PostgreSQL real-time notifications through SSE

A study on PG's LISTEN/NOTIFY and SSE. Minimal implementation using Node.js and Docker.

Running the app

On a terminal in project root, run:

docker compose up -d --build

npm install

npm run dev

How it works

The app is composed of a Node.js server and a PostgreSQL database. The server is responsible for handling the SSE connections and the database is responsible for storing the data and sending notifications to the server whenever something happens to it.

Listening to changes:

On your terminal:

curl -N localhost:3000

Or simply open http://localhost:3000 on your browser.

Inserting data:

Insert a random new record with:

curl -X POST localhost:3000/add

Alternatively, open http://localhost:8080 on your browser to access Adminer's interface. Use the same credentials given in docker-compose, including the container name as the network location (pgdb). There you can insert data into the table using the GUI and see the changes being notified on the SSE connection.