Event Feeds and Event Streaming reference

An event source emits an event whenever tracked changes are made to a database. Applications can consume the events in two ways:

  • Event Feeds : Asynchronous requests that poll the event source for paginated events.

  • Event Streaming: A real-time subscription that pushes events from the event source to your application using an open connection to Fauna.

Use cases

Event Feeds and Event Streaming are useful for building features that need to react to data changes, such as:

  • Change data capture (CDC)

  • Real-time dashboards

  • Chat apps

  • Pub/sub integration

  • Multiplayer games

Create an event source

To create an event source, call set.eventSource() or set.eventsOn() on a supported Set in an FQL query:

  • set.eventSource() tracks events for any change to any document in the Set:

    Product.all().eventSource()

  • set.eventsOn() accepts a list of document fields. It tracks events for changes to the specified fields for documents in the Set:

    Product.sortedByPriceLowToHigh().eventsOn(.price)

set.eventSource() and set.eventsOn() return an event source:

"g9WD1YPG..."

You can consume the event source as an asynchronous Event Feed or a real-time Event Stream. The event source does not start until first consume it.

Consume an event source

Applications typically consume event sources using a Fauna client driver. The drivers provide methods for defining, consuming, and iterating through an event source’s events without directly handling event sources.

Event Feeds

To use Event Feeds, you must have a Pro or Enterprise plan.

The following Fauna client drivers support Event Feeds:

Follow the links for driver-specific documentation and examples.

How Event Feeds work

To start an event source and request an Event Feed for the event source, the client driver sends a request containing an event source to the Event Feed HTTP API endpoint.

When you first poll an event source using an Event Feed, you usually specify a start_ts (start timestamp). start_ts is an integer representing a time in microseconds since the Unix epoch. The request returns events that occurred after the specified timestamp (exclusive).

page_size limits the number of events returned per page:

curl -X POST \
  'https://db.fauna.com/feed/1' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer $FAUNA_SECRET' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "token": "<EVENT_SOURCE>",
    "start_ts": 1710968002310000
    "page_size": 10
  }'

The response includes an array of events for the event source:

{
  "events": [
    {
      "type": "update",
      "data": {
        "@doc": {
          "id": "111",
          "coll": {
            "@mod": "Product"
          },
          "ts": {
            "@time": "2099-09-04T21:14:29.970Z"
          },
          "name": "cups",
          "description": "Translucent 9 Oz, 100 ct",
          ...
        }
      },
      "txn_ts": 1725484469970000,
      "cursor": "gsGabc123",
      "stats": {
        "read_ops": 1,
        "storage_bytes_read": 320,
        "compute_ops": 1,
        "processing_time_ms": 1,
        "rate_limits_hit": []
      }
    },
    ...
  ],
  "cursor": "gsGabc456", // Top-level cursor
  "has_next": true,
  "stats": {
    "read_ops": 9,
    "storage_bytes_read": 886,
    "compute_ops": 1,
    "processing_time_ms": 8,
    "rate_limits_hit": []
  }
}

If the response’s has_next property is true, the response includes a top-level cursor property. The client driver can use this cursor to get the next page of events:

curl -X POST \
  'https://db.fauna.com/feed/1' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer $FAUNA_SECRET' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "token": "<EVENT_SOURCE>",
    "cursor": "gsGabc456",
    "page_size": 10
  }'

Response:

{
  "events": [
    {
      "type": "update",
      "data": {
        "@doc": {
          "id": "111",
          "coll": {
            "@mod": "Product"
          },
          "ts": {
            "@time": "2099-09-04T21:14:29.970Z"
          },
          "name": "clear cups",
          "description": "Translucent 9 Oz, 100 ct",
          ...
        }
      },
      "txn_ts": 1725484469970000,
      "cursor": "gsGabc456",
      "stats": {
        "read_ops": 1,
        "storage_bytes_read": 320,
        "compute_ops": 1,
        "processing_time_ms": 1,
        "rate_limits_hit": []
      }
    },
    ...
  ],
  "cursor": "gsGabc789",
  "has_next": true,
  "stats": {
    "read_ops": 9,
    "storage_bytes_read": 886,
    "compute_ops": 1,
    "processing_time_ms": 8,
    "rate_limits_hit": []
  }
}

