@modelriver/client

Official ModelRiver client SDK for real-time AI response streaming via WebSockets.

Features

• WebSocket streaming - Receive AI responses in real-time via Phoenix Channels
• Auto-reconnection - Automatically reconnects on connection loss
• Persistence + reconnect - Survives page refreshes with localStorage + backend reconnect
• Framework adapters - First-class support for React, Vue, Angular, and Svelte
• CDN ready - Use via script tag without a build step
• TypeScript - Full type definitions included
• Lightweight - ~15KB minified (including Phoenix.js)

Installation

npm / yarn / pnpm

npm install @modelriver/client
# or
yarn add @modelriver/client
# or
pnpm add @modelriver/client

CDN

<script src="https://cdn.modelriver.com/client/v1.1.36/modelriver.min.js"></script>
<!-- or latest -->
<script src="https://cdn.modelriver.com/client/latest/modelriver.min.js"></script>

Quick Start

1. Get async connection details from your backend

Your backend calls the ModelRiver /api/v1/ai/async endpoint and receives connection details:

// Your backend endpoint proxies to ModelRiver
const response = await fetch('/api/ai/request', {
  method: 'POST',
  body: JSON.stringify({ message: 'Hello AI' }),
});

// Response from /api/v1/ai/async:
// {
//   "message": "success",
//   "status": "pending",
//   "channel_id": "a1b2c3d4-...",
//   "ws_token": "one-time-websocket-token",
//   "websocket_url": "wss://api.modelriver.com/socket",
//   "websocket_channel": "ai_response:PROJECT_ID:a1b2c3d4-..."
// }
const { channel_id, ws_token, websocket_url, websocket_channel } = await response.json();

2. Connect to ModelRiver WebSocket

import { ModelRiverClient } from '@modelriver/client';

const client = new ModelRiverClient({
  baseUrl: 'wss://api.modelriver.com/socket',
});

client.on('response', (data) => {
  console.log('AI Response:', data);
});

client.on('error', (error) => {
  console.error('Error:', error);
});

client.connect({
  channelId: channel_id,
  wsToken: ws_token,
  websocketUrl: websocket_url,
  websocketChannel: websocket_channel,
});

Framework Usage

React

import { useModelRiver } from '@modelriver/client/react';

function ChatComponent() {
  const { 
    connect, 
    disconnect, 
    response, 
    error, 
    isConnected, 
    steps 
  } = useModelRiver({
    baseUrl: 'wss://api.modelriver.com/socket',
    persist: true,
  });

  const handleSend = async () => {
    const {
      channel_id,
      ws_token,
      websocket_url,
      websocket_channel,
    } = await yourBackendAPI.createRequest(message); // calls /api/v1/ai/async

    connect({
      channelId: channel_id,
      wsToken: ws_token,
      websocketUrl: websocket_url,
      websocketChannel: websocket_channel,
    });
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={handleSend} disabled={isConnected}>
        Send
      </button>
      
      {/* Show workflow progress */}
      {steps.map((step) => (
        <div key={step.id} className={step.status}>
          {step.name}
        </div>
      ))}
      
      {/* Show response */}
      {response && (
        <pre>{JSON.stringify(response.data, null, 2)}</pre>
      )}
      
      {/* Show error */}
      {error && <p className="error">{error}</p>}
    </div>
  );
}

Vue

<script setup>
import { useModelRiver } from '@modelriver/client/vue';

const { 
  connect, 
  disconnect, 
  response, 
  error, 
  isConnected, 
  steps 
} = useModelRiver({
  baseUrl: 'wss://api.modelriver.com/socket',
});

async function handleSend() {
  const {
    channel_id,
    ws_token,
    websocket_url,
    websocket_channel,
  } = await yourBackendAPI.createRequest(message); // calls /api/v1/ai/async

  connect({
    channelId: channel_id,
    wsToken: ws_token,
    websocketUrl: websocket_url,
    websocketChannel: websocket_channel,
  });
}
</script>

<template>
  <div>
    <button @click="handleSend" :disabled="isConnected">Send</button>
    
    <div v-for="step in steps" :key="step.id" :class="step.status">
      {{ step.name }}
    </div>
    
    <pre v-if="response">{{ response.data }}</pre>
    <p v-if="error" class="error">{{ error }}</p>
  </div>
</template>

