diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0bbd4a9..4b01810 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /docs/
-/lib/
-/bin/
+lib/
+bin/
 /.shards/
 *.dwarf
 
diff --git a/examples/multi_backend/README.md b/examples/multi_backend/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d6cc31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/multi_backend/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Multi-Backend example
+
+This is an example Turbo+Cable app to demo the use of multiple backends with the Cable shard.
+
+## Installation
+
+To use the Redis and NATS backends, you will need to have access to running
+Redis and NATS servers. A package manager for your operating system can simplify
+the installation of them on your machine.
+
+If you don't want to install a NATS server, you can use publicly available servers. For example, there is a public NATS server available at `demo.nats.io` — just don't use it for production. 😄
+
+Once you have Redis and NATS installed, install the Crystal dependencies:
+
+```shell
+shards install
+```
+
+## Usage
+
+To use either backend, specify the url in the `CABLE_BACKEND_URL` environment variable:
+
+```shell
+CABLE_BACKEND_URL=redis:///
+CABLE_BACKEND_URL=nats:///
+CABLE_BACKEND_URL=nats://demo.nats.io/
+```
+
+If you would like to see the messages passing through Redis when using the Redis backend, you can use the Redis CLI with the following command:
+
+```shell
+redis-cli subscribe time
+```
+
+If you would like to see the messages passing through NATS when using the NATS backend, you can use the [NATS CLI](https://github.com/nats-io/natscli), which may need to be installed separately from the NATS server.
+
+```shell
+nats sub time
+```
diff --git a/examples/multi_backend/shard.lock b/examples/multi_backend/shard.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3feb84e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/multi_backend/shard.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+version: 2.0
+shards:
+  base32:
+    git: https://github.com/jgaskins/base32.git
+    version: 0.1.1+git.commit.18f5647c42dae4de654e3003825fab43dc95b029
+
+  cable:
+    path: ../..
+    version: 0.2.2
+
+  cron_parser:
+    git: https://github.com/kostya/cron_parser.git
+    version: 0.4.0
+
+  db:
+    git: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal-db.git
+    version: 0.12.0
+
+  future:
+    git: https://github.com/crystal-community/future.cr.git
+    version: 1.0.0
+
+  habitat:
+    git: https://github.com/luckyframework/habitat.git
+    version: 0.4.7
+
+  nats:
+    git: https://github.com/jgaskins/nats.git
+    version: 1.3.3
+
+  redis:
+    git: https://github.com/jgaskins/redis.git
+    version: 0.7.0
+
+  tasker:
+    git: https://github.com/spider-gazelle/tasker.git
+    version: 2.1.4
+
+  turbo:
+    git: https://github.com/jgaskins/turbo.git
+    version: 0.1.0+git.commit.8685616e26d7903d1559f5f3f8b96085bc10af12
+
diff --git a/examples/multi_backend/shard.yml b/examples/multi_backend/shard.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1164a26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/multi_backend/shard.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+name: multi_backend
+version: 0.1.0
+
+authors:
+  - Jamie Gaskins <jgaskins@hey.com>
+
+targets:
+  multi_backend:
+    main: src/multi_backend.cr
+
+dependencies:
+  cable:
+    path: ../..
+  nats:
+    github: jgaskins/nats
+  redis:
+    github: jgaskins/redis
+  turbo:
+    github: jgaskins/turbo
+
+crystal: 1.9.2
+
+license: MIT
diff --git a/examples/multi_backend/src/multi_backend.cr b/examples/multi_backend/src/multi_backend.cr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4976d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/multi_backend/src/multi_backend.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+require "turbo/cable"
+require "cable/backend/nats"
+require "cable/backend/redis/backend"
+
+module AppCable
+  class Connection < Cable::Connection
+    identified_by id
+
+    getter id = UUID.random.to_s
+
+    def connect
+    end
+  end
+end
+
+Cable.configure do |settings|
+  settings.route = "/cable" # the URL your JS Client will connect
+  # settings.url = "redis:///"
+  # settings.url = ENV.fetch("NATS_URL", "nats:///")
+  settings.url = ENV.fetch("CABLE_BACKEND_URL", "redis:///")
+end
+
+Turbo::StreamsChannel.signing_key = "this is my signing key"
+
+spawn do
+  loop do
+    duration = Time.measure do
+      Turbo::StreamsChannel.broadcast_update_to "time",
+        message: Time.local.to_s
+    end
+    sleep 1.second - duration
+  end
+end
+
+http = HTTP::Server.new([
+  HTTP::LogHandler.new,
+  Cable::Handler(AppCable::Connection).new,
+]) do |context|
+  context.response << <<-HTML
+    <!doctype html>
+    #{Turbo.javascript_tag}
+    #{Turbo.cable_tag}
+    #{Turbo::Frame.new(id: "time") { }}
+    #{Turbo.stream_from "time"}
