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https://github.com/livekit/client-sdk-js

LiveKit browser client SDK (javascript)
https://github.com/livekit/client-sdk-js

javascript typescript webrtc

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LiveKit browser client SDK (javascript)

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README 

        



  

  

  The LiveKit icon, the name of the repository and some sample code in the background.



# JavaScript/TypeScript client SDK for LiveKit



Use this SDK to add realtime video, audio and data features to your JavaScript/TypeScript app. By connecting to LiveKit Cloud or a self-hosted server, you can quickly build applications such as multi-modal AI, live streaming, or video calls with just a few lines of code.



## Docs



Docs and guides at [https://docs.livekit.io](https://docs.livekit.io)



[SDK reference](https://docs.livekit.io/client-sdk-js/)



> [!NOTE]

> This is v2 of `livekit-client`. When migrating from v1.x to v2.x you might encounter a small set of breaking changes.

> Read the [migration guide](https://docs.livekit.io/recipes/migrate-from-v1/) for a detailed overview of what has changed.



## Installation



### Yarn



```shell

yarn add livekit-client

```



### NPM



```shell

npm install livekit-client --save

```



### Minified JS



To use the SDK without a package manager, you can include it with a script tag:



```html



```



The module will be exported under `LivekitClient` in the global namespace. When

accessing symbols from the class, you'd need to prefix them with `LivekitClient.`.

For example, `Room` becomes `LivekitClient.Room`.



## Usage



Examples below are in TypeScript, if using JS/CommonJS imports replace import with:



```javascript

const livekit = require('livekit-client');



const room = new livekit.Room(...);



// call this some time before actually connecting to speed up the actual connection

room.prepareConnection(url, token);



await room.connect(...);

```



### Connecting to a room, publish video & audio



```typescript

import {

  LocalParticipant,

  LocalTrackPublication,

  Participant,

  RemoteParticipant,

  RemoteTrack,

  RemoteTrackPublication,

  Room,

  RoomEvent,

  Track,

  VideoPresets,

} from 'livekit-client';



// creates a new room with options

const room = new Room({

  // automatically manage subscribed video quality

  adaptiveStream: true,



  // optimize publishing bandwidth and CPU for published tracks

  dynacast: true,



  // default capture settings

  videoCaptureDefaults: {

    resolution: VideoPresets.h720.resolution,

  },

});



// pre-warm connection, this can be called as early as your page is loaded

room.prepareConnection(url, token);



// set up event listeners

room

  .on(RoomEvent.TrackSubscribed, handleTrackSubscribed)

  .on(RoomEvent.TrackUnsubscribed, handleTrackUnsubscribed)

  .on(RoomEvent.ActiveSpeakersChanged, handleActiveSpeakerChange)

  .on(RoomEvent.Disconnected, handleDisconnect)

  .on(RoomEvent.LocalTrackUnpublished, handleLocalTrackUnpublished);



// connect to room

await room.connect('ws://localhost:7800', token);

console.log('connected to room', room.name);



// publish local camera and mic tracks

await room.localParticipant.enableCameraAndMicrophone();



function handleTrackSubscribed(

  track: RemoteTrack,

  publication: RemoteTrackPublication,

  participant: RemoteParticipant,

) {

  if (track.kind === Track.Kind.Video || track.kind === Track.Kind.Audio) {

    // attach it to a new HTMLVideoElement or HTMLAudioElement

    const element = track.attach();

    parentElement.appendChild(element);

  }

}



function handleTrackUnsubscribed(

  track: RemoteTrack,

  publication: RemoteTrackPublication,

  participant: RemoteParticipant,

) {

  // remove tracks from all attached elements

  track.detach();

}



function handleLocalTrackUnpublished(

  publication: LocalTrackPublication,

  participant: LocalParticipant,

) {

  // when local tracks are ended, update UI to remove them from rendering

  publication.track.detach();

}



function handleActiveSpeakerChange(speakers: Participant[]) {

  // show UI indicators when participant is speaking

}



function handleDisconnect() {

  console.log('disconnected from room');

}

```



In order to connect to a room, you need to first create an access token.



