Conversation channel

topic = "conversation:<conversation_id>"

Join it while the user has a conversation open. Only members can join; see Socket & channels. Every member who has joined gets every event below, the sender included, with one exception: member:read is filtered by the workspace's read-receipt setting.

In the SDK, poolse.realtime.conversation(id) returns this channel. The React hooks (useMessages, useTyping, usePresence, useMembers, useReactions, useLiveCall) join it for you.

Client → server

typing

Tell the others this user is typing. The payload is ignored; send {}.

["1", "7", "conversation:6f1c…", "typing", {}]

• No reply on success.
• The server turns these pings into typing:start and typing:stop (below). Send one every second or two while the user types. You never need to send a stop; the server stops on its own.
• Limit: 10 per second per socket and conversation. Over the limit the reply is an error:

{ "status": "error", "response": { "reason": "rate_limited", "retry_after_ms": 412 } }

The SDK sends it through channel.sendTyping(), or signalTyping() from useTyping.

Any other event sent on this topic is ignored, with no reply.

Server → client

presence_state

The users joined to this channel right now, pushed to you once after your join. The standard Phoenix Presence shape, keyed by poolse user id. A user with two devices has two metas entries.

{
  "2b7e…": {
    "metas": [
      { "online_at": 1793952000, "external_id": "acme-alice", "phx_ref": "F2x…" }
    ]
  }
}

"Online" here means has this conversation open, not is using the app. poolse has no app-wide presence.

presence_diff

{
  "joins":  { "9c41…": { "metas": [ { "online_at": 1793952033, "external_id": "acme-bob", "phx_ref": "F2y…" } ] } },
  "leaves": {}
}

Apply leaves, then joins, to your copy of the state. usePresence(conversationId) does this and returns online, a Set of user ids.

message:new

The full message. It is the same shape the REST API returns.

{
  "id": "8d0e…",
  "tenant_id": "6578…",
  "conversation_id": "6f1c…",
  "sender_id": "2b7e…",
  "sender_external_id": "acme-alice",
  "type": "text",
  "body": "ship it",
  "reply_to_id": null,
  "thread_root_id": null,
  "reply_count": 0,
  "quoted_message_id": null,
  "quoted_message": null,
  "mentions": [],
  "reactions": {},
  "attachments": [],
  "edited_at": null,
  "deleted_at": null,
  "sequence": 185,
  "inserted_at": "2026-10-27T09:14:03.112233Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-27T09:14:03.112233Z"
}

A thread reply arrives here too. Filter on thread_root_id to show it only in the thread view. A message:new also ends the sender's typing indicator (see typing:stop).

message:updated

An edit. Same shape as message:new, with the new body and edited_at set. Only body can change. reply_count here is not reliable; keep the value you have.

message:deleted

{ "id": "8d0e…", "conversation_id": "6f1c…", "deleted_at": "2026-10-27T09:20:11.000000Z" }

The message stays in history as a tombstone. Its body is gone and its attachments are deleted. Replace it in your list with a "message deleted" row.

reaction:added / reaction:removed

{ "message_id": "8d0e…", "conversation_id": "6f1c…", "emoji": "👍", "user_id": "9c41…" }

user_id is the poolse id of the person who reacted. No event fires when the change is a no-op, such as reacting twice with the same emoji. To update your copy of reactions, add or remove user_id under emoji.

typing:start / typing:stop

{ "user_id": "2b7e…", "external_id": "acme-alice" }

• typing:start fires on a user's first typing ping. Further pings while they keep typing do not repeat it.
• typing:stop fires 2 seconds after their last ping, or at once when they send a message.
• The typist's own devices receive these too. Ignore events whose user_id is the current user.

useTyping(conversationId) returns typing, a Set of user ids currently typing.

member:read

A member advanced their read cursor in this conversation, through POST /v1/conversations/:id/read or a notification's "Mark as read".

{
  "user_id": "9c41…",
  "conversation_id": "6f1c…",
  "last_read_message_id": "8d0e…",
  "last_read_at": "2026-10-27T09:15:40.000000Z"
}

Who receives it depends on the workspace's read-receipt setting (see Read receipts & unread):

The reader always gets their own, so read state stays in sync across their devices. Mark a message as read for a member when its sequence is at or below the sequence of last_read_message_id.

call:started

A call was placed or a room was opened in this conversation. Show a "Join" banner.

{
  "cv": 1,
  "call": {
    "id": "4a69…",
    "conversation_id": "6f1c…",
    "conversation_name": "Engineering",
    "media": "video",
    "kind": "call",
    "state": "live",
    "started_by": { "user_id": "2b7e…", "external_id": "acme-alice", "display_name": "Alice" },
    "started_at": "2026-10-27T09:30:00.000Z",
    "ended_at": null,
    "participants": [
      { "user_id": "2b7e…", "external_id": "acme-alice", "display_name": "Alice" }
    ],
    "ring_states": { "9c41…": "ringing" },
    "video_allowed": true,
    "max_participants": 16
  }
}

The same summary comes back from GET /v1/conversations/:id/call. See Calls.

call:participants

The roster of the live call changed.

{ "cv": 1, "call_id": "4a69…", "participants": ["2b7e…", "9c41…"] }

participants is the full list of poolse user ids in the call now. It is not a diff and has no names. Resolve names from your member list.

call:finished

The call or room is over. Drop the banner.

{
  "cv": 1,
  "call_id": "4a69…",
  "ended_at": "2026-10-27T09:34:25.000Z",
  "duration_ms": 265000,
  "joined_user_ids": ["2b7e…", "9c41…"],
  "reason": "finished"
}

The same event also goes to each involved user's user channel. A call-log message follows as message:new.

Not on this channel

• Member added or removed: there is no event here. A removed member's own channel is closed with phx_close; see Socket & channels.
• Conversation metadata changes (name, avatar_url, custom_data) have no event.
• Inbox updates and unread counts are on the user channel as conversation:updated.