Feature Announcement: Custom Events

Stream Chat introduces a new feature called custom events, which enhances the platform's flexibility by allowing developers to create and manage unique interactions tailored to their app's specific needs, such as "delivery completed" for delivery apps or "match" for dating apps. By enabling the sending and listening of events not initially built into Stream Chat, this feature allows users, who must be members or watchers of a channel, to receive custom events when dispatched. Permissions for these events can be adjusted via the dashboard or API, and proper validation is necessary to prevent misuse. Custom events can be sent by calling the channel.sendEvent method, either from the client-side or server-side, with appropriate user information included in the server-side scenario. The introduction of custom events aims to help applications distinguish themselves by offering unique user interactions, with further details available in the accompanying documentation.