Managing Ably

Ably Management Skill

Manage and analyze Ably real-time messaging resources including channels, connections, and usage.

API Conventions

Authentication

All API calls use Basic Auth with API key, injected automatically.

Base URL

https://rest.ably.io (REST API) and https://control.ably.net/v1 (Control API)

Core Helper Function

#!/bin/bash

ably_api() {
    local method="$1"
    local endpoint="$2"
    local data="${3:-}"

    if [ -n "$data" ]; then
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -u "$ABLY_API_KEY" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            "https://rest.ably.io${endpoint}" \
            -d "$data"
    else
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -u "$ABLY_API_KEY" \
            "https://rest.ably.io${endpoint}"
    fi
}

ably_control() {
    local method="$1"
    local endpoint="$2"
    curl -s -X "$method" \
        -H "Authorization: Bearer $ABLY_CONTROL_TOKEN" \
        "https://control.ably.net/v1${endpoint}"
}

Output Rules

• Target ≤50 lines per script output
• Use jq to extract only needed fields
• Never dump full API responses

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Active Channels ==="
ably_api GET "/channels?limit=20" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.channelId)\t\(.status.isActive)\toccupancy:\(.status.occupancy.metrics.connections // 0)"' \
    | column -t | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== App Stats (current hour) ==="
ably_api GET "/stats?unit=hour&limit=1" \
    | jq '.[0] | {
        messages_published: .all.messages.count,
        connections_peak: .all.connections.peak,
        api_requests: .all.apiRequests.succeeded
    }'

echo ""
echo "=== Account Apps ==="
ably_control GET "/accounts/$ABLY_ACCOUNT_ID/apps" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.id)\t\(.name)\t\(.status)\t\(.created[0:10])"' \
    | head -15

Phase 2: Analysis

Channel Health

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Channel Occupancy ==="
ably_api GET "/channels?limit=50" \
    | jq -r '.[] | select(.status.isActive == true) | "\(.channelId)\tconns:\(.status.occupancy.metrics.connections // 0)\tpresence:\(.status.occupancy.metrics.presenceMembers // 0)"' \
    | sort -t$'\t' -k2 -rn | head -15

echo ""
echo "=== Presence Members (active channels) ==="
ably_api GET "/channels?limit=20" \
    | jq -r '.[] | select(.status.occupancy.metrics.presenceMembers > 0) | .channelId' | while read ch; do
    echo "--- $ch ---"
    ably_api GET "/channels/$(echo $ch | sed 's/:/%3A/g')/presence" \
        | jq -r '.[] | "\(.clientId)\t\(.connectionId[0:12])"' | head -5
done | head -20

Usage Analytics

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Usage (last 24h, hourly) ==="
ably_api GET "/stats?unit=hour&limit=24" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.intervalId)\tmsgs:\(.all.messages.count)\tconns:\(.all.connections.peak)\tapi:\(.all.apiRequests.succeeded)"' \
    | column -t | head -24

echo ""
echo "=== Monthly Usage Summary ==="
ably_api GET "/stats?unit=month&limit=1" \
    | jq '.[0] | {
        total_messages: .all.messages.count,
        peak_connections: .all.connections.peak,
        api_requests: .all.apiRequests.succeeded,
        api_errors: .all.apiRequests.failed
    }'

Output Format

=== Ably App ===
Active Channels: <n>  Peak Connections: <n>

--- Hourly Stats ---
Messages: <n>  Connections: <n>  API Requests: <n>

--- Channel Health ---
<channel>: <connections> connections, <presence> presence

--- Monthly Usage ---
Messages: <n>  Peak Connections: <n>

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Common Pitfalls

• Two APIs: REST API for real-time data, Control API for account management (different auth)
• Channel encoding: Encode : as %3A in channel names in URLs
• Stats intervals: Use unit param: minute, hour, day, month
• Rate limits: 100 requests/second for REST API
• Pagination: Use limit and response Link headers for cursor pagination