Real-Time Data With WebSockets and SSE
Real-time applications demand instant data delivery from server to client—whether it's a stock ticker, live chat, or presence indicators. This series teaches you how to build React applications that receive and sync live data using WebSockets and Server-Sent Events (SSE). You'll learn to handle reconnections gracefully, integrate real-time updates with query caching, implement chat and presence patterns, and deploy a fully functional live dashboard with multi-stream subscriptions. By the end, you'll master the patterns that power modern collaborative apps like Figma, Slack, and live financial dashboards.
Articles in this series
- Understanding WebSockets vs REST APIs for Real-Time Data
- Server-Sent Events: Push Data Without WebSocket Overhead
- Building Your First WebSocket Connection in React
- Reconnection Strategies and Exponential Backoff
- Syncing Live Data Into React Query's Cache
- Real-Time Presence: Online Status and Indicators
- Building a Live Chat App With WebSockets
- Performance and Optimization for Real-Time Streams
- Error Handling, Debugging, and DevTools
- Building a Live Dashboard With Multi-Stream Subscriptions