laravel/framework · error · RuntimeException

Failed to create broadcaster for connection "{$name}" with e

Error message

Failed to create broadcaster for connection "{$name}" with error: {$e->getMessage()}.

What it means

Thrown by BroadcastManager::resolve() when the chosen create{Driver}Driver() method throws (any Throwable). The manager catches the underlying error and rewraps it into a RuntimeException that names the connection and embeds the original message, preserving the cause as the previous exception.

Source

Thrown at src/Illuminate/Broadcasting/BroadcastManager.php:319

        if (is_null($config)) {
            throw new InvalidArgumentException("Broadcast connection [{$name}] is not defined.");
        }

        if (isset($this->customCreators[$config['driver']])) {
            return $this->callCustomCreator($config);
        }

        $driverMethod = 'create'.ucfirst($config['driver']).'Driver';

        if (! method_exists($this, $driverMethod)) {
            throw new InvalidArgumentException("Driver [{$config['driver']}] is not supported.");
        }

        try {
            return $this->{$driverMethod}($config);
        } catch (Throwable $e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to create broadcaster for connection \"{$name}\" with error: {$e->getMessage()}.", 0, $e);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Call a custom driver creator.
     *
     * @param  array  $config
     * @return mixed
     */
    protected function callCustomCreator(array $config)
    {
        return $this->customCreators[$config['driver']]($this->app, $config);
    }

    /**
     * Create an instance of the driver.
     *
     * @param  array  $config

View on GitHub (pinned to bd6b5437e6)

Solutions

1. Inspect the embedded message (and getCause()/getPrevious()) to find the real failure, then fix credentials/config accordingly.
2. Fill in all required env vars for the driver (PUSHER_APP_KEY/SECRET/APP_ID, ABLY_KEY, redis connection).
3. Verify the redis connection name exists under database.redis and is reachable.
4. Catch RuntimeException around Broadcast::driver() if you want graceful degradation when broadcasting is unavailable.

Example fix

// before - .env
PUSHER_APP_KEY=
PUSHER_APP_SECRET=
PUSHER_APP_ID=
// Broadcast::driver('pusher') throws "Failed to create broadcaster..."

// after
PUSHER_APP_KEY=abc123
PUSHER_APP_SECRET=secret
PUSHER_APP_ID=12345
PUSHER_HOST=127.0.0.1
PUSHER_PORT=8080

$required = match (config('broadcasting.connections.pusher.driver')) {
    'pusher', 'reverb' => ['key', 'secret', 'app_id'],
    'ably' => ['key'],
    default => [],
};
foreach ($required as $k) {
    if (empty(config("broadcasting.connections.pusher.{$k}"))) {
        throw new RuntimeException("Missing broadcast config key: pusher.{$k}");
    }
}

function hasRequiredBroadcastCredentials(string $name): bool
{
    $c = config("broadcasting.connections.{$name}");
    return match ($c['driver'] ?? null) {
        'pusher', 'reverb' => ! empty($c['key']) && ! empty($c['secret']) && ! empty($c['app_id']),
        'ably' => ! empty($c['key']),
        default => true,
    };
}

try {
    Broadcast::driver($name);
} catch (\RuntimeException $e) {
    if (str_contains($e->getMessage(), 'Failed to create broadcaster')) {
        report($e->getPrevious());
        // fall back to log/null broadcaster so app keeps working
        Broadcast::setDefaultDriver('log');
    } else {
        throw $e;
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Missing required credentials for pusher/ably (key/secret/app_id undefined), invalid redis connection config, the Pusher/Ably SDK constructor failing, or Guzzle TLS errors when building the client.

Common situations: Empty PUSHER_APP_KEY/PUSHER_APP_SECRET/PUSHER_APP_ID env vars; ABLY_KEY unset; redis connection referenced in config missing from database.redis; network/TLS errors reaching the broadcaster host.

Related errors

• Broadcast connection [{$name}] is not defined.
• Driver [{$config['driver']}] is not supported.
• Ably error: %s
• Redis error: %s.
• Callback must be a callable, callback array, or a 'Class@met

AI-assisted analysis of laravel/framework@bd6b5437e6 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/ae5f96f3b09630dc.json. Report an issue: GitHub.