Update demo to match Next.js and Chat SDK best practices

Moved demo to latest Chat SDK

Replace outdated Next.js patterns
- Remove dynamic + ssr: false from app/page.js and replace with a direct import
- Move Ably client creation into useEffect + useState in components/Chat.jsx to prevent new connections on every render
- Add cleanup function that closes the Ably realtime connection on unmount
- Migrate from next/head to the Next.js Metadata API

Update README to reflect Ably Chat SDK usage, correct Node version, and fix outdated descriptions

Author: rainbowFi

.nvmrc

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+20

README.md

@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-> [!IMPORTANT]
-> This repository uses the Ably Pub/Sub approach for building chat apps. We now offer Ably Chat—a new family of SDKs and APIs that streamline development and manage realtime chat complexity for you. For a modern, easier way to create chat experiences, visit our [Ably Chat documentation](https://ably.com/docs/chat).
-
-# Building a Realtime Chat App with Next.js, Ably, and Vercel
+# Building a realtime chat app with Next.js, Ably Chat, and Vercel
 
 Live example at: <https://next-js-chat-app.vercel.app>
 
@@ -13,8 +10,8 @@ This is a demo chat application with [Next.js](https://nextjs.org/) using [Ably]
 
 It demonstrates the use of:
 
-- Pub/sub messaging
-- Ably's React Hooks
+- [Ably Chat SDK](https://github.com/ably/ably-chat-js) for messaging
+- [Ably Chat React hooks](https://ably.com/docs/chat/setup?lang=react) (`useMessages`, `useChatClient`)
 - Token authentication with Ably
 
 ## Tech stack
@@ -23,7 +20,7 @@ The project uses the following components:
 
 - [Next.js](https://nextjs.org/) is a React framework from [Vercel](https://vercel.com/). It is used to build static web applications with server side rendering, serverless functions and seamless hosting. It's a framework that takes the React knowledge you already have, and puts some structure and conventions in place.
 
-- [Ably](https://ably.com/) is realtime, pub/sub messaging platform with a suite of integrated services to deliver complete realtime functionality directly to end-users.
+- [Ably Chat](https://ably.com/docs/chat) is a set of SDKs built on top of Ably's realtime platform, designed for building chat experiences with minimal setup.
 
 - [Vercel](https://vercel.com/) is a hosting platform, built from the ground up to host Next.js apps, and Serverless Functions with them.
 
@@ -34,7 +31,7 @@ The project uses the following components:
 ![The UI of the chat app we'll build. It is a window with speech bubbles for text.](https://cdn.glitch.com/0cb30add-c9ef-4c00-983c-e12deb0d4080%2Fchatapp.png?v=1612279601157)  
 *The UI of the app we'll build with this walkthrough*  
 
-We'll build a realtime chat app that runs in the browser. It will be built upon the Next.js [create-next-app](https://nextjs.org/docs/api-reference/create-next-app) template, it will contain a React component which will use Ably to send and receive messages. We'll also write a Next.js serverless function which will be used to connect to Ably.
+We'll build a realtime chat app that runs in the browser. It will be built upon the Next.js [create-next-app](https://nextjs.org/docs/api-reference/create-next-app) template, it will contain a React component which will use the Ably Chat SDK to send and receive messages. We'll also write a Next.js [Route Handler](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/building-your-application/routing/route-handlers) which will be used to authenticate with Ably.
 
 ## Building & running locally
 
@@ -44,7 +41,7 @@ In order to build and deploy this app, you will need:
 
 - **An Ably account** for sending messages: [Create an account with Ably for free](https://ably.com/signup).
 - **A Vercel Account** for hosting on production: [Create an account with Vercel for free](https://vercel.com/signup).
-- **Node 16** or greater: [Install Node](https://nodejs.org/en/).
+- **Node 20** or greater: [Install Node](https://nodejs.org/en/).
 
 You'll also need an API key from Ably to authenticate with the Ably Service. To get an API key, once you have [created an Ably account](https://ably.com/signup):
 

app/layout.js

@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 import './globals.css';
 
 export const metadata = {
-  title: 'Next.js',
-  description: 'Generated by Next.js',
+  title: 'Realtime Chat App with Ably, NextJS and Vercel',
+  description: 'A demo chat application with Next.js using Ably Chat',
+  icons: {
+    icon: { url: 'https://static.ably.dev/motif-red.svg?nextjs-vercel', type: 'image/svg+xml' },
+  },
 };
 
 export default function RootLayout({ children }) {

app/page.js

@@ -1,18 +1,8 @@
-import Head from 'next/head';
-import dynamic from 'next/dynamic';
-
-const Chat = dynamic(() => import('../components/Chat'), {
-  ssr: false,
-});
+import Chat from '../components/Chat';
 
 export default function Home() {
   return (
     <div className="container">
-      <Head>
-        <title>Realtime Chat App with Ably, NextJS and Vercel</title>
-        <link rel="icon" href="https://static.ably.dev/motif-red.svg?nextjs-vercel" type="image/svg+xml" />
-      </Head>
-
       <main>
         <h1 className="title">Next.js Chat Demo</h1>
         <Chat />

components/Chat.jsx

@@ -1,21 +1,30 @@
 'use client';
 
+import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
 import * as Ably from 'ably';
 import { ChatClient } from '@ably/chat';
 import { ChatClientProvider, ChatRoomProvider } from '@ably/chat/react';
 import ChatBox from './ChatBox.jsx';
 
-const roomOptions = {
-  history: { limit: 50 },
-};
+const roomOptions = {};
 
 export default function Chat() {
-  const realtimeClient = new Ably.Realtime({ authUrl: '/api' });
-  const chatClient = new ChatClient(realtimeClient);
+  const [chatClient, setChatClient] = useState(null);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const realtimeClient = new Ably.Realtime({ authUrl: '/api' });
+    const client = new ChatClient(realtimeClient);
+    setChatClient(client);
+    return () => {
+      realtimeClient.close();
+    };
+  }, []);
+
+  if (!chatClient) return <div>Loading...</div>;
 
   return (
     <ChatClientProvider client={chatClient}>
-      <ChatRoomProvider id="chat-demo" options={roomOptions}>
+      <ChatRoomProvider name="chat-demo" options={roomOptions}>
         <ChatBox />
       </ChatRoomProvider>
     </ChatClientProvider>

components/ChatBox.jsx

@@ -10,23 +10,14 @@ export default function ChatBox() {
   const [messages, setMessages] = useState([]);
   const messageTextIsEmpty = messageText.trim().length === 0;
 
-  const { send: sendMessage } = useMessages({
+  const { sendMessage } = useMessages({
     listener: (payload) => {
       const newMessage = payload.message;
       setMessages((prevMessages) => {
-        if (prevMessages.some((existingMessage) => existingMessage.isSameAs(newMessage))) {
+        if (prevMessages.some((existingMessage) => existingMessage.serial === newMessage.serial)) {
           return prevMessages;
         }
-
-        const index = prevMessages.findIndex((existingMessage) => existingMessage.after(newMessage));
-
-        const newMessages = [...prevMessages];
-        if (index === -1) {
-          newMessages.push(newMessage);
-        } else {
-          newMessages.splice(index, 0, newMessage);
-        }
-        return newMessages;
+        return [...prevMessages, newMessage].sort((a, b) => (a.serial < b.serial ? -1 : b.serial < a.serial ? 1 : 0));
       });
     },
   });