagist.org/packages/linkrobins/flarum-warble

Karl

LR Warble 1.3.1

Live updates now reach Flarum Deck's post columns, and replies people can't see no longer announce themselves.

Deck's post columns update live again

With Warble on, Deck's "Posts by member" (and other post) columns never showed a new reply until you refreshed the column, even though All Discussions updated. Warble was leaving the post itself out of each update, and those columns need it. Each update about a post now carries the post, so it appears in the column within a few seconds.

Replies you can't see stay quiet

Updates about a reply someone isn't allowed to see, such as one awaiting approval or a hidden post, are no longer sent to them at all. Before, they could still see that something happened in that discussion.

Thanks to @SpikeNit for the detailed report.

Update

composer update linkrobins/flarum-warble

Release notes on GitHub: https://github.com/linkrobins/warble/releases/tag/v1.3.1
On Packagist: https://packagist.org/packages/linkrobins/flarum-warble