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Channel Components

Channel Types​

ART offers several channel types to accommodate various real-time communication scenarios:

  • Targeted Channels: One-to-one messaging between two parties.

  • Broadcast Channels: One-to-many messaging from a single publisher to multiple subscribers.

  • Encrypted Channels: Peer-to-peer encrypted messaging for secure communication.

  • Group Channels: Many-to-many messaging where all members can send and receive messages.

  • Shared Object Channels: Real-time shared state synchronization using CRDTs.

Channel State (Active / Inactive)​

The state of a channel determines whether it can propagate real-time data. By default, a newly created channel is set to inactive. In this state, the channel is dormant and cannot be used to transmit any messages or real-time payloads.

To use a channel for real-time data transfer, you must change its state to active. This is done by selecting the Active? checkbox during channel setup. This feature allows you to manage channels efficiently and optimize bandwidth consumption by keeping unused channels inactive.

Message Orchestration​

ART includes a built-in message orchestration system that provides intelligent message routing capabilities. When enabled, the orchestrator can intercept the data stream within a channel and pass it through an Agentic AI flow, allowing for advanced behaviors such as filtering, enrichment, transformation, or conditional routing.

To enable the message orchestrator for a channel, check the Enable Orchestration option when configuring. Once enabled, a dedicated Orchestration tab becomes available, where you can define and manage orchestration rules.

Important

The orchestrator cannot be enabled or disabled once the channel creation is done. So configure carefully according to the need.

To fully understand how orchestrators function and how to design flows, refer to the Orchestrator section in the Agent Builder documentation

Guaranteed Message Delivery​

The Guaranteed Message Delivery feature ensures that every message published in your application is delivered exactly once to all intended recipients, regardless of transient network issues, client disconnections, or server failures.

This guarantee is vital for real-time applications where missing or duplicating messages can disrupt the user experience, compromise data integrity, or fail to meet compliance requirements. By enabling this feature on a channel, you prevent scenarios that could lead to a poor user experience, such as lost messages or multiple deliveries of the same message.

To enable this feature, simply select the Enable Guarantee delivery checkbox when configuring the channel.

Note

Message Delivery Guarantee can only be enabled for Targeted and Encrypted channel types.

User Presence Tracking​

User presence tracking allows you to monitor and manage the online status of users within a channel. By enabling presence tracking, you can keep track of which users are currently connected, their activity status (e.g., online, offline, idle).

This feature is particularly useful for applications that require real-time awareness of user availability, such as chat applications, collaborative tools, or any scenario where user interaction is time-sensitive.