> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.snakream.tonbo.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Read Modes

> Compare catch-up, long-poll, and SSE reads for Snakream clients.

Streams support three read modes, all via `GET`:

* **Catch-up**: `GET /ds/b/s?offset=-1` returns all data from the given offset immediately. Use this to sync historical data.
* **Long-poll**: `GET /ds/b/s?offset=...&live=long-poll` returns immediately if data is available, otherwise holds the connection until new data arrives or a timeout. Good for simple polling loops.
* **SSE**: `GET /ds/b/s?offset=...&live=sse` opens a persistent Server-Sent Events connection. The server pushes new data as it arrives. This is the recommended mode for real-time frontends (`EventSource` in the browser works out of the box).