Dev builds real-time property messaging with Server-Sent Events, skipping WebSockets
A developer built Do Rent, a property management SaaS for landlords, tenants, and admins, requiring real-time messaging without a dedicated chat infrastructure. Instead of WebSockets, Server-Sent Events (SSE) were chosen because message delivery is primarily server-to-client, making a bidirectional protocol unnecessary. The implementation uses Next.js API routes with a persistent HTTP stream, MongoDB via Prisma for storage, and Zod for request validation, while auth checks ensure users only receive events for their own conversations. The developer notes SSE's limitations, particularly its inability to handle client-pushed micro-events like typing indicators without supplementary POST calls. A key operational caveat highlighted is that long-lived SSE connections require careful timeout and disconnect handling on serverless platforms like Vercel to avoid dangling connections.
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