Hibira 0.1.1

Hibira for ASP.NET Core and Blazor

Realtime hubs for ASP.NET Core and Blazor over Hibira, with the SignalR hub API you already know and no WebSocket server, backplane or Azure SignalR Service to run.

Hibira is a hosted realtime service that speaks the Pusher Channels protocol. HibiraHub looks like SignalR's Hub: Clients.All.SendAsync(...), Groups.AddToGroupAsync(...), Clients.User(...), typed hubs and IHubContext<THub> all work the same way. Your server keeps handling hub calls; Hibira holds the WebSocket connections and fans messages out.

Supports .NET 8 and later.

Install

dotnet add package Hibira.AspNetCore
dotnet add package Hibira.Client   # for Blazor or other .NET clients

Copy the app ID, key and secret from your app page on hibira.io/portal (the free plan needs no card) into configuration, for example user secrets or environment variables:

dotnet user-secrets set Hibira:AppId your-app-id
dotnet user-secrets set Hibira:Key your-app-key
dotnet user-secrets set Hibira:Secret your-app-secret
# or HIBIRA__APPID, HIBIRA__KEY, HIBIRA__SECRET

The secret is shown only once, when you create the app; the app ID and key stay under Overview → Credentials. Apps outside the default region also set Hibira:Host (ws-<cluster>.hibira.io). On the Free plan, allowed origins can't be *: add every origin your pages load from (https://localhost:5001 while developing, plus your production domain), or browsers are refused.

A hub

using Hibira.AspNetCore;

public class ChatHub : HibiraHub
{
    public async Task SendMessage(string user, string message) =>
        await Clients.All.SendAsync("ReceiveMessage", user, message);
}

builder.Services.AddHibira();            // reads the "Hibira" section

var app = builder.Build();
app.UseStaticFiles();                    // serves hibira-hub.js
app.MapHibiraHub<ChatHub>("/hubs/chat");

Blazor (and any .NET client)

@using Hibira.Client
@inject NavigationManager Navigation
@implements IAsyncDisposable

@code {
    private HubConnection? hubConnection;
    private readonly List<string> messages = new();

    protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
    {
        hubConnection = new HubConnectionBuilder()
            .WithUrl(Navigation.ToAbsoluteUri("/hubs/chat"))
            .WithAutomaticReconnect()
            .Build();

        hubConnection.On<string, string>("ReceiveMessage", (user, message) =>
        {
            messages.Add($"{user}: {message}");
            InvokeAsync(StateHasChanged);
        });

        await hubConnection.StartAsync();
    }

    private Task Send(string user, string text) => hubConnection!.SendAsync("SendMessage", user, text);

    public async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
    {
        if (hubConnection is not null) await hubConnection.DisposeAsync();
    }
}

That is Microsoft's SignalR Blazor tutorial with one using changed. It runs in Blazor WebAssembly as is. In Blazor Server the component's connection is made from the server, so it doesn't carry the browser's cookies: use anonymous hubs there, or pass o.AccessTokenProvider / o.Headers in WithUrl. With prerendering on, OnInitializedAsync runs twice; turn it off for the component (new InteractiveServerRenderMode(prerender: false)) or start the connection in OnAfterRenderAsync.

JavaScript

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pusher-js@8.4.0/dist/web/pusher.min.js"></script>
<script src="_content/Hibira.AspNetCore/hibira-hub.js"></script>
<script>
  const connection = new hibira.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("/hubs/chat")
    .withAutomaticReconnect()
    .build();

  connection.on("ReceiveMessage", (user, message) => console.log(user, message));
  await connection.start();
  await connection.invoke("SendMessage", "ann", "hello");
</script>

hibira has the same shape as signalR from @microsoft/signalr: on, off, start, stop, invoke, send, onclose, onreconnecting, onreconnected, state and connectionId. Pass accessTokenFactory or headers to withUrl for bearer tokens.

Everything a hub can do

[Authorize]
public class GameHub : HibiraHub
{
    public Task Move(int x, int y) => Clients.Others.SendAsync("Moved", Context.UserIdentifier, x, y);
    public Task Ping() => Clients.Caller.SendAsync("Pong");
    public async Task JoinRoom(string room)
    {
        await Groups.AddToGroupAsync(Context.ConnectionId, room);
        await Clients.OthersInGroup(room).SendAsync("Joined", Context.UserIdentifier);
    }
    public Task Whisper(string userId, string text) => Clients.User(userId).SendAsync("Whisper", text);
    public int Roll() => Random.Shared.Next(1, 7);              // returned to InvokeAsync<int>
    [Authorize(Roles = "admin")] public Task Kick(string id) => Clients.Client(id).SendAsync("Kicked");
    public void Cheat() => throw new HubException("nice try");  // the message reaches the caller

    public override Task OnConnectedAsync() => Clients.All.SendAsync("Online", Context.UserIdentifier);
    public override Task OnDisconnectedAsync(Exception? e) => Clients.All.SendAsync("Offline", Context.UserIdentifier);
}

Typed hubs and sending from anywhere else:

public interface IGameClient { Task Moved(string user, int x, int y); }
public class TypedGameHub : HibiraHub<IGameClient> { /* Clients.All.Moved(...) */ }

public class ScoresController(IHubContext<GameHub> hub) : ControllerBase
{
    [HttpPost] public Task Post(Score s) => hub.Clients.Group(s.Room).SendAsync("Score", s);
}

Hub methods get services injected as parameters, a CancellationToken, and Context.User, Context.UserIdentifier (the NameIdentifier claim; change it with HibiraHubOptions.UserIdProvider) and Context.GetHttpContext().