Get events after a specific start time

To get events after a specific time, the client driver uses the start_ts request body parameter:

curl -X POST \
  'https://db.fauna.com/feed/1' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer $FAUNA_SECRET' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "token": "<EVENT_SOURCE>",
    "page_size": 10,
    "start_ts": 1710968002310000
  }'

start_ts must be later than the creation time of the event source. The period between the request and the start_ts can’t exceed the history_days setting for the source Set’s collection. If history_days is 0 or unset, the period is limited to 15 minutes.

Get events after a specific cursor

To get events from a previous event’s cursor, the client driver uses the cursor request body parameter. The event source will replay events that occurred after the cursor (exclusive):

curl -X POST \
  'https://db.fauna.com/feed/1' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer $FAUNA_SECRET' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "token": "<EVENT_SOURCE>",
    "cursor": "gsGabc456",
    "page_size": 10
  }'

The period between the request and the cursor event’s txn_ts (transaction timestamp) can’t exceed the history_days setting for the source Set’s collection. If history_days is 0 or unset, the period is limited to 15 minutes.

Event Streaming

The following Fauna client drivers support real-time Event Streaming:

Follow the links for driver-specific documentation and examples.

How Event Streaming works

To start and subscribe to an event source’s events in real time, the client driver sends a request containing the event source to the Stream HTTP API endpoint:

curl -X POST \
  'https://db.fauna.com/stream/1' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <FAUNA_SECRET>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "token": "<EVENT_SOURCE>"
    }'

In response, the event source emits a status event, indicating the subscription has started.

{
  "type": "status",
  "txn_ts": 1710968002310000,
  "cursor": "gsGabc123",
  "stats": {
    "read_ops": 8,
    "storage_bytes_read": 208,
    "compute_ops": 1,
    "processing_time_ms": 0,
    "rate_limits_hit": []
  }
}

The Stream API request's connection remains open. If a tracked change occurs, the event source emits a related add, remove, or update event. These events include the triggering document, encoded using the tagged format, in the data field:

{
  "type": "update",
  "data": {
    "@doc": {
      "id": "392914348360597540",
      "coll": { "@mod": "Product" },
      "ts": { "@time": "2099-03-21T12:35:18.680Z" },
      "name": "pizza",
      "description": "Frozen Cheese",
      ...
    }
  },
  "txn_ts": 1711024518680000,
  "cursor": "gsGdef456",
  "stats": {
    ...
  }
}

If a change occurs between the creation of the event source and the start of a stream, the stream replays and emits the related events when the stream starts.

Subscription disconnection

Fauna’s client drivers can detect connection loss and automatically reconnect disconnected Event Streaming subscriptions. Events that occur during network issues are replayed and emitted when the subscription reconnects.

When a subscription reconnects, the event source emits a new status event:

{
  "type": "status",
  "txn_ts": 1710968002310000,
  "cursor": "gsGabc123",
  "stats": {
    "read_ops": 8,
    "storage_bytes_read": 208,
    "compute_ops": 1,
    "processing_time_ms": 0,
    "rate_limits_hit": []
  }
}

Restart an Event Streaming subscription

The Stream HTTP API endpoint supports two methods for restarting disconnected stream subscriptions:

The methods are mutually exclusive and can’t be used together.

Restart from an event cursor

To restart a stream from a previous event’s cursor, the client driver uses the cursor request body parameter. The restarted stream will replay events that occurred after the cursor (exclusive):

curl -X POST \
  'https://db.fauna.com/stream/1' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <FAUNA_SECRET>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "token": "<EVENT_SOURCE>",
    "cursor": "gsGabc123"
    }'

The period between the subscription restart and the cursor event’s txn_ts (transaction timestamp) can’t exceed the history_days setting for the source Set’s collection. If history_days is 0 or unset, the period is limited to 15 minutes.

