What you can build with uchat

A uchat chat room goes on your site with two lines of install code. On top of that, you can add features with page scripts, the skin UI API, and the server API. This page explains what each one does and when to pick which.

Starting point: the install code

Every feature starts with putting a chat room on a page. Load uchat.js once and add a <u-chat room="my-room"> tag, and the chat room opens in that spot. → 5-minute setup

To use your site members' nicknames and permissions in the chat room, add member integration. → Member integration

Three ways to extend

Method	Runs in	What it does	Reference
Page script	JavaScript on your page	Gets the chat room object (room) with U.chat() and reacts to events such as joins and messages, or sends messages, runs commands, and shows notice lines	U.chat() and the room object, Events
Skin UI API	JavaScript on your page (drawn inside the default skin)	Adds menu buttons, nickname menu items, dialogs, areas above and below the chat, overlay areas, and nickname and message styling to the default skin (basic-v2)	Skin UI API
Server API	Your server	Reads chat room visitor statistics with REST requests, or sends data to a chat room channel	Server REST API

Page scripts and the skin UI API start from the same room object. The skin UI API lives in room.skin, so once you can write a page script, you can use it right away.

Channels: real-time data

A channel is a path for exchanging data that is not a chat message, either between people in the same chat room or between your server and the chat room. In a page script you open one with room.plugin.add('channel-name'), and on your server you send to the same channel with the server API.

• Between users: when everyone's screen must stay in sync, as in watch-together, games, or polls → Sending and receiving real-time data
• From your server to the chat room: when you announce site events such as payments, orders, or a stream going live → Sending notifications from your server to a chat room

Send limits and storage sizes are in Channel API and limits.

What to pick

What you want to do	Method	Start here
Greet people who join, react on the page when a certain word appears	Page script (events)	Your first script
Change or block outgoing messages	Page script (before. events)	Events
Several chat rooms on one page, attach and detach in an SPA	Page script	Async loading and multiple chat rooms
Put buttons, input boxes, or banners inside the chat room	Skin UI API	Extending the skin UI
Highlight admin nicknames, color the background of certain messages	Skin UI API (resolver)	Decorate nicknames and messages
Keep the same video or game state for everyone in the room	Channel	Sending and receiving real-time data
Announce site events in the chat room	Server API + channel	Sending notifications from your server to a chat room
Show the current visitor count on your site	Server API	Server REST API

You will often combine methods. For example, a Payment completion notice is sent with the server API, received through a channel in a page script, and shown in the chat room.

Next steps

1. Add a chat room with 5-minute setup.
2. Receive events with Your first script.
3. Read the guide for the feature you want to build, and look up details in the reference. Finished code is in the examples.

Before going public, check the Security checklist.