SDK Authentication

The Zoom Video SDKs use a Video SDK Key and Secret to generate an SDK JWT for authorized use of the Video SDK.

Video SDK Sessions can be started and joined with your Video SDK JWT.

On This Page

• Get Video SDK Key and Secret
• Generate the Video SDK JWT

Get Video SDK Key and Secret

To get a Video SDK Key and Secret, go to the Zoom App Marketplace and sign in with your Video SDK account. If you do not have a Video SDK account yet, you can create one.

Click Develop and choose Build App. On the Video SDK app type, click Create.

After completing the Video SDK App setup, go to App Credentials where you will find your Video SDK Key and Secret.

Now that you have a Video SDK Key and Secret you are ready to generate a Video SDK JWT.

Generate the Video SDK JWT

Each request to start and join a Video SDK Session must be authorized by an encrypted Video SDK JSON Web Token (JWT). A Video SDK JWT must be generated each time you start and join a Video SDK Session through a backend (server-side) function where your Video SDK credentials can be stored securely.

JWTs are generated with three core parts: Header, Payload, and Signature. When combined, these parts are separated by a period to form a token: 1111111.2222222.3333333.

Header:

The Header includes the specification of the signing algorithm and the type of token.

{
  "alg": "HS256",
  "typ": "JWT"
}

Payload:

The payload of a JWT contains the claims of the token, or the pieces of information being passed about the user and any metadata required.

{
  "app_key": VIDEO_SDK_KEY,
  "tpc": SESSION_NAME,
  "version": 1,
  "role_type": ROLE,
  "user_identity": USER_IDENTITY,
  "session_key": SESSION_KEY,
  "iat": 1646937553,
  "exp": 1646944753,
  "pwd": 12345
}

Signature:

To create a signature for the JWT, the header and payload must be encoded with the Video SDK Secret through an HMAC SHA256 algorithm.

HMACSHA256(
  base64UrlEncode(header) + '.' + base64UrlEncode(payload),
  VIDEO_SDK_SECRET
);

Example Video SDK JWT:

eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJhcHBfa2V5IjoiVklERU9fU0RLX0tFWSIsImlhdCI6MTY0NjI0ODc5NiwiZXhwIjoxNjQ2MjU1OTk2LCJ0cGMiOiJDb29sIENhcnMiLCJ1c2VyX2lkZW50aXR5IjoidXNlcjEyMyIsInNlc3Npb25fa2V5Ijoic2Vzc2lvbjEyMyIsInJvbGVfdHlwZSI6MH0.Y6C65mZUxTZFeGiOI6oW5q2UkIXe3nLTK0MVNkfiJ9c

Node.js generate Video SDK JWT function

In the sample Node.js generate signature function below, we use jsrsasign, an open source cryptographic JavaScript library.

const KJUR = require('jsrsasign')
// https://www.npmjs.com/package/jsrsasign
function generateSignature(sdkKey, sdkSecret, sessionName, role, sessionKey, userIdentity) {

  const iat = Math.round((new Date().getTime() - 30000) / 1000)
  const exp = iat + 60 * 60 * 2
  const oHeader = { alg: 'HS256', typ: 'JWT' }

  const oPayload = {
    app_key: sdkKey,
    tpc: sessionName,
    role_type: role,
    session_key: sessionKey,
    user_identity: userIdentity,
    iat: iat,
    exp: exp
  }

  const sHeader = JSON.stringify(oHeader)
  const sPayload = JSON.stringify(oPayload)
  const sdkJWT = KJUR.jws.JWS.sign('HS256', sHeader, sPayload, sdkSecret)
  return sdkJWT
}

console.log(generateSignature(process.env.ZOOM_VIDEO_SDK_KEY, process.env.ZOOM_VIDEO_SDK_SECRET, 'Cool Cars', 1, 'session123', 'user123'))

For additional JWT libraries and examples in more languages, see JWT.io.

You are now ready to start and join Video SDK Sessions.