# Track Client Presence in Your Flows

> Detect when a client connects, reconnects, or leaves your dashboard, keyed to a stable client ID that survives reconnects.

You can now track which clients are connected to your dashboard, and react when one joins or leaves, directly from your flows.

Every client now carries a stable `clientId` on `msg._client`. The old `socketId` changed on every reconnect, sleep, or page reload, so anything you stored against it broke the moment the connection blipped. The `clientId` stays the same for that browser across reconnects and restarts, which makes it a reliable key for per-client state.

The `ui-control` node can now emit presence events keyed on that id. Set its **Output** to **Client Presence Events Only** and it sends:

- `client-connected` when a new client first connects
- `client-reconnected` when a client returns after a brief drop
- `client-gone` when a client leaves and does not come back

A grace window means a quick refresh or network blip does not fire `client-gone`. A client that returns within 20 seconds is reported as `client-reconnected` instead, so you only hear about genuine departures. Use these to keep an accurate map of who is currently viewing your dashboard: add on connect, keep on reconnect, remove on gone.

![A ui-control node set to Client Presence Events Only, with a debug node showing a client-connected message](/changelog/2026/09/images/client-presence-events.gif)*Reopening the same browser produces client-reconnected rather than a second client-connected, so the client keeps its place in your map. The recording uses a shortened grace window so the events fit on screen; the real window is 20 seconds.*

**Note:** if you have `ui-control` nodes set to **All Events**, they will now also emit the `client-*` presence messages. The `client-` prefix keeps them distinct from the existing `connect` / `lost` events, so flows that switch on `msg.payload` are unaffected, but a flow that reacts to *every* message from that node will see the new ones.

`clientId` identifies a browser for presence and routing, not a user for authorization. The browser supplies it, so treat it the way you would any other client-supplied value.

This feature is available to all FlowFuse Dashboard users from v1.32.0, on FlowFuse Cloud and Self Hosted.