Browser Quickstart
Get a SpacetimeDB app running in the browser with inline JavaScript.
Prerequisites
- Node.js 18+ installed
- SpacetimeDB CLI installed
Run the spacetime dev command to create a new project with a TypeScript SpacetimeDB module.
This will start the local SpacetimeDB server, publish your module, and generate TypeScript client bindings.
spacetime dev --template browser-tsThe generated TypeScript bindings need to be bundled into a JavaScript file that can be loaded in the browser via a script tag.
cd my-spacetime-app
npm install
npm run buildOpen index.html directly in your browser. The app connects to SpacetimeDB and displays data in real-time.
The JavaScript code runs inline in a script tag, using the bundled DbConnection class.
The browser IIFE bundle also exposes the generated tables query builders, so you can use query-builder subscriptions here too.
<!-- Load the bundled bindings -->
<script src="dist/bindings.iife.js"></script>
<script>
const HOST = 'ws://localhost:3000';
const DB_NAME = 'my-spacetime-app';
const TOKEN_KEY = `${HOST}/${DB_NAME}/auth_token`;
const conn = DbConnection.builder()
.withUri(HOST)
.withDatabaseName(DB_NAME)
.withToken(localStorage.getItem(TOKEN_KEY))
.onConnect((conn, identity, token) => {
localStorage.setItem(TOKEN_KEY, token);
console.log('Connected:', identity.toHexString());
// Subscribe to tables
conn.subscriptionBuilder()
.onApplied(() => {
for (const person of conn.db.person.iter()) {
console.log(person.name);
}
})
.subscribe(tables.person);
})
.build();
</script>
Reducers are functions that modify data — they're the only way to write to the database.
// Call a reducer with named arguments
conn.reducers.add({ name: 'Alice' });
Register callbacks to update your UI when data changes.
conn.db.person.onInsert((ctx, person) => {
console.log('New person:', person.name);
});
conn.db.person.onDelete((ctx, person) => {
console.log('Removed:', person.name);
});
Next steps
- See the Chat App Tutorial for a complete example
- Read the TypeScript SDK Reference for detailed API docs