Subscribers

What are subscribers?

Subscribers are the core Resources on SignalWire that represent users in your communication system. More than just a simple user account, Subscribers provide a complete user management solution with built-in authentication, communication endpoints, and billing integration.

Subscribers represent users in your communication system with enterprise-grade capabilities built-in. They embody SignalWire’s approach to Programmable Unified Communications (PUC), enabling you to onboard and manage users at scale without building complex infrastructure from scratch.

What’s included

Every Subscriber comes with four core components that work together to provide a complete user management solution:

How it works

Subscribers are built on three core technical systems:

Resource addressing

Subscribers use SignalWire’s unified addressing system for consistent identification across all platform Resources. Each Subscriber is uniquely identified by an address in the format /<Context>/<Name>.

Addresses make Subscribers directly callable. When a call is placed to a Subscriber’s address, SignalWire automatically routes the call directly to that Subscriber. This enables seamless peer-to-peer communication without complex routing configuration.

Common address examples:

How direct calling works:

• When someone calls /private/john-doe, the call rings John’s registered device
• The Subscriber can answer on any device (mobile app, web browser, desk phone)
• SignalWire handles device registration, presence, and simultaneous ring automatically

Subscribers default to private context for security, with optional public aliases for external access. Learn more about Resource Addresses, including contexts, naming conventions, and advanced routing options.

Authentication system

Multiple token types provide flexible security and integration options:

API management

Complete REST API with full CRUD operations for programmatic control:

Bulk operations handle large user populations efficiently, while webhooks provide real-time notifications for lifecycle events, authentication, and communication activities.

Integration example

Here’s how Subscribers work in practice with the Browser SDK:

import { SignalWire, StaticCredentialProvider } from "@signalwire/js";
// Hand the Subscriber Access Token to the SDK via a credential provider.
const client = new SignalWire(
  new StaticCredentialProvider({ token: "<TOKEN>" })
);
// Watch the readiness observables to know when the client is connected.
client.ready$.subscribe((ready) => {
  console.log("SignalWire client ready:", ready);
});

Common use patterns

• Peer-to-peer calling: Direct subscriber-to-subscriber calls using private addresses like /private/john-doe
• Conference rooms: Multiple subscribers joining shared resources like /public/team-meeting
• AI agent interaction: Subscribers calling AI agents at addresses like /public/support-ai
• PSTN & SIP calling: Ability to call PSTN and SIP destinations directly from Subscriber applications

Common use cases

These technical patterns enable real-world applications across industries:

Value proposition & pricing

Why choose subscribers?

At $3/user/month, Subscribers provide a complete user management solution with built-in infrastructure:

Get started

Ready to implement Subscribers? Follow these steps: