Do I need Pusher or Soketi?
For live mode, yes: Direct speaks the Pusher protocol, so a free Pusher Channels app or Soketi on your own server will do. Without a relay, Direct still keeps pages fresh by polling, and a dot in the navigation tells members which mode they are in.
Will it use up my Pusher plan?
Direct estimates the messages it sends each day and switches pages to polling until midnight UTC before your cap is reached. The default cap is half of what Pusher's free plan allows. Guests poll by default and a tab left in the background disconnects after a few minutes, which keeps the count low.
Can a live event leak a private thread?
Every channel is private and your server signs each subscription only after XenForo's own permission check. A live event carries an ID, not content: the page then loads what changed through XenForo, with the reader's own permissions.
Does it work with my style?
On styles that keep XenForo's standard page structure, yes, in light and dark. Where a heavily rebuilt style lacks an element Direct would update, that area simply stays as it is, with no error.
I already run your Immersive Messenger. Do I need a second relay?
No. Leave Relay on Automatic and Direct shares Messenger's connection and settings.
What has been tested for real?
Our own forum has run Direct on Pusher's cloud since October. Every test before the 1.1.0 release ran against a local relay that speaks the same protocol, and the Admin CP test button was checked against Pusher's cloud on our forum. Soketi itself was not part of those runs: press Send a test event on your own server before you announce it.
Which versions does it run on?
XenForo 2.3 and PHP 8.0 or later. It was built and tested on XenForo 2.3.13 with PHP 8.3, and runs on 2.3.11. Older 2.3 versions and PHP 8.0 were checked by reading the code, not by running it.