Angular

import { Component, OnDestroy } from '@angular/core';
import { ModelRiverService } from '@modelriver/client/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-chat',
  providers: [ModelRiverService],
  template: `
    <button (click)="send()" [disabled]="modelRiver.isConnected">
      Send
    </button>
    
    <div *ngFor="let step of modelRiver.steps$ | async" [class]="step.status">
      {{ step.name }}
    </div>
    
    <pre *ngIf="modelRiver.response$ | async as res">
      {{ res.data | json }}
    </pre>
    
    <p *ngIf="modelRiver.error$ | async as err" class="error">
      {{ err }}
    </p>
  `,
})
export class ChatComponent implements OnDestroy {
  constructor(public modelRiver: ModelRiverService) {
    this.modelRiver.init({ 
      baseUrl: 'wss://api.modelriver.com/socket' 
    });
  }

  async send() {
    const {
      channel_id,
      ws_token,
      websocket_url,
      websocket_channel,
    } = await this.backendService.createRequest(message); // calls /api/v1/ai/async

    this.modelRiver.connect({
      channelId: channel_id,
      wsToken: ws_token,
      websocketUrl: websocket_url,
      websocketChannel: websocket_channel,
    });
  }

  ngOnDestroy() {
    this.modelRiver.destroy();
  }
}

Svelte

<script>
  import { createModelRiver } from '@modelriver/client/svelte';
  import { onDestroy } from 'svelte';

  const modelRiver = createModelRiver({
    baseUrl: 'wss://api.modelriver.com/socket',
  });

  const { response, error, isConnected, steps, connect, disconnect } = modelRiver;

  async function send() {
    const {
      channel_id,
      ws_token,
      websocket_url,
      websocket_channel,
    } = await backendAPI.createRequest(message); // calls /api/v1/ai/async

    connect({
      channelId: channel_id,
      wsToken: ws_token,
      websocketUrl: websocket_url,
      websocketChannel: websocket_channel,
    });
  }

  onDestroy(() => disconnect());
</script>

<button on:click={send} disabled={$isConnected}>Send</button>

{#each $steps as step}
  <div class={step.status}>{step.name}</div>
{/each}

{#if $response}
  <pre>{JSON.stringify($response.data, null, 2)}</pre>
{/if}

{#if $error}
  <p class="error">{$error}</p>
{/if}

Vanilla JavaScript (CDN)

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://cdn.modelriver.com/client/latest/modelriver.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
  <button id="send">Send</button>
  <pre id="response"></pre>

  <script>
    const client = new ModelRiver.ModelRiverClient({
      baseUrl: 'wss://api.modelriver.com/socket',
    });

    client.on('response', (data) => {
      document.getElementById('response').textContent = 
        JSON.stringify(data, null, 2);
    });

    client.on('error', (error) => {
      console.error('Error:', error);
    });

    document.getElementById('send').addEventListener('click', async () => {
      // Get async connection info from your backend
      const res = await fetch('/api/ai/request', { method: 'POST' });
      const {
        channel_id,
        ws_token,
        websocket_url,
        websocket_channel,
      } = await res.json(); // your backend calls /api/v1/ai/async
      
      client.connect({
        channelId: channel_id,
        wsToken: ws_token,
        websocketUrl: websocket_url,
        websocketChannel: websocket_channel,
      });
    });
  </script>
</body>
</html>

API Reference

ModelRiverClient

Constructor Options

interface ModelRiverClientOptions {
  baseUrl?: string;           // WebSocket URL (default: 'wss://api.modelriver.com/socket')
  apiBaseUrl?: string;        // Optional HTTP base URL for backend reconnect (/api/v1/ai/reconnect)
  debug?: boolean;            // Enable debug logging (default: false)
  persist?: boolean;          // Enable localStorage persistence (default: true)
  storageKeyPrefix?: string;  // Storage key prefix (default: 'modelriver_')
  heartbeatInterval?: number; // Heartbeat interval in ms (default: 30000)
  requestTimeout?: number;    // Request timeout in ms (default: 300000)
}

Methods

| Method | Description | |--------|-------------| | connect({ channelId, websocketUrl?, websocketChannel? }) | Connect to WebSocket with channel ID | | disconnect() | Disconnect from WebSocket | | reset() | Reset state and clear stored data | | reconnect() | Reconnect using stored channel ID | | reconnectWithBackend() | Call your backend /api/v1/ai/reconnect to get a fresh ws_token and reconnect | | getState() | Get current client state | | hasPendingRequest() | Check if there's a pending request | | on(event, callback) | Add event listener (returns unsubscribe function) | | off(event, callback) | Remove event listener | | destroy() | Clean up all resources |

