LiveKit utilizes JWT based access tokens for authentication to all of its APIs. Because of this, the server needs a list of valid API keys and secrets to validate the provided tokens. For more, see Authentication.

Generate API key/secret pairs with:

./bin/livekit-server generate-keys

Store the generate keys in a YAML file like:

APIwLeah7g4fuLYDYAJeaKsSE: 8nTlwISkb-63DPP7OH4e.nw.J44JjicvZDiz8J59EoQ+

Running the server

LiveKit server is a distributed service that is architected for scale. It's self-encapsulated in a single binary, and horizontally scalable by adding more instances. In a production setup, the only external dependency is Redis. LiveKit uses Redis to store room & participant information, and utilizes its pub/sub functionality to coordinate activity between instances.

Running for development

In development mode, LiveKit has no external dependencies. With the key file ready, you can start LiveKit with

./bin/livekit-server --key-file <path/to/keyfile> --dev

the --dev flag turns on log verbosity to make it easier for local debugging/development

Running for production

TBD

CLI

The CLI provides a few tools that makes working with LiveKit easier:

Room creation/deletion/etc
Access token creation
Joining room as a participant
Publishing files as tracks to a room

Setting API key and secret

CLI commands require --api-key and --api-secret arguments. To avoid having to pass these in for each command, it's simplest to set them as environment vars:

export LK_API_KEY=<key>
export LK_API_SECRET=<secret>

Creating a room

./bin/livekit-cli create-room --name myroom

Creating a participant token

./bin/livekit-cli create-token --join --r myroom --dev --p <participant name>

--dev creates a development token that doesn't expire for a year

Joining a participant

./bin/livekit-cli join --token <token>

Publishing static files as tracks

To use the publish client, download the following files to your computer:

happier.ivf - video track in VP8
happier.ogg - audio track in ogg

Join as a publishing participant

./ bin/livekit-cli join --audio <path/to/ogg> --video <path/to/ivf> --token <token>

That's it, join the room with another participant and see it receiving those tracks

APIs & Protocol

livekit-server provides two primary services, a Room service that allows for room creation & management, and RTC service to handle real time communications.

Room APIs are defined in room.proto, it's fairly straight forward with typical CRUD APIs. Room APIs are in HTTP, built with Twirp and follows its the conventions.

The RTC service provides the signaling and everything else when the client interacts with the room. See RTC Protocol.