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Initialize your Liveblocks configuration file with a single command

You can now use a single command to initialize your Liveblocks configuration file, enabling you to start building collaborative experiences quicker than ever.

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Chris Nicholas
@ctnicholasdev
Initialize your Liveblocks configuration file with a single command

Today, we’re launching a new feature that enables developers to initialize their Liveblocks config files with a single command.

Configuration files

Liveblocks allows you to place all your TypeScript types in a single config file, liveblocks.config.ts, and have them propagate throughout your application. This is made possible by passing your types to the createRoomContext function for React.

type Presence = {  cursor: { x: number; y: number } | null;};
export const { useMyPresence } = createRoomContext<Presence>(client);

After adding this, you can then export all your hooks from liveblocks.config.ts, and have automatic typing inside your app.

import { useMyPresence } from "./liveblocks.config.ts";
// ❌ Generic never necessary, e.g. `<Presence>`const [myPresence, updateMyPresence] = useMyPresence<Presence>();
// ✅ Automatic types throughoutconst [myPresence, updateMyPresence] = useMyPresence();

Generating the file

Previously, engineers had to write liveblocks.config.ts files manually before integrating Liveblocks into the core of their applications. This made onboarding slower than it needed to be, especially for people that wanted to try Liveblocks for the first time.

It now only takes a few seconds to generate a full liveblocks.config.ts file by running the following command in your application folder.

npx create-liveblocks-app@latest --init

Here’s what running that command looks like for a React Suspense configuration.

This will generate the following liveblocks.config.ts file automatically for you, enabling you to quickly start building multiplayer experiences for your product.

import { createClient } from "@liveblocks/client";import { createRoomContext } from "@liveblocks/react";
const client = createClient({  // publicApiKey: "",  // authEndpoint: "/api/auth",  // throttle: 100,});
// Presence represents the properties that will exist on every User in the Room// and that will automatically be kept in sync. Accessible through the// `user.presence` property. Must be JSON-serializable.type Presence = {  // cursor: { x: number, y: number } | null,  // ...};
// Optionally, Storage represents the shared document that persists in the// Room, even after all Users leave. Fields under Storage typically are// LiveList, LiveMap, LiveObject instances, for which updates are// automatically persisted and synced to all connected clients.type Storage = {  // author: LiveObject<{ firstName: string, lastName: string }>,  // ...};
// Optionally, UserMeta represents static/readonly metadata on each User, as// provided by your own custom auth backend (if used). Useful for data that// will not change during a session, like a User's name or avatar.// type UserMeta = {//   id?: string,  // Accessible through `user.id`//   info?: Json,  // Accessible through `user.info`// };
// Optionally, the type of custom events broadcast and listened to in this// room. Must be JSON-serializable.// type RoomEvent = {};
export const {  suspense: {    RoomProvider,    useRoom,    useMyPresence,    useUpdateMyPresence,    useSelf,    useOthers,    useOthersMapped,    useOthersConnectionIds,    useOther,    useBroadcastEvent,    useEventListener,    useErrorListener,    useStorage,    useObject,    useMap,    useList,    useBatch,    useHistory,    useUndo,    useRedo,    useCanUndo,    useCanRedo,    useMutation,  },} = createRoomContext<Presence, Storage /* UserMeta, RoomEvent */>(client);

You can then start using the Liveblocks RoomProvider and hooks to build your real-time app, such as a collaborative editor. For instance, here’s the React code for listing the connectionId of everyone currently connected to the same room.

import { ClientSideSuspense } from "@liveblocks/react";import { RoomProvider, useOthers, useSelf } from "./liveblocks.config";
export default function Page() {  return (    <RoomProvider id="my-collaborative-room" initialPresence={{}}>      <ClientSideSuspense fallback="Loading…">        {() => <CollaborativeEditor />}      </ClientSideSuspense>    </RoomProvider>  );}
function CollaborativeEditor() {  const users = useOthers();  const currentUser = useSelf();
  return (    <ul>      {users.map(({ connectionId }) => {        return <li key={connectionId}>{connectionId}</li>;      })}    </ul>  );}

Updating your config for live cursors

One of the simplest use cases for Liveblocks is live cursors, and how is how you can integrate it into your React application. In most scenarios, you’d need to adjust the Storage, Presence, RoomEvent, and UserMeta types to fit your needs, but live cursors only needs Presence, which could look like this.

type Presence = {  cursor: { x: number; y: number } | null;};

You can then update people’s cursor positions with updateMyPresence from the useMyPresence hook. To display other people’s cursors, simply loop through the response from useOthers and display a custom React component that renders SVG cursors with the appropriate X and Y coordinates.

function CollaborativeEditor() {  const users = useOthers();  const updateMyPresence = useUpdateMyPresence();
  return (    <div      onPointerMove={(event) => {        updateMyPresence({          cursor: {            x: Math.round(event.clientX),            y: Math.round(event.clientY),          },        });      }}      onPointerLeave={() =>        updateMyPresence({          cursor: null,        })      }    >      {users.map(({ connectionId, presence }) => {        if (presence.cursor === null) {          return null;        }
        return (          <Cursor            key={connectionId}            x={presence.cursor.x}            y={presence.cursor.y}          />        );      })}    </div>  );}

That’s all you need—you now have live cursors in your React application!

If you’d like to make your product multiplayer like Figma, Notion, and others, feel free to create an account, read our docs or skim through our GitHub repository. We can’t wait to see what you make with Liveblocks!