Events

| Event | Payload | Description | |-------|---------|-------------| | connecting | - | Connection attempt started | | connected | - | Successfully connected | | disconnected | reason?: string | Disconnected from WebSocket | | response | AIResponse | AI response received | | error | Error or string | Error occurred | | step | WorkflowStep | Workflow step updated | | channel_joined | - | Successfully joined channel | | channel_error | reason: string | Channel join failed |

Types

// Response from /api/ai/async endpoint
interface AsyncResponse {
  message: string;              // "success"
  status: 'pending';            // Always "pending" for async
  channel_id: string;           // Unique channel ID
  ws_token: string;             // One-time WebSocket token for authentication
  websocket_url: string;        // WebSocket URL to connect to
  websocket_channel: string;    // Full channel name (e.g., "ai_response:uuid")
  instructions?: {
    websocket?: string;
    webhook?: string;
  };
  test_mode?: boolean;          // Present in test mode
}

// AI response received via WebSocket
interface AIResponse {
  status: string;               // "success" or "error"
  channel_id?: string;
  content?: string;             // AI response text
  model?: string;               // Model used (e.g., "gpt-4")
  data?: unknown;               // Structured output data
  meta?: {
    workflow?: string;
    status?: string;
    duration_ms?: number;
    usage?: {
      prompt_tokens?: number;
      completion_tokens?: number;
      total_tokens?: number;
    };
  };
  error?: {
    message: string;
    details?: unknown;
  };
}

interface WorkflowStep {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  status: 'pending' | 'loading' | 'success' | 'error';
  duration?: number;
  errorMessage?: string;
}

How It Works

1. Your backend calls ModelRiver's /api/v1/ai/async endpoint
2. ModelRiver returns channel_id, ws_token, websocket_url, and websocket_channel
3. Your backend returns these fields to the frontend (never the API key)
4. Your frontend uses this SDK to connect via WebSocket using channel_id + ws_token
5. AI responses are delivered in real-time to your frontend
6. The SDK handles heartbeats, channel joins, and automatic reconnection for transient network issues.
7. For page refresh recovery, use the persistence + reconnect helpers (persist, hasPendingRequest, reconnect, reconnectWithBackend) together with your backend /api/v1/ai/reconnect endpoint.

┌──────────────┐       ┌──────────────┐       ┌──────────────┐
│   Frontend   │       │ Your Backend │       │  ModelRiver  │
└──────┬───────┘       └──────┬───────┘       └──────┬───────┘
       │                      │                      │
       │  1. Request AI       │                      │
       │─────────────────────>│                      │
       │                      │  2. Create request   │
       │                      │─────────────────────>│
       │                      │                      │
       │                      │  3. Return channel_id│
       │                      │<─────────────────────│
       │  4. Return channel_id│                      │
       │<─────────────────────│                      │
       │                      │                      │
       │  5. Connect WebSocket (SDK)                 │
       │─────────────────────────────────────────────>│
       │                      │                      │
       │  6. Stream AI response                      │
       │<─────────────────────────────────────────────│
       │                      │                      │

Security

The /api/v1/ai/async response contains:

• channel_id - Unique identifier for this request
• ws_token - Short-lived, one-time WebSocket token (per user + project)
• websocket_url - WebSocket endpoint URL
• websocket_channel - Channel name to join

The client SDK uses channel_id and ws_token to connect to the WebSocket.
The ws_token is:

• Short-lived (≈5 minutes)
• Single-use (consumed on first successful WebSocket authentication)

For page refresh recovery:

• The SDK persists the active request (by default) to localStorage
• On reload, you can:
  • either call client.reconnect() to reuse the stored ws_token (if still valid)
  • or call client.reconnectWithBackend() to have your backend issue a fresh ws_token via /api/v1/ai/reconnect

Important: Always obtain channel_id and ws_token from your backend.
Never expose your ModelRiver API key in frontend code. Your backend should be the only component that talks to ModelRiver's HTTP API (/api/v1/ai/async, /api/v1/ai/reconnect, etc.).

Browser Support

• Chrome 60+
• Firefox 55+
• Safari 12+
• Edge 79+

License

MIT

Links

• Client SDK Documentation
• API Reference
• Getting Started
• Dashboard
• GitHub Issues