Streaming Semantics

This page defines the exact behavior of the watch and replay endpoints, including start points, spatial filtering, identifier constraints, and SSE lifecycle events.

Request ID Correlation

Every HTTP response carries an X-Request-ID header with a per-request UUID. The same UUID is also embedded in the JSON data: payload of certain SSE events so that a client which only sees the body (not headers) can still quote it back when reporting a problem.

A note on terminology before the tables: SSE has two related but distinct labels for an event. The event: line is the SSE-level type that an EventSource.addEventListener(name, handler) call dispatches on. The data.type field (when present) is an aviso-level discriminator inside the JSON body, used for the cases where we reuse a single event: name for several control events. A wire example:

event: live-notification
data: {"type":"connection_established","topic":"...","timestamp":"...","connection_will_close_in_seconds":3600,"request_id":"<uuid>"}

The event: line above is live-notification (so an EventSource client listens for live-notification); the data.type value is connection_established (so the client distinguishes it from a normal notification, which has no type field).

In-stream events that include request_id:

In-stream events that intentionally do not include request_id:

The first event of any stream is guaranteed to carry the request_id (a live-notification event with data.type = "connection_established" for live-only watches, or a replay-control event with data.type = "replay_started" for any stream that begins with replay).

Reconnecting after disconnect

If a stream drops (network blip, client restart, connection-closing with reason max_duration_reached, etc.), the recommended reconnect protocol is:

1. Remember the sequence field of the last live-notification or replay event you successfully processed. The sequence is in the CloudEvent payload of every notification.
2. Issue a fresh POST /api/v1/watch (or /api/v1/replay) with from_id set to that sequence value plus 1.

That gives you exact at-least-once continuation without losing or duplicating notifications.

Aviso does not use the SSE id: field or the Last-Event-ID request header. Both are part of the browser EventSource auto-reconnect mechanism; aviso supports a richer from_id + from_date reconnect contract via the POST request body, and we deliberately keep one explicit reconnect mechanism rather than expose two overlapping ones.

If you need time-based catch-up rather than sequence-based, use from_date instead of from_id (see Start Point for Historical Events below for accepted formats).

SSE Stream Lifecycle

Every streaming response (watch or replay) goes through a typed lifecycle:

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Connected : SSE connection established
    Connected --> Replaying : from_id or from_date provided
    Connected --> Live : no replay parameters (watch only)
    Replaying --> Live : replay_completed (watch only)
    Replaying --> Closed : end_of_stream (replay only)
    Live --> Closed : max_duration_reached
    Live --> Closed : server_shutdown
    Closed --> [*]

Close reasons emitted in the final connection-closing SSE event:

POST /api/v1/watch

• If both from_id and from_date are omitted:
  • stream is live-only (new notifications from now onward).
• If exactly one replay parameter is present:
  • historical replay starts first, then transitions to live stream.
• If both are present:
  • request is rejected with 400.

flowchart TD
    A["Watch Request"] --> B{"from_id or<br/>from_date?"}
    B -->|neither| C["Live-only stream"]
    B -->|exactly one| D["Historical replay<br/>then live stream"]
    B -->|both| E["400 Bad Request"]

    style E fill:#8b1a1a,color:#fff
    style C fill:#1a6b3a,color:#fff
    style D fill:#1a4d6b,color:#fff

POST /api/v1/replay

• Requires exactly one replay start parameter:
  • from_id (sequence-based), or
  • from_date (time-based).
• If both are missing or both are present:
  • request is rejected with 400.
• Stream closes with end_of_stream when history is exhausted.

Start Point for Historical Events

from_id starts delivery from that sequence number (inclusive). from_date accepts any of these formats:

All inputs are normalized to UTC internally.

Spatial Filter Model

Spatial filtering applies on top of the identifier field filters. Think of it in two layers:

• Non-spatial identifier fields (time, date, class, etc.) narrow candidates by topic routing.
• Spatial fields (polygon or point) further narrow that candidate set geographically.

flowchart LR
    A["Candidate<br/>notifications"] -->|"non-spatial<br/>identifier filter"| B["Topic-matched<br/>subset"]
    B -->|"spatial filter<br/>if provided"| C["Final<br/>results"]

Rules

• identifier.polygon: keep notifications whose stored polygon intersects the request polygon.
• identifier.point: keep notifications whose stored polygon contains the request point.
• Both together: invalid (the request is rejected).

Point-cloud schemas use a different provider and subscriber pair. Providers send identifier.point_cloud on /notification. Subscribers send identifier.polygon on /watch or /replay. A notification matches when any cloud point is inside the request polygon or on an edge or vertex. Aviso checks the stored bounding box first, then stops at the first matching point.

The request polygon satisfies a required point_cloud field for watch and replay. Subscribers cannot send point_cloud. See Point-Cloud Filtering for the schema and request contract.

Identifier Constraints (watch / replay)

For schema-backed event types, identifier fields in watch/replay requests accept constraint objects instead of (or in addition to) scalar values. A scalar value is treated as an implicit eq constraint.

Constraint objects are rejected on /notification: notify only accepts scalar values.

Supported operators by field type

Notes

• between expects exactly two values [min, max] and is inclusive on both ends.
• Float constraints reject NaN and inf; only finite values are valid.
• Float eq and in use exact numeric equality; no tolerance window is applied.
• A constraint object must contain exactly one operator; combining operators in a single object is rejected.

Examples

{ "severity": { "gte": 5 } }
{ "severity": { "between": [3, 7] } }
{ "region":   { "in": ["north", "south"] } }
{ "anomaly":  { "lt": 50.0 } }

Backend Behavior

SSE Timestamp Format

All control, heartbeat, and close event timestamps use canonical UTC second precision:

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ

Example: 2026-02-25T18:58:23Z

Replay Payload Shape

• Replay and watch CloudEvent output always includes data.payload.
• If a notify request omitted payload (optional schema), replay returns data.payload = null.
• Payload values are not reshaped; scalar strings remain strings, objects remain objects.

See Payload Contract for the full input → storage → output mapping.

For end-to-end examples, see:

• Basic Notify/Watch/Replay
• Constraint Filtering
• Spatial Filtering
• Replay Starting Points