Restart from a transaction timestamp

To restart a subscription from a transaction timestamp, the client driver uses the start_ts request body parameter. start_ts is an integer representing the subscription start time in microseconds since the Unix epoch:

curl -X POST \
  'https://db.fauna.com/stream/1' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <FAUNA_SECRET>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "token": "<EVENT_SOURCE>",
    "start_ts": 1710968002310000
    }'

start_ts must be later than the creation time of the event source. The period between the subscription restart and the start_ts can’t exceed the history_days setting for the source Set’s collection. If history_days is 0 or unset, the period is limited to 15 minutes.

Event Streaming sample app

The Event Streaming sample app show how you can use Event Streaming to build a real-time chat app. You can use it as a starting point for your own app.

See Event Streaming sample app

Permission changes

If the authentication secret used to create an event source is revoked or the secret’s privileges change, the stream using the event source closes due to permission loss. This applies even if the secret still has access to the documents the event source is tracking.

Supported Sets

You can only create an event source on a supported Set. The source affects the exact behavior of set.eventSource() or set.eventsOn().

Supported Set Behavior

User-defined collection

  • set.eventSource() emits events for any change to any document in the Set, including the addition or removal of documents.

  • set.eventsOn() emits events for any change to specified document fields in the Set. It also emits events for changes that add or remove documents with the specified fields from the Set.

You can’t create an event source on a system collection.

User-defined index

  • set.eventSource() emits events for changes to the index’s terms or values fields for documents in the Set. It also emits events for changes that add or remove documents from the Set.

  • set.eventsOn() emits events for changes to specified terms or values fields in the Set. You can only specify terms or values fields.

You can’t create an event source on an index for a system collection.

Document

Collection event sources

Calling set.eventSource() directly on collection.all() tracks any change to any document in the collection.

The following query tracks any change to documents in the Product collection:

Product.all().eventSource()

For example, if you change a Product document’s price to below 100_00, the event source emits an update event.

You can use collection.where() to filter the tracked documents for a collection.

For example, the following query only tracks Product documents with a price of less than 100_00.

Product.where(.price < 100_00).eventSource()

If you change a Product document’s price from above 100_00 to below 100_00, the event source emits an add event. Before the change, the document would not have been part of the event source’s Set.

You can use set.eventsOn() to only track changes to specific fields.

The following query tracks changes made to any Product document’s description. The event source doesn’t emit events for changes to other fields.

Product.all().eventsOn(.description)

Index event sources

Index event sources only emit events for changes to the index’s terms or values fields.

For example, the following Product collection’s byCategory() index has:

  • A term field of category

  • Value fields of name and price

collection Product {

  *: Any

  index byCategory {
    terms [.category]
    values [.name, .price]
  }
  ...
}

The following query only tracks changes to the category, name, or price fields for Product documents with a category of produce.

let produce = Category.byName("produce").first()
Product.byCategory(produce).eventSource()

When called on an index, set.eventsOn() only accepts the index’s terms or values fields as arguments.

For example, in the following query, set.eventsOn() only accepts .category, .name, or .price as arguments.

let produce = Category.byName("produce").first()
Product.byCategory(produce).eventsOn(.category, .name)

Document event sources

You can use event sources to track changes to a Set containing a single document. These event sources only emit events when the document changes.

Use Set.single() to create a Set from a document.

let product = Product.byId(111)!
Set.single(product).eventSource()

Use set.eventsOn() to only track changes to specific fields of the document.

let product = Product.byId(111)!
Set.single(product).eventsOn(.name, .price)

Resource deletion

If the database or source for an event source is deleted, the event source won’t emit any further events. Subscriptions for the event source don’t automatically close.

Supported transformations and filters

Event sources only support source Sets that are transformed or filtered using:

This ensures Fauna can convert the Set to an event source. Sets using unsupported transformations or filters will fail to convert.

For example, the Set for the following event source uses the unsupported set.drop() method.

