Laravel 13 Performance & Scaling: Real-Time Without Redis, Benchmarks, and Building for the Long Game

// 1. Define the event — app/Events/OrderStatusUpdated.php
use Illuminate\Broadcasting\Channel;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Broadcasting\ShouldBroadcast;

class OrderStatusUpdated implements ShouldBroadcast
{
    public function __construct(
        public readonly Order $order,
        public readonly string $newStatus
    ) {}

    public function broadcastOn(): Channel
    {
        return new Channel('orders.' . $this->order->user_id);
    }

    public function broadcastAs(): string
    {
        return 'order.updated';
    }
}

// 2. Fire the event from your controller
public function updateStatus(Order $order, string $status): JsonResponse
{
    $order->update(['status' => $status]);
    broadcast(new OrderStatusUpdated($order, $status))->toOthers();
    return response()->json(['status' => 'updated']);
}

// 3. Listen on the frontend — Laravel Echo + Reverb
import Echo from 'laravel-echo';

const echo = new Echo({
    broadcaster: 'reverb',
    key: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_APP_KEY,
    wsHost: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_HOST,
    wsPort: import.meta.env.VITE_REVERB_PORT,
});

echo.channel(`orders.${userId}`)
    .listen('.order.updated', (e) => {
        console.log(`Order ${e.order.id} is now: ${e.newStatus}`);
        updateOrderUI(e.order);
    });