See [authentication docs](https://docs.livekit.io/home/get-started/authentication/) for details



### Handling common track types



While LiveKit is designed to be flexible, we've added a few shortcuts that makes working with common track types simple. For a user's camera, microphone, and screen share, you can enable them with the following `LocalParticipant` methods:



```typescript

const p = room.localParticipant;

// turn on the local user's camera and mic, this may trigger a browser prompt

// to ensure permissions are granted

await p.setCameraEnabled(true);

await p.setMicrophoneEnabled(true);



// start sharing the user's screen, this will trigger a browser prompt to select

// the screen to share.

await p.setScreenShareEnabled(true);



// disable camera to mute them, when muted, the user's camera indicator will be turned off

await p.setCameraEnabled(false);

```



Similarly, you can access these common track types on the other participants' end.



```typescript

// get a RemoteParticipant by their identity

const p = room.remoteParticipants.get('participant-identity');

if (p) {

  // if the other user has enabled their camera, attach it to a new HTMLVideoElement

  if (p.isCameraEnabled) {

    const publication = p.getTrackPublication(Track.Source.Camera);

    if (publication?.isSubscribed) {

      const videoElement = publication.videoTrack?.attach();

      // do something with the element

    }

  }

}

```



### Creating a track prior to creating a room



In some cases, it may be useful to create a track before creating a room. For

example, when building a staging area so the user may check their own camera.



You can use our global track creation functions for this:



```typescript

const tracks = await createLocalTracks({

  audio: true,

  video: true,

});

```



### Publish tracks from any source



LiveKit lets you publish any track as long as it can be represented by a MediaStreamTrack. You can specify a name on the track in order to identify it later.



```typescript

const pub = await room.localParticipant.publishTrack(mediaStreamTrack, {

  name: 'mytrack',

  simulcast: true,

  // if this should be treated like a camera feed, tag it as such

  // supported known sources are .Camera, .Microphone, .ScreenShare

  source: Track.Source.Camera,

});



// you may mute or unpublish the track later

pub.setMuted(true);



room.localParticipant.unpublishTrack(mediaStreamTrack);

```



### Device management APIs



Users may have multiple input and output devices available. LiveKit will automatically use the one that's deemed as the `default` device on the system. You may also list and specify an alternative device to use.



We use the same deviceId as one returned by [MediaDevices.enumerateDevices()](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaDevices/enumerateDevices).



#### Example listing and selecting a camera device



```typescript

// list all microphone devices

const devices = await Room.getLocalDevices('audioinput');



// select last device

const device = devices[devices.length - 1];



// in the current room, switch to the selected device and set

// it as default audioinput in the future.

await room.switchActiveDevice('audioinput', device.deviceId);

```



You can also switch devices given a constraint. This could be useful on mobile devices to switch to a back-facing camera:



```typescript

await videoTrack.restartTrack({

  facingMode: 'environment',

});

```



#### Handling device failures



When creating tracks using LiveKit APIs (`connect`, `createLocalTracks`, `setCameraEnabled`, etc), it's possible to encounter errors with the underlying media device. In those cases, LiveKit will emit `RoomEvent.MediaDevicesError`.



You can use the helper `MediaDeviceFailure.getFailure(error)` to determine specific reason for the error.



- `PermissionDenied` - the user disallowed capturing devices

- `NotFound` - the particular device isn't available

- `DeviceInUse` - device is in use by another process (happens on Windows)



These distinctions enables you to provide more specific messaging to the user.



You could also retrieve the last error with `LocalParticipant.lastCameraError` and `LocalParticipant.lastMicrophoneError`.



### Audio playback



Browsers can be restrictive with regards to audio playback that is not initiated by user interaction. What each browser considers as user interaction can vary by vendor (for example, Safari on iOS is very restrictive).



LiveKit will attempt to autoplay all audio tracks when you attach them to audio elements. However, if that fails, we'll notify you via `RoomEvent.AudioPlaybackStatusChanged`. `Room.canPlaybackAudio` will indicate if audio playback is permitted. LiveKit takes an optimistic approach so it's possible for this value to change from `true` to `false` when we encounter a browser error.



In the case user interaction is required, LiveKit provides `Room.startAudio` to start audio playback. This function must be triggered in an onclick or ontap event handler. In the same session, once audio playback is successful, additional audio tracks can be played without further user interactions.



```typescript

room.on(RoomEvent.AudioPlaybackStatusChanged, () => {

  if (!room.canPlaybackAudio) {

    // UI is necessary.

    ...

    button.onclick = () => {

      // startAudio *must* be called in an click/tap handler.

      room.startAudio().then(() => {

        // successful, UI can be removed now

        button.remove();

      });

    }

  }

});

```



### Configuring logging



This library uses [loglevel](https://github.com/pimterry/loglevel) for its internal logs. You can change the effective log level with the `logLevel` field in `ConnectOptions`.

