Channel names can contain any unicode character with the following exceptions:

  • They cannot start with a square bracket [
    Square brackets are reserved as a means to provide metadata or instructions to Ably about the intended channel when subscribing.
  • They cannot start with a colon :
    Colons are used to delimit channel namespaces. Find out more about channel namespaces
  • They cannot contain any newline characters (or similar, e.g. carriage return or unicode page separator)
  • They cannot be empty