+    HTML
+end
+
+http.listen 3200
diff --git a/src/backend/nats.cr b/src/backend/nats.cr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2984d0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/nats.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+require "nats"
+
+module Cable
+  class NATSBackend < BackendCore
+    register "nats"
+
+    getter nats : NATS::Client do
+      NATS::Client.new(URI.parse(Cable.settings.url))
+    end
+    getter streams = Hash(String, Set(NATS::Subscription)).new { |streams, channel|
+      streams[channel] = Set(NATS::Subscription).new
+    }
+
+    def subscribe_connection
+      nats
+    end
+
+    def publish_connection
+      nats
+    end
+
+    def close_subscribe_connection
+      nats.close rescue nil
+    end
+
+    def close_publish_connection
+      nats.close rescue nil
+    end
+
+    def open_subscribe_connection(channel)
+      nats
+    end
+
+    def publish_message(stream_identifier : String, message : String)
+      nats.publish stream_identifier, message
+    end
+
+    def subscribe(stream_identifier : String)
+      subscription = nats.subscribe stream_identifier, queue_group: object_id.to_s do |msg|
+        Cable.server.fiber_channel.send({
+          stream_identifier,
+          String.new(msg.body),
+        })
+      end
+      streams[stream_identifier] << subscription
+    end
+
+    def unsubscribe(stream_identifier : String)
+      if subscriptions = streams.delete(stream_identifier)
+        subscriptions.each do |subscription|
+          nats.unsubscribe subscription
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
+    def ping_redis_subscribe
+      nats.ping
+    end
+
+    def ping_redis_publish
+      nats.ping
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/src/backend/redis/backend.cr b/src/backend/redis/backend.cr
index 08a4f9a..e193813 100644
--- a/src/backend/redis/backend.cr
+++ b/src/backend/redis/backend.cr
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
+require "redis"
+
 module Cable
   class RedisBackend < Cable::BackendCore
+    register "redis"
+    register "rediss"
+
     # connection management
     getter redis_subscribe : Redis::Connection = Redis::Connection.new(URI.parse(Cable.settings.url))
     getter redis_publish : Redis::Client = Redis::Client.new(URI.parse(Cable.settings.url))
diff --git a/src/cable.cr b/src/cable.cr
index af3f441..f1e2761 100644
--- a/src/cable.cr
+++ b/src/cable.cr
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 require "habitat"
 require "json"
-require "redis"
 require "./cable/**"
 
 # TODO: Write documentation for `Cable`
@@ -32,8 +31,12 @@ module Cable
     setting token : String = "token", example: "token"
     setting url : String = ENV.fetch("REDIS_URL", "redis://localhost:6379"), example: "redis://localhost:6379"
     setting disable_sec_websocket_protocol_header : Bool = false
-    setting backend_class : Cable::BackendCore.class = Cable::RedisBackend, example: "Cable::RedisBackend"
-    setting redis_ping_interval : Time::Span = 15.seconds
+    setting backend_class : Cable::BackendCore.class = Cable::RegistryBackend, example: "Cable::RedisBackend"
+    setting backend_ping_interval : Time::Span = 15.seconds
+    @[Deprecated("Use backend_ping_interval")]
+    setting redis_ping_interval : Time::Span do
+      backend_ping_interval
+    end
     setting restart_error_allowance : Int32 = 20
     setting on_error : Proc(Exception, String, Nil) = ->(exception : Exception, message : String) do
       Cable::Logger.error(exception: exception) { message }
diff --git a/src/cable/backend_core.cr b/src/cable/backend_core.cr
index 9d04b9c..3038b28 100644
--- a/src/cable/backend_core.cr
+++ b/src/cable/backend_core.cr
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 module Cable
   abstract class BackendCore
+    def self.register(uri_scheme : String, backend : BackendCore.class = self)
+      ::Cable::RegistryBackend.register uri_scheme, backend
+    end
+
     # connection management
     abstract def subscribe_connection
     abstract def publish_connection
@@ -21,4 +25,32 @@ module Cable
     abstract def ping_redis_subscribe
     abstract def ping_redis_publish
   end
+
+  class RegistryBackend < BackendCore
+    REGISTERED_BACKENDS = {} of String => BackendCore.class
+
+    def self.register(uri_scheme : String, backend : BackendCore.class = self)
+      REGISTERED_BACKENDS[uri_scheme] = backend
+    end
+
+    @backend : BackendCore
+
+    def initialize
+      @backend = REGISTERED_BACKENDS[URI.parse(::Cable.settings.url).scheme].new
+    end
+
+    delegate(
+      subscribe_connection,
+      publish_connection,
+      close_subscribe_connection,
+      close_publish_connection,
+      open_subscribe_connection,
+      publish_message,
+      subscribe,
+      unsubscribe,
+      ping_redis_subscribe,
+      ping_redis_publish,
+      to: @backend
+    )
+  end
 end