Overview
AnyCable is a Go-based server that handles persistent realtime connections (WebSockets, SSE, long polling) and delegates business logic to a backend application via gRPC, making it language-agnostic. It is designed as a drop-in replacement for Action Cable in Rails apps but works with any backend. It supports horizontal scaling, pub/sub via Redis or NATS, and delivers significantly higher throughput than a pure Ruby server. A demo chat app illustrates full-stack integration.
Where it falls short of Slack
- It is a realtime transport layer, not a full chat product; requires significant custom development to build a user-facing app
- gRPC configuration and tuning adds operational complexity
- No built-in UI, user management, or message persistence — all delegated to the application layer
- Managed AnyCable Cloud only available for certain plans
We list the gaps honestly so you can decide if the trade-off is worth owning your data.
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