The method `setLogExtension` allows to hook into the livekit internal logs and send them to some third party logging service



```ts

setLogExtension((level: LogLevel, msg: string, context: object) => {

  const enhancedContext = { ...context, timeStamp: Date.now() };

  if (level >= LogLevel.debug) {

    console.log(level, msg, enhancedContext);

  }

});

```



### RPC



Perform your own predefined method calls from one participant to another.



This feature is especially powerful when used with [Agents](https://docs.livekit.io/agents), for instance to forward LLM function calls to your client application.



#### Registering an RPC method



The participant who implements the method and will receive its calls must first register support:



```typescript

room.localParticipant?.registerRpcMethod(

  // method name - can be any string that makes sense for your application

  'greet',



  // method handler - will be called when the method is invoked by a RemoteParticipant

  async (data: RpcInvocationData) => {

    console.log(`Received greeting from ${data.callerIdentity}: ${data.payload}`);

    return `Hello, ${data.callerIdentity}!`;

  },

);

```



In addition to the payload, your handler will also receive `responseTimeout`, which informs you the maximum time available to return a response. If you are unable to respond in time, the call will result in an error on the caller's side.



#### Performing an RPC request



The caller may then initiate an RPC call like so:



```typescript

try {

  const response = await room.localParticipant!.performRpc({

    destinationIdentity: 'recipient-identity',

    method: 'greet',

    payload: 'Hello from RPC!',

  });

  console.log('RPC response:', response);

} catch (error) {

  console.error('RPC call failed:', error);

}

```



You may find it useful to adjust the `responseTimeout` parameter, which indicates the amount of time you will wait for a response. We recommend keeping this value as low as possible while still satisfying the constraints of your application.



#### Errors



LiveKit is a dynamic realtime environment and calls can fail for various reasons.



You may throw errors of the type `RpcError` with a string `message` in an RPC method handler and they will be received on the caller's side with the message intact. Other errors will not be transmitted and will instead arrive to the caller as `1500` ("Application Error"). Other built-in errors are detailed in `RpcError`.



## Examples



### Demo App



[examples/demo](examples/demo/) contains a demo webapp that uses the SDK. Run it with `pnpm install && pnpm examples:demo`



### RPC Demo



[examples/rpc](examples/rpc/) contains a demo webapp that uses the SDK to showcase the RPC capabilities. Run it with `pnpm install && pnpm dev` from the `examples/rpc` directory.



## Browser Support



| Browser         | Desktop OS            | Mobile OS |

| --------------- | --------------------- | --------- |

| Chrome          | Windows, macOS, Linux | Android   |

| Firefox         | Windows, macOS, Linux | Android   |

| Safari          | macOS                 | iOS       |

| Edge (Chromium) | Windows, macOS        |           |



We aim to support a broad range of browser versions by transpiling the library code with babel.

You can have a look at the `"browerslist"` section of `package.json` for more details.



> Note that the library requires some specific browser APIs to be present.

> You can check general compatibility with the helper function `isBrowserSupported()`.

> Support for more modern features like adaptiveStream and dynacast can be checked for with `supportsAdaptiveStream()` and `supportsDynacast()`.



If you are targeting legacy browsers, but still want adaptiveStream functionality you'll likely need to use polyfills for [ResizeObserver](https://www.npmjs.com/package/resize-observer-polyfill) and [IntersectionObserver](https://www.npmjs.com/package/intersection-observer).



Also when targeting legacy browsers, older than the ones specified in our browserslist target, make sure to transpile the library code to your desired target and include required polyfills with babel and/or corejs.







LiveKit Ecosystem



Realtime SDKsReact Components · Browser · Swift Components · iOS/macOS/visionOS · Android · Flutter · React Native · Rust · Node.js · Python · Unity (web) · Unity (beta)

Server APIsNode.js · Golang · Ruby · Java/Kotlin · Python · Rust · PHP (community)

Agents FrameworksPython · Playground

ServicesLiveKit server · Egress · Ingress · SIP

ResourcesDocs · Example apps · Cloud · Self-hosting · CLI