Authentication

Overview

For a LiveKit SDK to successfully connect to the server, it must pass an access token with the request.

This token encodes the identity of a participant, name of the room, capabilities and permissions. Access tokens are JWT-based and signed with your API secret to prevent forgery.

Access tokens also carry an expiration time, after which the server will reject connections with that token. Note: expiration time only impacts the initial connection, and not subsequent reconnects.

Creating a token

lk token create \
  --api-key <KEY> \
  --api-secret <SECRET> \
  --identity <NAME> \
  --room <ROOM_NAME> \
  --join \
  --valid-for 1h

Token example

Here's an example of the decoded body of a join token:

{
  "exp": 1621657263,
  "iss": "APIMmxiL8rquKztZEoZJV9Fb",
  "sub": "myidentity",
  "nbf": 1619065263,
  "video": {
    "room": "myroom",
    "roomJoin": true
  },
  "metadata": ""
}

field	description
exp	Expiration time of token
nbf	Start time that the token becomes valid
iss	API key used to issue this token
sub	Unique identity for the participant
metadata	Participant metadata
attributes	Participant attributes (key/value pairs of strings)
video	Video grant, including room permissions (see below)
sip	SIP grant

Video grant

Room permissions are specified in the video field of a decoded join token. It may contain one or more of the following properties:

field	type	description
roomCreate	bool	Permission to create or delete rooms
roomList	bool	Permission to list available rooms
roomJoin	bool	Permission to join a room
roomAdmin	bool	Permission to moderate a room
roomRecord	bool	Permissions to use Egress service
ingressAdmin	bool	Permissions to use Ingress service
room	string	Name of the room, required if join or admin is set
canPublish	bool	Allow participant to publish tracks
canPublishData	bool	Allow participant to publish data to the room
canPublishSources	string[]	When set, only listed source can be published. (camera, microphone, screen_share, screen_share_audio)
canSubscribe	bool	Allow participant to subscribe to tracks
canUpdateOwnMetadata	bool	Allow participant to update its own metadata
hidden	bool	Hide participant from others in the room
kind	string	Type of participant (standard, ingress, egress, sip, or agent). this field is typically set by LiveKit internals.

To create a token where the participant can only subscribe, and not publish into the room, you would use the following grant:

{
  ...
  "video": {
    "room": "myroom",
    "roomJoin": true,
    "canSubscribe": true,
    "canPublish": false,
    "canPublishData": false
  }
}

Example: camera-only

Allow the participant to publish camera, but disallow other sources

{
  ...
  "video": {
    "room": "myroom",
    "roomJoin": true,
    "canSubscribe": true,
    "canPublish": true,
    "canPublishSources": ["camera"]
  }
}

SIP grant

In order to interact with the SIP service, permission must be granted in the sip field of the JWT. It may contain the following properties:

field	type	description
admin	bool	Permission to manage SIP trunks and dispatch rules
call	bool	Permission to make SIP calls via `CreateSIPParticipant`

Token refresh

LiveKit server proactively issues refreshed tokens to connected clients, ensuring they can reconnect if disconnected. These refreshed access tokens have a 10-minute expiration.

Additionally, tokens are refreshed when there are changes to a participant's name, permissions or metadata.

Updating permissions

A participant's permissions can be updated at any time, even after they've already connected. This is useful in applications where the participant's role could change during the session, such as in a participatory livestream.

It's possible to issue a token with canPublish: false initially, and then updating it to canPublish: true during the session. Permissions can be changed with the UpdateParticipant server API.