Technical Details

Before you start: see definitions in Glossary.

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Architecture at a glance

Every Vonage Video app has a client, an app server, and runs inside a session in the Vonage cloud.

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Developer map — where to find things

Client SDKs

• Web (JavaScript) — quickstart, API reference, and browser samples.
• iOS — quickstart, API reference, and sample projects.
• Android — quickstart, API reference, and sample projects.
• React Native
• Windows
• macOS
• Linux.

Server SDKs

• Server SDKs (overview) — create sessions, issue tokens/roles, manage archives, broadcasts, SIP, and callbacks.

Starter guides & samples

• Getting Started — step-by-step to your first call.
• Sample apps — ready-to-run (1:1, group, screen share, moderation).

Tools

• Inspector — debug a session (participants, quality, events, errors).
• Developer tools — network tests and diagnostics.
• Callbacks & webhooks — event payloads for archives, broadcasts, and more.

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Authentication & request flow (conceptual)

1. Credentials — Your backend holds the Vonage API Key and API Secret (never expose the Secret to clients).
2. Create a session — Backend creates a sessionId using a Server SDK or REST.
3. Issue a client token — Backend generates a short-lived token (optionally with a role/TTL).
4. Client joins — Frontend fetches { apiKey, sessionId, token } from your endpoint and connects via the client SDK.

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Feature overview — what you can build

Core real-time

• Sessions & publish/subscribe — multi-party A/V using WebRTC.
• Screen sharing — share a window or the whole screen.
• Messaging & signaling — in-session data messages for chat and controls.
• Layouts & UI patterns — grid, active speaker, picture-in-picture.

Recording & delivery

• Archiving (recording) — start/stop from your server; store and retrieve recordings.
• Broadcasting (HLS/RTMP) — stream a session to CDN destinations for large audiences.

Interconnect & moderation

• SIP interconnect — bridge PSTN/SIP into a session.
• Moderation controls — roles, force mute, disconnect, token expiry.

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Backend responsibilities

In production, your backend typically:

• Creates sessions and issues tokens with roles,
• Starts/stops archives and broadcasts; manages lifecycle and storage,
• Handles webhooks/callbacks (archive completed, broadcast status),
• Orchestrates moderation and enforces business rules,
• Initiates SIP interconnect when needed,
• Brokers speech/AI pipelines (e.g., via Audio Connector) and manages secrets/keys,
• Audits usage and maps session data to your domain model.

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