Moving from SignalR

1. Swap using Microsoft.AspNetCore.SignalR; for using Hibira.AspNetCore; and Hub for HibiraHub (Hub<T> for HibiraHub<T>).
2. Swap AddSignalR() for AddHibira(), MapHub<T> for MapHibiraHub<T>, and drop the Azure SignalR or Redis backplane.
3. In .NET clients, swap the Microsoft.AspNetCore.SignalR.Client package for Hibira.Client (using Hibira.Client;). In the browser, load pusher-js and hibira-hub.js and use hibira. where you used signalR..

What is different:

Like SignalR, a reconnect gets a new connection ID, and groups have to be joined again (Reconnected / onreconnected is the place).

Webhooks: hear about every disconnect

StopAsync and closing the page tell the hub right away. For connections that just drop (a phone losing signal), map the webhook endpoint and add its URL in the Hibira portal with the channel_vacated event:

app.MapHibiraWebhooks("/hibira/webhooks", async (e, services) =>
{
    // every verified event also arrives here, if you want them
});

Signatures are checked, including the previous secret while a rotated secret is in its grace period.

Several servers

Group memberships live in memory by default. Behind a load balancer, store them in any IDistributedCache:

builder.Services.AddStackExchangeRedisCache(o => o.Configuration = "...");
builder.Services.AddHibira().AddDistributedConnectionStore();

The HTTP API on its own

var hibira = app.Services.GetRequiredService<IHibiraClient>();   // or new HibiraClient(options)

await hibira.TriggerAsync("orders", "order-shipped", new { id = 42 });
await hibira.SendToUserAsync("ann", "notification", new { text = "Hi" });
var channels = await hibira.GetChannelsAsync(prefix: "presence-");

// Your own private and presence channels for pusher-js clients:
var auth = hibira.AuthorizePresenceChannel(socketId, "presence-room-1", userId, new { name });

// Ask a person for a decision and wait for the answer:
var approval = await hibira.RequestApprovalAsync(new() { Title = "Refund order #1042 for $89?" });
// share approval.Url, then:
approval = await hibira.GetApprovalAsync(approval.ApprovalId, wait: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(25));

How it works

Each hub has a private channel for everyone (private-hibira.<hub>), one per connection (.c.<connection id>) and one per group (.g.<group>); users get Hibira's #server-to-user-<id> channel through sign-in. MapHibiraHub adds these endpoints under the hub path: negotiate, auth and user-auth (it signs only the channels a connection may join: its own connection channel, and groups the hub added it to), handshake, connect, invoke and disconnect. The connection token that invoke needs is delivered over the connection's own channel, so only the real socket can use it, and it is bound to the signed-in user. Messages are sent as events named after the client method, with {"hub": "...", "arguments": [...]} as data.

Sample

samples/BlazorChat is a Blazor Web App chat with a JavaScript page on the same hub:

cd samples/BlazorChat
dotnet user-secrets init
dotnet user-secrets set Hibira:AppId ... # Key, Secret too
dotnet run

Development

dotnet test                                        # unit and hub tests
npm install --prefix tests/Hibira.E2E/js
E2E_HOST=ws.hibira.io E2E_PORT=443 E2E_TLS=1 E2E_APP_ID=... E2E_KEY=... E2E_SECRET=... \
  dotnet run --project tests/Hibira.E2E              # two .NET clients and hibira-hub.js against a real app

License

MIT

中文摘要

Hibira.AspNetCore 讓 ASP.NET Core 與 Blazor 透過 Hibira 使用和 SignalR 相同的 Hub API(Clients.All、Groups、Clients.User、強型別 Hub、 IHubContext),不需要自己架 WebSocket 伺服器、backplane 或 Azure SignalR Service。從 SignalR 移轉時,只要把 Hub 換成 HibiraHub、MapHub 換成 MapHibiraHub,.NET 用戶端換成 Hibira.Client,瀏覽器改用 pusher-js 加 hibira-hub.js。用戶端呼叫伺服器方法走 HTTPS(沿用你的驗證與授權), 伺服器送出的訊息由 Hibira 負責推送。差異:AllExcept 一次只能排除一個連線、 每則訊息上限 10 KB(Free 方案 4 KB)。多台伺服器時請用 AddDistributedConnectionStore();要即時得知斷線,請在 Hibira 主控台設定 channel_vacated webhook 並 MapHibiraWebhooks。