Product.all().drop(10).eventSource()

Running the query returns the following error:

invalid_receiver: can't call `.eventSource()` because streaming is not supported on sets returned from `.drop()`.

error: can't call `.eventSource()` because streaming is not supported on sets returned from `.drop()`.
at *query*:1:35
|
1 | Product.all().drop(10).eventSource()
|                                   ^^
|

Filters

Use set.where() to filter an event source’s Set.

For example, the following query only tracks changes to Product documents with:

  • A category of produce

  • A price less than 100_00

let produce = Category.byName("produce").first()
Product
  .all()
  .where(.category == produce)
  .where(.price < 100_00)
  .eventSource()

You can also call set.where() directly on set.eventSource() or set.eventsOn(). The following query is equivalent to the previous one.

let produce = Category.byName("produce").first()
Product
  .all()
  .eventSource()
  .where(.category == produce)
  .where(.price < 100_00)

set.where() produces a new Set based on its criteria. The criteria affect the event types emitted for changes:

  • Creating a document in the Set produces an add event.

  • Updating a document so that it moves into the Set produces an add event.

  • Updating a document so that it remains in the Set produces an update event.

  • Updating a document so that it moves out of the Set produces a remove event.

  • Deleting a document from the Set produces a remove event.

  • Any other changes produce no events.

While filters affect events emitted for an event source, they don’t affect event processing, which impacts performance and cost. See How filters affect costs and performance.

Projection

An event source’s add and update event types include a data field. This field contains the document that triggered the event.

Use set.map() or projection to return only specific document fields in these events.

For example, the following query tracks changes to any field in any Product document. The query uses set.map() to only include the name and price document fields in the data field of add and update events.

Product
  .all()
  .map(product => {
    name: product.name,
    price: product.price
  })
  .eventSource()

The following query uses projection and is equivalent to the previous one.

let products = Product.all() { name, price }
products.eventSource()

The previous queries can produce the following add event. The event’s data field includes only the name and price document fields.

{
  "type": "add",
  "data": { "name": "pizza", "price": "1599" },
  "txn_ts": 1711028312060000,
  "cursor": "gsGghu789",
  "stats": {
    "read_ops": 1,
    "storage_bytes_read": 69,
    "compute_ops": 1,
    "processing_time_ms": 0,
    "rate_limits_hit": []
  }
}

Events

Event sources emit one event per document per transaction.

Event order

Events are ordered by ascending txn_ts (transaction timestamp). Events from the same transaction share the same txn_ts, but their order may differ across clients.

Event types

The following table outlines supported event types.

Event type Sent when …​

add

A document is added to the Set.

remove

A document is removed from the Set.

Event sources don’t emit remove events for documents deleted due to an expired TTL. Such documents are deleted lazily upon expiration.

update

A document in the Set changes.

status

An Event Stream starts or reconnects. It’s also sent periodically to:

  • Keep the client connection open.

  • Send statistics on operations consumed by event processing, including discarded events that aren’t sent.

See the status event schema.

Event Feeds don’t receive or include status events.

error

An event source can no longer be consumed due to an error.

See the error event schema and Error codes.

Event schema

Events with a type other than status or error have the following schema:

{
  "type": "add",
  "data": {
    "@doc": {
      "id": "392914348360597540",
      "coll": { "@mod": "Product" },
      "ts": { "@time": "2099-03-20T21:46:12.580Z" },
      "foo": "bar"
    }
  },
  "txn_ts": 1710968002310000,
  "cursor": "gsGabc123",
  "stats": {
    "read_ops": 8,
    "storage_bytes_read": 208,
    "compute_ops": 1,
    "processing_time_ms": 0,
    "rate_limits_hit": []
  }
}

status event types have the following schema:

{
  "type": "status",
  "txn_ts": 1710968002310000,
  "cursor": "gsGabc123",
  "stats": {
    "read_ops": 0,
    "storage_bytes_read": 0,
    "compute_ops": 0,
    "processing_time_ms": 0,
    "rate_limits_hit": []
  }
}

error event types have the following schema:

{
  "type": "error",
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_stream_start_time",
    "message": "Stream start time 2099-09-05T14:27:10.100Z is too far in the past. Recreate the stream and try again."
  },
  "stats": {
    "read_ops": 0,
    "storage_bytes_read": 0,
    "compute_ops": 0,
    "processing_time_ms": 0,
    "rate_limits_hit": []
  }
}
Field name Type Description

type

string

Event type: add, remove, update, status, or error.

