***

id: 306e6105-6f11-4f4a-9c2d-ad046077e8c2
title: Chat
sidebar-title: Overview
position: 0
keywords: 'SignalWire, Realtime SDK, Node.js, chat API, real-time chat'
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/v4/node/reference/chat/client/listen

[chat-client-2]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/chat/client

[chat-client]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/chat/client#events

Access the Chat API Consumer. You can instantiate a [Chat.Client][chat-client-2] to subscribe to Chat events.

<Info>
  For a full list of events that a [Chat.Client][chat-client-2] can subscribe to, refer to [Chat Events][chat-client].
</Info>

#### Example

The following example shows how to instantiate a [Chat.Client][chat-client-2]
and [listen][chat-client-1] to the `onMemberJoined` event on the `channel1` channel.
When a member joins the channel,
the bot will send a message to the channel with the number of members in the channel and the list of members.

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

const client = await SignalWire({ project: "ProjectID Here", token: "Token Here" })

const chatClient = client.chat;

await chatClient.listen({
  channels: ["channel1"],
  onMemberJoined: async (member) => {

    let members = await chatClient.getMembers({
      channel: member.channel
    });
    let chatMessage = `Hello ${member.id}!
    There are ${members.members.length} members in this channel.
    The members are: ${members.members.map(m => m.id).join(", ")}`

    await chatClient.publish({
      channel: member.channel,
      content: chatMessage
    })
  }
});
```

***

## **Classes**

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Client" icon="fa-solid fa-server" href="/docs/server-sdk/v4/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/v4/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/v4/node/reference/chat/chat-message">
    Represents a chat message with content, sender information, and metadata.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>