Laravel Reverb Presence Channels & Typed Events | Mohamed Said [ ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MH.png) Mohamed Said Laravel Backend Engineer ](https://msaied.com) [ Home ](https://msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://msaied.com#contact-section) [ ](https://github.com/EG-Mohamed) [ Home ](https://msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://msaied.com#contact-section) [ home ](https://msaied.com) [ articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) Laravel Reverb: Building Presence Channels with Per-User State and Typed Events On this page 1. [ Presence Channels in Laravel Reverb: Per-User State and Typed Events ](#presence-channels-in-laravel-reverb-per-user-state-and-typed-events) 2. [ Authenticating and Enriching Channel Membership ](#authenticating-and-enriching-channel-membership) 3. [ Typed Broadcast Events ](#typed-broadcast-events) 4. [ Handling Reconnects Without Ghost Members ](#handling-reconnects-without-ghost-members) 5. [ Scaling Across Multiple Reverb Workers ](#scaling-across-multiple-reverb-workers) 6. [ Key Takeaways ](#key-takeaways) ![Laravel Reverb: Building Presence Channels with Per-User State and Typed Events](https://cdn.msaied.com/352/9b3c490b8303fdc84442671965a3ee8a.png) #laravel #reverb #websockets #broadcasting Laravel Reverb: Building Presence Channels with Per-User State and Typed Events ================================================================================= 3 Jul 2026 3 min read ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MJ.jpg) Mohamed Said Table of contents 1. [ 01 Presence Channels in Laravel Reverb: Per-User State and Typed Events ](#presence-channels-in-laravel-reverb-per-user-state-and-typed-events) 2. [ 02 Authenticating and Enriching Channel Membership ](#authenticating-and-enriching-channel-membership) 3. [ 03 Typed Broadcast Events ](#typed-broadcast-events) 4. [ 04 Handling Reconnects Without Ghost Members ](#handling-reconnects-without-ghost-members) 5. [ 05 Scaling Across Multiple Reverb Workers ](#scaling-across-multiple-reverb-workers) 6. [ 06 Key Takeaways ](#key-takeaways) Presence Channels in Laravel Reverb: Per-User State and Typed Events -------------------------------------------------------------------- Most Reverb tutorials stop at public and private channels. Presence channels are where real collaborative features live — shared cursors, live user lists, typing indicators — and they demand a more disciplined approach to state, typing, and reconnection. ### Authenticating and Enriching Channel Membership Presence channels authenticate via `BroadcastServiceProvider` just like private channels, but the return value matters: whatever you return from the closure becomes the member's metadata broadcast to every subscriber. ```php // routes/channels.php Broadcast::channel('document.{documentId}', function (User $user, int $documentId): array|false { $document = Document::find($documentId); if (! $document || ! $user->can('view', $document)) { return false; } return [ 'id' => $user->id, 'name' => $user->name, 'avatar' => $user->avatar_url, 'role' => $document->roleFor($user), ]; }); ``` Reverb stores this payload in its internal channel registry (backed by Redis in multi-worker deployments). Every `here`, `joining`, and `leaving` event on the client receives this shape — so keep it lean and serialisable. ### Typed Broadcast Events Avoid stringly-typed payloads. Define a dedicated event class per domain action: ```php final class CursorMoved implements ShouldBroadcastNow { use Dispatchable, InteractsWithSockets; public function __construct( public readonly int $userId, public readonly string $documentId, public readonly float $x, public readonly float $y, ) {} public function broadcastOn(): array { return [new PresenceChannel("document.{$this->documentId}")]; } public function broadcastAs(): string { return 'cursor.moved'; } /** Exclude the sender from receiving their own event. */ public function broadcastToEveryoneElse(): static { return $this->dontBroadcastToCurrentUser(); } } ``` Using `broadcastAs()` gives you a clean contract between server and client. On the Echo side: ```javascript window.Echo.join(`document.${documentId}`) .here(members => store.setMembers(members)) .joining(member => store.addMember(member)) .leaving(member => store.removeMember(member)) .listen('.cursor.moved', ({ userId, x, y }) => { cursors.update(userId, x, y); }); ``` Note the leading dot in `.cursor.moved` — required when you override `broadcastAs()`. ### Handling Reconnects Without Ghost Members When a client drops and reconnects, Reverb fires `leaving` then `joining` in sequence. If your server-side state (e.g., a Redis hash of active collaborators) is only updated via those events, a crash loop creates ghost entries. Mitigate this with a heartbeat approach: ```php // In a Livewire component or dedicated endpoint public function heartbeat(string $documentId): void { $key = "presence:document:{$documentId}:user:{$this->userId}"; Redis::setex($key, 30, now()->timestamp); } ``` A scheduled command (every minute) prunes keys older than the TTL, keeping your membership list consistent independently of WebSocket events. ### Scaling Across Multiple Reverb Workers Reverb uses Redis pub/sub to synchronise presence state across workers. Ensure your `config/reverb.php` points to a dedicated Redis connection — do not share it with your queue connection: ```php 'servers' => [ 'reverb' => [ 'driver' => 'reverb', 'connection' => env('REVERB_REDIS_CONNECTION', 'reverb'), ], ], ``` ```php // config/database.php (redis connections) 'reverb' => [ 'url' => env('REVERB_REDIS_URL'), 'host' => env('REVERB_REDIS_HOST', '127.0.0.1'), 'password' => env('REVERB_REDIS_PASSWORD'), 'port' => env('REVERB_REDIS_PORT', '6379'), 'database' => env('REVERB_REDIS_DB', '1'), ], ``` Isolating the connection prevents queue-heavy workloads from starving the pub/sub pipeline. ### Key Takeaways - Return a structured array from channel auth closures — it becomes the member metadata shape for all clients. - Use dedicated event classes with `broadcastAs()` for a typed, versioned contract between PHP and JavaScript. - Call `dontBroadcastToCurrentUser()` on high-frequency events (cursors, keystrokes) to halve unnecessary traffic. - Supplement WebSocket membership events with a Redis TTL heartbeat to survive reconnect storms. - Isolate Reverb's Redis connection from your queue connection to prevent throughput contention at scale. Found this useful? [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsaied.com%2Farticles%2Flaravel-reverb-building-presence-channels-with-per-user-state-and-typed-events&text=Laravel+Reverb%3A+Building+Presence+Channels+with+Per-User+State+and+Typed+Events) [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsaied.com%2Farticles%2Flaravel-reverb-building-presence-channels-with-per-user-state-and-typed-events) Frequently Asked Questions ---------------------------- 3 questions Q01 Does Laravel Reverb support presence channels out of the box, or do I need extra packages? Reverb supports presence channels natively via Laravel Echo and the standard `PresenceChannel` class. No additional packages are required beyond `laravel/reverb` and `laravel-echo`. Q02 Why use `ShouldBroadcastNow` instead of `ShouldBroadcast` for cursor events? `ShouldBroadcastNow` bypasses the queue and broadcasts synchronously, which is critical for low-latency events like cursor movements. Queued broadcasting adds unpredictable delay that makes real-time UI feel broken. Q03 How do I prevent a user's own cursor event from echoing back to them? Call `$this->dontBroadcastToCurrentUser()` inside the event or expose a `broadcastToEveryoneElse()` helper that returns it. Reverb will exclude the socket that triggered the broadcast from receiving the event. 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