Access Control

Control who can publish and subscribe to topics with fine-grained access control lists (ACLs).

ACL Basics

Each topic can have separate permissions for publishing and subscribing. This allows you to create read-only channels, write-only endpoints, or fully open topics.

Permission Levels

Each actor's access to a topic is defined by one of these permission levels:

Configuring ACLs

ACLs are configured through the NoLag Dashboard or Portal, not programmatically via the SDK. The JS SDK does not include a topics management API.

// Access control is configured through the NoLag Dashboard or Portal,
// not programmatically via the JS SDK.
//
// The SDK does not expose a topics management API.
// To configure ACLs:
//   1. Go to the NoLag Dashboard
//   2. Navigate to your App > Topics
//   3. Set publish/subscribe permissions per topic
//
// When connecting via the SDK, permission is enforced automatically:
import { NoLag } from '@nolag/js-sdk'

const client = NoLag('your_access_token')
await client.connect()

const room = client.setApp('my-app').setRoom('general')

// This will only succeed if the actor has 'subscribe' or 'pubSub' permission
room.subscribe('announcements')

// This will only succeed if the actor has 'publish' or 'pubSub' permission
room.emit('chat', { text: 'Hello!' })

Common Patterns

Broadcast Channel

Server actors publish announcements, clients subscribe to receive them:

• Server actors: publish
• Client actors: subscribe

Chat Room

All participants can read and write messages:

• All actors: pubSub

Private Notifications

Server sends notifications, user reads them:

• Server actors: publish
• User actor: subscribe

Next Steps

• Authentication Guide
• Topics & Pub/Sub