diff --git a/plugins/Realtime/RealtimePlugin.php b/plugins/Realtime/RealtimePlugin.php
index 709d65ac5d..68dc374f8c 100644
--- a/plugins/Realtime/RealtimePlugin.php
+++ b/plugins/Realtime/RealtimePlugin.php
@@ -59,6 +59,27 @@ class RealtimePlugin extends Plugin
                                             array('notice' => '0000000000'));
         return true;
     }
+    
+    function onCheckSchema()
+    {
+        $schema = Schema::get();
+        $schema->ensureTable('realtime_channel', Realtime_channel::schemaDef());
+        return true;
+    }
+    
+    function onAutoload($cls)
+    {
+        $dir = dirname(__FILE__);
+
+        switch ($cls)
+        {
+        case 'Realtime_channel':
+            include_once $dir.'/'.$cls.'.php';
+            return false;
+        default:
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
 
     function onEndShowScripts($action)
     {
@@ -377,6 +398,10 @@ class RealtimePlugin extends Plugin
 
         $action_name = $action->trimmed('action');
 
+		// FIXME: lists
+		// FIXME: search (!)
+		// FIXME: 
+		
         switch ($action_name) {
          case 'public':
             $path = array('public');
diff --git a/plugins/Realtime/Realtime_channel.php b/plugins/Realtime/Realtime_channel.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a0afd2cd6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/Realtime/Realtime_channel.php
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * StatusNet - the distributed open-source microblogging tool
+ * Copyright (C) 2011, StatusNet, Inc.
+ *
+ * A channel for real-time browser data
+ * 
+ * PHP version 5
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ * @category  Realtime
+ * @package   StatusNet
+ * @author    Evan Prodromou <evan@status.net>
+ * @copyright 2011 StatusNet, Inc.
+ * @license   http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html AGPL 3.0
+ * @link      http://status.net/
+ */
+
+if (!defined('STATUSNET')) {
+    exit(1);
+}
+
+/**
+ * A channel for real-time browser data
+ * 
+ * For each user currently browsing the site, we want to know which page they're on
+ * so we can send real-time updates to their browser.
+ *
+ * @category Realtime
+ * @package  StatusNet
+ * @author   Evan Prodromou <evan@status.net>
+ * @license  http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl.html AGPLv3
+ * @link     http://status.net/
+ *
+ * @see      DB_DataObject
+ */
+
+class Realtime_channel extends Managed_DataObject
+{
+	const TIMEOUT = 1800; // 30 minutes
+	
+    public $__table = 'realtime_channel'; // table name
+    
+    public $user_id;       // int -> user.id, can be null
+    public $action;        // string
+    public $arg1;          // argument
+    public $arg2;          // argument, usually null
+    public $channel_key;   // 128-bit shared secret key
+    public $created;	   // created date
+    public $modified;      // modified date
+
+    /**
+     * Get an instance by key
+     *
+     * This is a utility method to get a single instance with a given key value.
+     *
+     * @param string $k Key to use to lookup (usually 'user_id' for this class)
+     * @param mixed  $v Value to lookup
+     *
+     * @return Realtime_channel object found, or null for no hits
+     *
+     */
+    function staticGet($k, $v=null)
+    {
+        return Managed_DataObject::staticGet('Realtime_channel', $k, $v);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get an instance by compound key
+     *
+     * @param array $kv array of key-value mappings
+     *
+     * @return Realtime_channel object found, or null for no hits
+     *
+     */
+    function pkeyGet($kv)
+    {
+        return Managed_DataObject::pkeyGet('Realtime_channel', $kv);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The One True Thingy that must be defined and declared.
+     */
+    public static function schemaDef()
+    {
+        return array(
+            'description' => 'A channel of realtime notice data',
+            'fields' => array(
+                'user_id' => array('type' => 'int',
+				 				   'not null' => false,
+				 				   'description' => 'user viewing page; can be null'),
+                'action' => array('type' => 'varchar',
+                				  'length' => 255,
+				 				  'not null' => true,
+				 				  'description' => 'page being viewed'),
+				'arg1' => array('type' => 'varchar',
+							    'length' => 255,
+							    'not null' => false,
+							    'description' => 'page argument, like username or tag'),
+			    'arg2' => array('type' => 'varchar',
+			    				'length' => 255,
+			    				'not null' => false,
+			    				'description' => 'second page argument, like tag for showstream'),
+			    'channel_key' => array('type' => 'varchar',
+			    			   'length' => 32,
+			    			   'not null' => true,
+			    			   'description' => 'shared secret key for this channel'),
+                'created' => array('type' => 'datetime',
+				   				   'not null' => true,
+				   				   'description' => 'date this record was created'),
+                'modified' => array('type' => 'datetime',
+				    				'not null' => true,
+				    			    'description' => 'date this record was modified'),
+            ),
+            'primary key' => array('user_id', 'action', 'arg1', 'arg2'),
+            'unique keys' => array('channel_key'),
+            'foreign keys' => array(
+                'realtime_channel_user_id_fkey' => array('user', array('user_id' => 'id')),
+            ),
+            'indexes' => array(
+                'realtime_channel_modified_idx' => array('modified'),
+            ),
+        );
+    }
+    
+    static function saveNew($user_id, $action, $arg1, $arg2)
+    {
+    	$channel = self::getChannel($user_id, $action, $arg1, $arg2);
+    	
+    	$channel = new Realtime_channel();
+    	
+    	$channel->user_id = $user_id;
+    	$channel->action  = $action;
+    	$channel->arg1    = $arg1;
+    	$channel->arg2    = $arg2;
+    	
+    	$channel->channel_key = common_good_rand(16); // 128-bit key, 32 hex chars
+    	
+    	$channel->created  = common_sql_now();
+    	$channel->modified = $channel->created;
+    	
+		$channel->insert();
+		
+		return $channel;
+    }
+    
+    static function getChannel($user_id, $action, $arg1, $arg2)
+    {
+    	$channel = self::pkeyGet(array('user_id' => $user_id,
+    								   'action' => $action,
+    								   'arg1' => $arg1,
+    								   'arg2' => $arg2));
+    	
+    	// Ignore (and delete!)	old channels
+    				   
+    	if (!empty($channel)) {
+			$modTime = strtotime($channel->modified);
+			if ((time() - $modTime) > self::TIMEOUT) {
+				$channel->delete();
+				$channel = null;
+			}
+    	}
+    	
+    	return $channel;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file