Perge

Perge is a minimal p2p synchronization system for Automerge documents using PeerJS.

• Perge
  • Installation
  • Quick Start
  • API
    • Perge
      • constructor (actorId: string, config: PergeConfig = {})
      • readonly docSet: Automerge.DocSet<any>;
      • readonly peer: Peer
      • connect(id: string, conn?: Peer.DataConnection, options?: Peer.PeerConnectOption): Peer.DataConnection
      • get<T>(id: string): Doc<T>
      • select<T>(id: string): (fn: Function, ...args: any[]) => Automerge.Doc<T>
      • subscribe<T>(idOrSetHandler: string | Automerge.DocSetHandler<T>, callback?: Automerge.ChangeFn<T>): () => void

Installation

Perge has the following dependencies:

{
  "automerge": "^0.14.1",
  "peerjs": "^1.2.0"
}

Install Perge via npm:

npm install perge

or via yarn:

yarn add perge

Quick Start

For a more complete example, see the example page.

You can run the example with yarn dev:example which uses Parcel

import { change } from 'automerge'
import Perge from 'perge'
 
// instantiate library
const perge = new Perge('my-unique-id')
 
// connect to a peer
perge.connect('someone-elses-unique-id')
 
// subscribe to all docset changes
perge.subscribe((docId, doc) => {
  // logs 'some-document-id', { message: 'Hey!' }
  console.log(docId, doc)
})
 
// subscribe to a single doc's changes
const unsubscribe = perge.subscribe('some-document-id', doc => {
    // { message: 'Hey!' }
  console.log(doc)
  // unsubscribe this callback
  unsubscribe()
})
 
// select and change documents
perge.select('some-document-id')(
  change,
  doc => {
    doc.message = 'Hey!'
  }
)
 

API

Perge

Perge is a class containing references to Automerge.Connections, and encodes and decodes passed messages using PeerJS and the Automerge.Connection protocol.

constructor (actorId: string, config: PergeConfig = {})

| actorId | string | Required. A unique ID used to initialize the PeerJS connection. Automerge should also be initialized with with this value.

You can further configure Perge with the following config shape. All properties are optional.

Key	Type	Description
decode	(msg: string) => any	A function called on a WebRTC string message before it is passed to an Automerge.Connection with receiveMsg, defaults to JSON.parse
encode	(msg: any) => string	A function called on Automerge.DocSet change objects before it is sent to a peer, defaults to JSON.stringify
peer	PeerJS.Peer	A preconfigured PeerJS.Peer instance.
docSet	Automerge.DocSet<T>	An instantiated Automerge.DocSet to sync between clients.

readonly docSet: Automerge.DocSet<any>;

A reference to the synchronized Automerge.DocSet, handy to subscribe to state changes with if you don't want to use Perge.subscribe:

  docSet.registerHandler((docId, doc) => {
    // REACT TO STATE UPDATES
  })

readonly peer: Peer

A reference to the underlying PeerJS instance, useful for registering lifecycle handlers.

perge.peer.on('error', (err) => {
  // handle
})

connect(id: string, conn?: Peer.DataConnection, options?: Peer.PeerConnectOption): Peer.DataConnection

Connects to a PeerJS peer with the given ID and sends outgoing Automerge.DocSet syncronization messages using the Automerge.Connection protocol.

Returns the DataConnection so you can register your own lifecycle callbacks.

Optionally, you can pass an existing PeerJS connection.

If you don't pass an existing PeerJS connection, it will connect using the given options, if any.

get<T>(id: string): Doc<T>

Gets an existing doc with given ID, or initializes a new doc with the client's actor ID.

select<T>(id: string): (fn: Function, ...args: any[]) => Automerge.Doc<T>

• Updating Automerge Documents

Returns a function that applies a given Automerge document change method, then sets the returned document on the internal DocSet to broadcast changes to connected peers, for example:

// Selects the document with the ID 'foo'
const exec = perge.select('foo')
 
// Apply and broadcast changes on 'foo'
const newDoc = exec(
  Automerge.change,    // apply changes
  'increase counter',  // commit message
  doc => {             // mutate proxy document and apply changes
    if(!doc.counter) doc.counter = new Automerge.Counter()
    else doc.counter.increment()
  }
)
 
// which is roughly the same as:
const oldDoc = docSet.getDoc('foo') || Automerge.init(actorId)
const newDoc = Automerge.change(oldDoc, 'increase counter', doc => {
  if(!doc.counter) doc.counter = new Automerge.Counter()
  else doc.counter.increment()
})
perge.set.setDoc(id, newDoc)

subscribe<T>(idOrSetHandler: string | Automerge.DocSetHandler<T>, callback?: Automerge.ChangeFn<T>): () => void

Subscribe to doc updates for either the entire docSet or a specific document ID. Returns a function that, when called, unsubscribes.

 
const unsubscribeFromAll = instance.subscribe((id, doc) => {
  // do something with the updated doc
})
 
// subscribe returns an unsubscribe function
const unsubscribeFromFoo = instance.subscribe('foo', (doc) => {
  console.log('foo', doc)
  if (doc.counter.value === 10) {
    unsubscribeFromFoo()
    console.log('unsubscribed from foo!')
  }
})