***

id: 952fc9a5-3b75-45a5-adb7-d48ceab0f0fb
title: Chat
sidebar-title: Overview
position: 0
slug: /node/reference/chat
description: >-
Access the Chat API for building real-time chat applications. Subscribe to
channels, send messages, and track member presence in chat rooms.
max-toc-depth: 3
----------------

[chat-client-1]: /docs/server-sdk/v3/node/reference/chat/client

[chat-client]: /docs/server-sdk/v3/node/reference/chat/client/events

Access the Chat API Consumer. You can instantiate a [Chat.Client][chat-client-1] to subscribe to Chat events. Please check [Chat Events][chat-client] for the full list of events that a [Chat.Client][chat-client-1] can subscribe to.

#### Example

The following example logs the messages sent to the "welcome" channel.

```javascript
import { Chat } from "@signalwire/realtime-api";

const chatClient = new Chat.Client({
  project: "<project-id>",
  token: "<api-token>",
});

chatClient.on("message", (m) => console.log(m));

await chatClient.subscribe("welcome");
```

## Classes

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Client" icon="fa-solid fa-server" href="/docs/server-sdk/v3/node/reference/chat/client">
    The main Chat client for sending messages, managing members, and subscribing to chat events.
  </Card>

  <Card title="ChatMember" icon="fa-solid fa-user" href="/docs/server-sdk/v3/node/reference/chat/chat-member">
    Represents a member in a chat channel with properties for identity and state.
  </Card>

  <Card title="ChatMessage" icon="fa-solid fa-message" href="/docs/server-sdk/v3/node/reference/chat/chat-message">
    Represents a chat message with content, sender information, and metadata.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>