Developer docs

Everything you need to add calls to your app. Need a hand? Email support@videocallapi.com.

Quickstart

1. Create a free account and verify your email.
2. In the console, open API keys and create a key. Store the secret on your server.
3. Install the SDK: npm i @videocallapi/react-sdk
4. On your server, sign a token and create a room. In the browser, join it.

Authentication tokens

Every REST request and every call join uses a JWT signed with your API secret (HS256). Sign tokens on your server only; never ship the secret to browsers.

import jwt from "jsonwebtoken";

const token = jwt.sign(
  { apikey: process.env.VIDEOCALLAPI_KEY, permissions: ["allow_join"] },
  process.env.VIDEOCALLAPI_SECRET,
  { algorithm: "HS256", expiresIn: "2h" }
);

Permissions: allow_join joins directly; ask_join waits in the lobby; allow_mod can end the call and remove participants. To limit a token to one room, add roomId; to fix the participant's identity, add participantId.

Create a room

curl -X POST https://api.videocallapi.com/v2/rooms \
  -H "Authorization: $TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"customRoomId": "consult-1042"}'

# → { "roomId": "abcd-efgh-ijkl", "customRoomId": "consult-1042", ... }

Join from React

import { MeetingProvider, useMeeting, useParticipant, VideoPlayer } from "@videocallapi/react-sdk";

<MeetingProvider
  token={token}
  config={{ meetingId: roomId, name: "Asha", micEnabled: true, webcamEnabled: true }}
  joinWithoutUserInteraction
>
  <Room />
</MeetingProvider>

The SDK connects to https://api.videocallapi.com by default. If you need to change it, set VITE_VIDEOCALLAPI_URL, NEXT_PUBLIC_VIDEOCALLAPI_URL or REACT_APP_VIDEOCALLAPI_URL at build time.

REST API reference

Base URL https://api.videocallapi.com. Send the token in the Authorization header.

Recording

Recording is available on the Pay-as-you-go and Enterprise plans. Each account has a recording policy:

• Every call (guaranteed): recording starts automatically. Participants don't receive media until it's running, and it restarts automatically if interrupted.
• Client controlled: your app calls startRecording() and stopRecording().

Recordings are MP4 (H.264 video, 48 kHz stereo AAC audio) in SD, HD or Full HD. Download links from the API are signed and valid for 7 days.

Audio quality

Webhooks

Set your endpoint in the console under Webhooks. We send a JSON POST for each event and retry failed deliveries with backoff. Events:

session-started session-ended participant-joined participant-left recording-starting recording-started recording-stopping recording-stopped recording-failed

Each request has an x-videocallapi-signature header: a base64 RSA-SHA256 signature of the JSON body.

import crypto from "node:crypto";

const { publicKey } = await (await fetch("https://api.videocallapi.com/v2/public/rsa-public-key")).json();

function verify(body, signature) {
  return crypto.createVerify("RSA-SHA256")
    .update(JSON.stringify(body))
    .verify(publicKey, signature, "base64");
}

Plan limits and errors

Questions? Email support@videocallapi.com.