Event Feeds don’t receive or include status events.

data

object

Document that triggered the event. FQL values are encoded using the tagged format.

The status and error event types don’t include this property.

error

object

Contains an error for the event source. Only error event type includes this property.

Field name Type Description

code

string

Code for the error. Error codes are part of the API contract and are safe to write programmatic logic against.

See Error codes for a list of possible error codes.

message

string

Human-readable description of the error.

txn_ts

integer

The related transaction’s commit time in microseconds since the Unix epoch.

The error event type doesn’t include this property.

cursor

string

Cursor for the event. The Fauna HTTP API and client drivers can use the cursor to replay events that occurred after the cursor. See Restart from an event cursor.

The error event type doesn’t include this property.

stats

object

Event statistics.

Field name Type Description

read_ops

integer

Transactional Read Operations (TROs) consumed by the event.

storage_bytes_read

integer

Amount of data read from storage, in bytes.

compute_ops

integer

Transactional Compute Operations (TCOs) consumed by the event.

processing_time_ms

integer

Event processing time in milliseconds.

rate_limits_hit

array

Operations that exceeded their rate limit. See Global limits.

Error codes

The following table outlines possible error codes for error events.

Error code Cause

internal_error

An internal error caused by Fauna.

invalid_stream_start_time

The requested Event Stream or Event Feed start time is too far in the past. The collection containing the stream’s document Set doesn’t retain enough history to replay requested events.

permission_loss

The authentication secret used to create the event source was revoked or the secret’s privileges changed. See Permission changes.

stream_overflow

The event source attempts to process more than 128 events at once, exceeding the event limit.

stream_replay_volume_exceeded

The event source would replay more than 128 events at once, exceeding the event limit.

Costs and performance

An event source’s cost and performance are closely related to its shape. An event source’s shape is defined by:

Processing and sending events consume Transactional Read Operations (TROs) and Transactional Compute Operations (TCOs).

The exact number of TROs and TCOs consumed varies based on the event source’s shape. See Event Streaming subscriptions in the billing docs.

Depending on its cardinality and throughput, consuming an event source for a large Set may cause delays in event delivery and consume more operations.

If an event source replays events, it may also consume additional operations.

Each event includes statistics that report consumed operations. If you exceed your Fauna’s or your plan’s operations limit, the event source emits an error event. For Event Streams, this closes the stream.

How filters affect costs and performance

Event sources may discard events based on filters.

For example, an event source with the following query uses a filter to only emit events for Product documents with a category of produce:

let produce = Category.byName("produce").first()
Product
  .all()
  .where(.category == produce)
  .eventSource()

To do this, Fauna processes an event for any change to any Product document. It then discards events for documents without a category of produce. These discarded events still consume operations for your account.

To track changes on a large Set, we recommend using an index event source.

For example, the following event source emits events similar to the previous one. However, it only tracks the index’s terms and values fields:

let produce = Category.byName("produce").first()
Product
  .byCategory(produce)
  .eventSource()

Another source of discarded events is privilege predicates in roles. For example, the following role uses predicates to grant its members read and write access only to Product documents with a category of produce:

role ProduceManager {
 privileges Product {
   write {
     predicate ((product, _) => product?.category?.name == "produce")
   }
   read {
     predicate (product => product?.category?.name == "produce")
   }
 }
}

An event source created using an authentication secret with this role only emits events for documents the role can access. Other events are discarded. These discarded events still consume operations for your account.

Limitations

  • Operation limits apply to event sources.

  • While processing events, Fauna runs one query per transaction.

  • An event source can’t replay or process more than 128 events at a time. If an event source has more than 128 events to process, Fauna closes the event source with an error event.

  • You can’t create event sources for:

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