diff --git a/pkg/service/roommanager.go b/pkg/service/roommanager.go
index 95bd515df..f36829f36 100644
--- a/pkg/service/roommanager.go
+++ b/pkg/service/roommanager.go
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ func (r *RoomManager) StartSession(
 	sessionStartTime := time.Now()
 
 	if pi.Identity != "" && pi.Grants != nil {
-		if err := checkConnectLimits(r.config.Limit, string(pi.Identity), livekit.RoomName(pi.CreateRoom.GetName()), pi.Grants); err != nil {
+		if err := CheckConnectLimits(r.config.Limit, string(pi.Identity), livekit.RoomName(pi.CreateRoom.GetName()), pi.Grants); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/service/utils.go b/pkg/service/utils.go
index e4a22ba8a..3ee3a224d 100644
--- a/pkg/service/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/service/utils.go
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ func ValidateConnectRequest(
 	}
 
 	// after the publish suffix, so the identity checked is the one StartSession sees
-	if err := checkConnectLimits(limitConfig, claims.Identity, res.roomName, claims); err != nil {
+	if err := CheckConnectLimits(limitConfig, claims.Identity, res.roomName, claims); err != nil {
 		return res, http.StatusBadRequest, err
 	}
 
@@ -454,10 +454,11 @@ func ValidateConnectRequest(
 	return res, http.StatusOK, nil
 }
 
-// checkConnectLimits checks a join's identity, room name, participant name, metadata and
+// CheckConnectLimits checks a join's identity, room name, participant name, metadata and
 // attributes against the configured limits. Every join path runs it: the signal connection,
 // WHIP, and StartSession on the RTC node, which does not trust the caller's validation.
-func checkConnectLimits(limitConfig config.LimitConfig, identity string, roomName livekit.RoomName, grants *auth.ClaimGrants) error {
+// It is exported for servers that embed this package and run their own join paths.
+func CheckConnectLimits(limitConfig config.LimitConfig, identity string, roomName livekit.RoomName, grants *auth.ClaimGrants) error {
 	if !limitConfig.CheckParticipantIdentityLength(identity) {
 		return fmt.Errorf("%w: max length %d", ErrParticipantIdentityExceedsLimits, limitConfig.MaxParticipantIdentityLength)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/service/whipservice.go b/pkg/service/whipservice.go
index 48ee38466..d380ed226 100644
--- a/pkg/service/whipservice.go
+++ b/pkg/service/whipservice.go
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ func (s *WHIPService) validateCreate(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) (*c
 		return nil, http.StatusBadRequest, ErrIdentityEmpty
 	}
 
-	if err := checkConnectLimits(s.config.Limit, claims.Identity, roomName, claims); err != nil {
+	if err := CheckConnectLimits(s.config.Limit, claims.Identity, roomName, claims); err != nil {
 		return nil, http.StatusBadRequest, err
 	}