diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index e3dab6e..94879bc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -72,6 +72,11 @@ jobs:
       # it, and with it the badge.
       - name: Run the suite against smocket
         run: pnpm test:mock
+      # The example is documentation that executes, so it rots the moment nothing
+      # runs it. This builds `dist/` and runs the program, which fails the job if
+      # the example stops working against the package it demonstrates.
+      - name: Run the chat room example
+        run: pnpm example:chat-room
 
   browser:
     name: browser (chromium)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ae5f60f..c710240 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -81,6 +81,13 @@ b.emit('join', 'room-1');
 - Multi-client simulation
 - Membership cleanup on `disconnect`
 
+## Examples
+
+Runnable programs live in [examples/](examples/), outside the published package.
+[chat-room](examples/chat-room/) is one room, two clients, and one broadcast, the
+smallest thing that shows an event reaching someone other than the sender. From a
+clean checkout, `pnpm install` then `pnpm example:chat-room`.
+
 ## Scope
 
 smocket reproduces the delivery and routing layer of Socket.IO. The following are out of scope:
diff --git a/examples/chat-room/README.md b/examples/chat-room/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4435650
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/chat-room/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Chat room example
+
+One room, two clients, one broadcast. The smallest program that shows an event
+reaching someone other than the sender, which is the routing a mock without
+[rooms](../../docs/glossary.md#room) cannot reproduce.
+
+## Run it
+
+From the repository root, after `pnpm install`.
+
+```bash
+pnpm example:chat-room
+```
+
+```
+[alice] bob joined
+[bob] alice: hello
+```
+
+Both lines are fixed, and for two different reasons.
+
+The first one is ordering that the library already guarantees. Connection
+completion and every emit are scheduled through one FIFO defer
+([0004](../../docs/decisions/0004-connection-deferred-one-tick.md),
+[0010](../../docs/decisions/0010-single-defer-primitive-and-fifo.md)), so alice,
+created first, also joins first. That first join is broadcast the same way as the
+second, with `socket.to(room)`, which reaches the room and skips the sender. The
+room holds nobody else at that point, so `alice joined` is sent and received by no
+one, which is why the output opens with `bob joined` instead.
+
+The second line is what the acknowledgements are for. Awaiting both joins holds
+the message until bob is in the room. Without that, the message would sit in the
+queue directly behind alice's own join and reach the server while bob was still
+connecting, so the broadcast would find an empty room and the line would be lost.
+
+## What it uses
+
+- `new Server(url)` and `io.on('connection')`, the server entry point socket.io
+  applications already write against.
+- `connect(url, { auth })`, the client side, with the name read back on the
+  server as `socket.handshake.auth.name`.
+- `socket.join(room)` and `socket.to(room).emit(...)`, the
+  [broadcast](../../docs/glossary.md#broadcast) that reaches the room and skips
+  the sender.
+- `emitWithAck`, which is what makes the last line deterministic rather than
+  dependent on how far two clients happen to have got when the message is sent.
+
+The server half is the code an application runs against real socket.io. Swapping
+a real client for smocket inside a test runner is a separate setup, documented
+under `docs/`.
diff --git a/examples/chat-room/index.js b/examples/chat-room/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05ab5d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/chat-room/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+// A minimal chat room: two clients in one room, one of them speaks, and the
+// other one hears it. The shortest program that shows delivery reaching someone
+// other than the sender, which is the part a mock without rooms cannot do.
+import { connect, Server } from 'smocket';
+
+const url = 'http://localhost:3000';
+
+// The server side, exactly as it is written against real socket.io. The client
+// is `connect` here rather than the `io` alias, so the name `io` stays free for
+// the server the way an application would use it.
+const io = new Server(url);
+
+io.on('connection', (socket) => {
+  const name = socket.handshake.auth.name;
+
+  socket.on('join', (room, ack) => {
+    socket.join(room);
+    // `socket.to(room)` reaches the room and skips this socket, so the joiner is
+    // not told about its own arrival. The first join therefore reaches nobody,
+    // the room being empty until it lands.
+    socket.to(room).emit('system', `${name} joined`);
+    ack();
+  });
+
+  socket.on('message', (room, text) => {
+    socket.to(room).emit('message', `${name}: ${text}`);
+  });
+});
+
+// Two clients, each one carrying the name the server reads off the handshake.
+const alice = connect(url, { auth: { name: 'alice' } });
+const bob = connect(url, { auth: { name: 'bob' } });
+
+for (const [label, client] of [
+  ['alice', alice],
+  ['bob', bob],
+]) {
+  client.on('system', (line) => console.log(`[${label}] ${line}`));
+  client.on('message', (line) => console.log(`[${label}] ${line}`));
+}
+
+// Awaiting both joins is what fixes the last line. bob has to be in the room
+// before alice speaks, and without the ack the message would be queued right
+// behind alice's own join and arrive while bob was still connecting.
+await Promise.all([alice.emitWithAck('join', 'general'), bob.emitWithAck('join', 'general')]);
+
+alice.emit('message', 'general', 'hello');
diff --git a/examples/chat-room/package.json b/examples/chat-room/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72d62b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/chat-room/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{
+  "name": "chat-room-example",
+  "private": true,
+  "type": "module",
+  "scripts": {
+    "start": "node index.js"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "smocket": "workspace:*"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c95ff8d..cfdce97 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@
     "attw": "attw --pack .",
     "assert:no-imports": "node scripts/assert-no-imports.js",
     "check:package": "pnpm build && pnpm assert:no-imports && pnpm publint && pnpm attw",
+    "example:chat-room": "pnpm build && pnpm --filter chat-room-example start",
     "conformance": "node scripts/conformance-report.mjs",
     "check:conformance": "node scripts/conformance-report.mjs --check"
   },
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 0151ad1..b6de83a 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -259,6 +259,12 @@ importers:
         specifier: ^4.1.10
         version: 4.1.10(@types/node@26.1.1)(@vitest/browser-playwright@4.1.10)(@vitest/coverage-v8@4.1.10)(vite@8.1.5(@types/node@26.1.1)(esbuild@0.27.7))
 
+  examples/chat-room:
+    dependencies:
+      smocket:
+        specifier: workspace:*
+        version: link:../..
+
 packages:
 
   '@andrewbranch/untar.js@1.0.3':
diff --git a/pnpm-workspace.yaml b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
index 09a02ca..51ceb88 100644
--- a/pnpm-workspace.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+packages:
+  - examples/*
 allowBuilds:
   esbuild: true
 onlyBuiltDependencies: