Documentation Release Notes - May 2025

This May, we focused on making our documentation more practical and easier to use across different SDKs and platforms.

We continued our work on Getting Started guides and basic usage examples that we started in previous months. Our Functions documentation got a refresh with better organization between v1 and v2, plus clearer explanations of wildcard patterns. We also added documentation for our new PubNub MCP Server, which lets AI IDEs, like Cursor or Windsurf, work directly with your PubNub apps.

On the SDK side, we improved Objective-C documentation with better examples and updated our Java docs to use code examples straight from our GitHub repos.

General 🛠️​

New PubNub MCP Server documentation​

Type: New feature

We've added documentation for the PubNub MCP Server, a new tool that lets AI tools interact directly with your PubNub applications through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

With this integration, AI assistants can:

  • Publish messages to channels
  • Subscribe to channels and get real-time updates
  • Pull message history
  • Handle user presence
  • Work with channel groups

The MCP Server bridges AI assistants and PubNub's real-time network, opening up new possibilities for AI-powered apps and automated workflows.

MQTT documentation removed​

Type: Adjustment

We've removed MQTT documentation from our docs as this integration is no longer actively supported. This cleanup keeps our documentation focused on actively maintained SDKs and integrations.

Functions ⚙️​

Better Functions v2 documentation with wildcard support​

Type: Enhancement

We've improved our Functions documentation with better organization between Functions v1 and v2.

Here's what's new:

  • Wildcard pattern explanations: Clear documentation on using wildcard patterns in channel names and event triggers
  • Better v1 vs v2 separation: Organized docs to help you understand which version you're using and what features are available
  • Improved migration guidance: Better information for moving from Functions v1 to v2

These updates make it easier to use Functions v2 features like advanced pattern matching and flexible event handling.

SDKs 📦​

Better Objective-C SDK documentation and examples​

Type: Enhancement

Continuing our work from previous months on basic usage examples, we've updated the Objective-C SDK documentation with practical, ready-to-use examples throughout the API reference.

What's included:

  • Complete basic usage examples for all major features
  • Better code samples for publish/subscribe operations
  • Improved documentation for Access Manager, channel groups, and presence features
  • Clearer examples for file handling and message actions

Now Objective-C developers have working examples for all PubNub features, making integration faster and more straightforward.

Java SDK with GitHub-sourced code examples​

Type: Enhancement

We've updated our Java SDK documentation to use code examples pulled directly from our GitHub repositories. This ensures all examples are tested and current with the latest SDK versions.

This approach means the code examples in our docs always reflect working, tested implementations, so you won't run into outdated or broken code snippets.

More Getting Started guide improvements​

Type: Enhancement

Building on our April work to standardize Getting Started guides, we've continued refining the Swift SDK Getting Started guide and Unity SDK basic usage examples.

These updates ensure consistent onboarding across all our SDKs, following the same clear pattern:

  1. Setup and installation
  2. Creating a PubNub instance with your keys
  3. Subscribing to channels
  4. Publishing messages
  5. Handling received messages

JavaScript Chat SDK method rename​

Type: Enhancement

We've updated the JavaScript Chat SDK documentation to reflect the renaming of getUnreadMessagesCounts() to fetchUnreadMessagesCounts() for better consistency.

The new method also returns a more structured response with countsByChannel array and pagination information.

The previous method remains available but is now deprecated.

Other 🌟​

Site experience improvements​

Type: Enhancement

We've made several improvements to the documentation site:

  • Mobile menu fixes: Fixed navigation issues on mobile devices for better accessibility
  • Search improvements: Made the search feature more accurate and relevant
  • Interface polish: Various small improvements to tooltips and navigation elements

These updates make browsing our documentation smoother across all devices and platforms.

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