LiveKit is an open source project that provides scalable, multi-user conferencing based on WebRTC. It's designed to provide everything you need to build real-time video audio data capabilities in your applications.
LiveKit's server is written in Go, using the awesome Pion WebRTC implementation.
- Scalable, distributed WebRTC SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit)
- Modern, full-featured client SDKs
- Built for production, supports JWT authentication
- Robust networking and connectivity, UDP/TCP/TURN
- Easy to deploy: single binary, Docker or Kubernetes
- Advanced features including:
- speaker detection
- simulcast
- end-to-end optimizations
- selective subscription
- moderation APIs
- end-to-end encryption
- SVC codecs (VP9, AV1)
- webhooks
- distributed and multi-region
- LiveKit Meet (source)
- Spatial Audio (source)
- Livestreaming from OBS Studio (source)
- AI voice assistant using ChatGPT (source)
- Agents: build real-time multimodal AI applications with programmable backend participants
- Egress: record or multi-stream rooms and export individual tracks
- Ingress: ingest streams from external sources like RTMP, WHIP, HLS, or OBS Studio
Client SDKs enable your frontend to include interactive, multi-user experiences.
| Language | Repo | Declarative UI | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| JavaScript (TypeScript) | client-sdk-js | React | docs | JS example | React example |
| Swift (iOS / MacOS) | client-sdk-swift | Swift UI | docs | example |
| Kotlin (Android) | client-sdk-android | Compose | docs | example | Compose example |
| Flutter (all platforms) | client-sdk-flutter | native | docs | example |
| Unity WebGL | client-sdk-unity-web | docs | |
| React Native (beta) | client-sdk-react-native | native | |
| Rust | client-sdk-rust |
Server SDKs enable your backend to generate access tokens, call server APIs, and receive webhooks. In addition, the Go SDK includes client capabilities, enabling you to build automations that behave like end-users.
| Language | Repo | Docs |
|---|---|---|
| Go | server-sdk-go | docs |
| JavaScript (TypeScript) | server-sdk-js | docs |
| Ruby | server-sdk-ruby | |
| Java (Kotlin) | server-sdk-kotlin | |
| Python (community) | python-sdks | |
| PHP (community) | agence104/livekit-server-sdk-php |
- CLI - command line interface & load tester
- Docker image
- Helm charts
Tip
We recommend installing LiveKit CLI along with the server. It lets you access server APIs, create tokens, and generate test traffic.
The following will install LiveKit's media server:
brew install livekitcurl -sSL https://get.livekit.io | bashDownload the latest release here
Start LiveKit in development mode by running livekit-server --dev. It'll use a placeholder API key/secret pair.
API Key: devkey
API Secret: secret
To customize your setup for production, refer to our deployment docs
A user connecting to a LiveKit room requires an access token. Access tokens (JWT) encode the user's identity and the room permissions they've been granted. You can generate a token with our CLI:
livekit-cli create-token \
--api-key devkey --api-secret secret \
--join --room my-first-room --identity user1 \
--valid-for 24hHead over to our example app and enter a generated token to connect to your LiveKit server. This app is built with our React SDK.
Once connected, your video and audio are now being published to your new LiveKit instance!
livekit-cli join-room \
--url ws://localhost:7880 \
--api-key devkey --api-secret secret \
--room my-first-room --identity bot-user1 \
--publish-demoThis command publishes a looped demo video to a room. Due to how the video clip was encoded (keyframes every 3s), there's a slight delay before the browser has sufficient data to begin rendering frames. This is an artifact of the simulation.
LiveKit Cloud is the fastest and most reliable way to run LiveKit. Every project gets free monthly bandwidth and transcoding credits.
Sign up for LiveKit Cloud.
Read our deployment docs for more information.
Pre-requisites:
- Go 1.22+ is installed
- GOPATH/bin is in your PATH
Then run
git clone https://github.com/livekit/livekit
cd livekit
./bootstrap.sh
mageWe welcome your contributions toward improving LiveKit! Please join us on Slack to discuss your ideas and/or PRs.
LiveKit server is licensed under Apache License v2.0.
| LiveKit Ecosystem | |
|---|---|
| Realtime SDKs | React Components · Browser · Swift Components · iOS/macOS/visionOS · Android · Flutter · React Native · Rust · Node.js · Python · Unity (web) · Unity (beta) |
| Server APIs | Node.js · Golang · Ruby · Java/Kotlin · Python · Rust · PHP (community) |
| Agents Frameworks | Python · Playground |
| Services | LiveKit server · Egress · Ingress · SIP |
| Resources | Docs · Example apps · Cloud · Self-hosting · CLI |
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