# Realtime for developers

Keep every view up to date. Publish live events to the right people.

[Get Started](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Frealtime)

[Contact Sales](/demo?product=realtime)

[Read customer stories](/customers)

[Explore Enterprise](/enterprise)

- [Airwallex](/customers/airwallex)
- [Glovo](/customers/glovo)
- [Zillow](/customers/zillow)
- Uber
- [Binance](/customers/binance)
- Adobe
- Meta
- PayPal
- Pinterest
- Square
- [Al Jazeera](/customers/aljazeera)
- [Aramex](/customers/aramex)
- [Bazaar Technologies](/customers/bazaar)
- [ComparaOnline](/customers/compara)
- [Emma](/customers/emma)



## Connect your app. Keep every view in sync.

Inspect your app with MCP or CLI. Publish live events from your server. Connect the right clients to the right application state.

**MCP**: `Bird MCP`

Connect this hosted MCP endpoint with an [MCP client](/docs/ai/mcp-server#connect-a-client), then complete OAuth sign-in to your Bird workspace.

Example prompt: Find our Harbor Realtime app. Check its region and whether it is active so I can configure the client for the right environment.

```text
https://mcp.bird.com
```

Examples: [MCP](/realtime-api.mcp.md) · [TypeScript](/realtime-api.ts.md) · [Python](/realtime-api.py.md) · [Go](/realtime-api.go.md) · [PHP](/realtime-api.php.md) · [cURL](/realtime-api.curl.md)

## Your app changes. Every view follows.

Approve access. Publish a change. Keep connected views in sync.

1Authorize the subscription 2Accept the published event 3Update the connected view
Inspect the access decision

Your backend checks the signed-in user’s access to order 42 before signing this connection and channel. The refused customer receives no order payload. Publication acceptance is separate from asynchronous client receipt.

[Private channels](/docs/guides/realtime/private-channels)[Authorization contract](/docs/guides/realtime/authorizing-channels)

### Know who’s here.

One person can have several connections. Show each member once, and update presence when their first tab joins or their last one leaves.

[Explore presence](/realtime-api/features/presence)

### Catch up to now.

A new subscriber receives the latest cached event. Bring the screen up to date without replaying every earlier change.

[Explore cache channels](/docs/guides/realtime/cache-channels)

## Explore Realtime.

From the first event to shared application state. Connect the pieces you need.

[Realtime API

Publish live events to subscribed application clients.](#integrate)[Private channels

Restrict live updates to subscriptions your backend approves.](/docs/guides/realtime/private-channels)[Presence

Show the members participating in a live experience.](/realtime-api/features/presence)[Encrypted channels

Keep supported event payloads readable only to authorized endpoints.](/docs/guides/realtime/encrypted-channels)[Client events

Share typing and other transient events between authorized clients.](/docs/guides/realtime/client-events)[Cache channels

Give a new subscriber the latest published state.](/docs/guides/realtime/cache-channels)[Public channels

Share live information intended for every visitor.](/docs/guides/realtime/public-channels)[Webhooks

React to channel activity from your backend.](/realtime-api/features/webhooks)[User targeting

Send a live update to a specific member.](/docs/guides/realtime/sending-events-to-a-member)[Connection management

Understand and control the live connections in an application.](/docs/guides/realtime/connection-lifecycle)

## Scale without losing control.

Organize teams in workspaces, control API access, and trace changes through audit logs.

[Workspaces](/docs/guides/workspaces)[Team roles](/docs/guides/users-teams-roles)[API authentication](/docs/guides/authentication)
[Explore Enterprise](/enterprise)



## Start with Realtime. Build across channels with Bird.

[Get Started](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Frealtime) · [Contact Sales](/demo?product=realtime)

[Email](/email-api) · [SMS](/sms-api) · [WhatsApp](/whatsapp-api) · [Apple Messages](/apple-messages-api) · [Voice](/voice-api)



## Related resources

- [Send your first realtime event](/docs/get-started/send-your-first-realtime-event) (docs)
- [Build your first integration](/learn/paths/integration) (course)

[Get an implementation brief](/learn/workspace?topic=realtime)