AnyCable

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About AnyCable

AnyCable is a realtime communication server designed to power WebSocket and Server-Sent Events connections at scale, decoupling the connection-handling layer from application backends written in any language. It was built to solve the scaling limitations of Ruby's native Action Cable by offloading connection management to a dedicated, high-performance Go server, while application logic can still be written in Ruby, Node.js, Python, or other languages via RPC. AnyCable integrates directly with Rails through the anycable-rails gem, acting as a drop-in replacement for Action Cable with minimal code changes, and supports gradual migration by running both systems side by side. The project offers native WebSocket ping/pong support for broad client compatibility, Docker images for easy deployment, and installation options across Heroku, Arch Linux (AUR), and standalone binaries. Beyond the open-source core, AnyCable offers a commercial Pro edition with advanced features and a managed hosting option for teams that don't want to operate the infrastructure themselves.

Key Features

• High-performance realtime server for WebSockets and SSE
• Language-agnostic RPC layer for application logic
• Drop-in replacement for Rails Action Cable
• Gradual migration support running alongside Action Cable
• Native WebSocket ping/pong for broad client compatibility
• Docker images for simple deployment
• Heroku buildpack and Arch Linux AUR package available
• gRPC-based communication between server and app backend
• Active GitHub Actions CI with automated testing
• Optional commercial Pro edition with advanced features
• Managed hosting option for teams that don't want to self-host
• Security contact for responsible vulnerability disclosure
• Used in production by real-time apps like Basecamp's Campfire
• Fully open source under the MIT License

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