May 2024 Summaries

Ably LiveSync is now available for public testing and aims to simplify real-time data synchronization. It's designed to work with any tech stack and protect applications from inconsistencies caused by dual-writes and scaling problems due to thundering herds. The product has three key components: a Database Connector, Ably Pub/Sub Channels, and a Models SDK. In its alpha release, LiveSync supports PostgreSQL with plans for other databases in the future. It addresses real-time data synchronization challenges by eliminating polling, providing seamless database to frontend sync, enabling transactional publishing of changes, offering state management support, being database agnostic, and ensuring a highly reliable and scalable infrastructure.

Ably's LiveSync product allows for real-time data synchronization across servers and clients. This post explores four existing solutions to this problem - Supabase, Liveblocks, ElectricSQL, and Replicache - each with their own trade-offs. Ably LiveSync is a flexible solution designed to work with any database of choice, supporting incremental adoption in existing applications. It uses concepts from Event Driven Architectures and Ably Pub/Sub Channels for reliable change delivery. The Models SDK helps merge changes easily and provides hooks for optimistic updates.