Realtime with Postgres, explained simply

"Realtime" is when your UI updates the moment the database changes, with no page reload. A message that appears, a counter that ticks, an order that flips to "paid" right before your eyes.

When to use it

• Messaging and chat.
• Instant notifications.
• Presence ("who's online") and shared cursors.
• Dashboards that refresh on their own.

How it works, in a nutshell

Postgres keeps a log of all its writes (the WAL). Realtime listens to that log and pushes each change to your UI over a WebSocket connection held open. No repeated polling, no server to manage.

Polling vs realtime, Hitting the API every 2 seconds (polling) wastes resources and stays behind. A realtime connection only consumes resources when something actually happens.

A complete example

const ws = new WebSocket(
  'wss://clicbase.com/db/ma-base/realtime'
)

ws.onmessage = (e) => {
  const { table, type, record } = JSON.parse(e.data)
  if (table === 'commandes' && type === 'INSERT') {
    afficherEnDirect(record)   // nouvelle commande -> à l'écran
  }
}

ws.onclose = () => reconnecter()  // garde la connexion vivante

A few lines, and your UI goes live. Try realtime on your project.

When to use realtime

Use case	Example
Chat	A message appears without reload
Notifications	Live badge/alert
Presence	Who's online right now
Dashboards	Live counters & stats