Integrating Twilio Video API with WebRTC for Seamless Video Conferencing

In today's digital era, video conferencing has become a key feature for businesses and individuals alike. With the help of WebRTC and the Twilio Video API, developers can create a powerful video conferencing solution.

In this tutorial, we'll walk you through integrating Twilio Video API with WebRTC to create a seamless video conferencing experience in your web applications.

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you'll need:

Basic knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
A Twilio account with a Programmable Video API key and secret (sign up here if you don't have an account)
Node.js installed on your computer

Setting up the project

Start by creating a new directory for your project:

mkdir twilio-video-webrtc
cd twilio-video-webrtc

Initialize a new Node.js project:

npm init -y

Install the required dependencies:

npm install twilio express ejs

Create a .env file in your project root to store your Twilio credentials:

touch .env

Add your Twilio API key and secret to the .env file:

TWILIO_API_KEY=YOUR_TWILIO_API_KEY
TWILIO_API_SECRET=YOUR_TWILIO_API_SECRET

Creating the server

Create a new file named server.js in your project root:

touch server.js

In server.js, import the required modules and set up an Express server:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const twilio = require('twilio');
const { AccessToken } = twilio.jwt;

require('dotenv').config();

app.use(express.static('public'));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.render('index');
});

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.listen(PORT, () => console.log(`Server running on http://localhost:${PORT}`));

Creating the views

Create a new folder named views in your project root and a index.ejs file inside it:

mkdir views
touch views/index.ejs

In index.ejs, add the following HTML structure:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>Twilio Video API with WebRTC</title>
    <style>
      /* Add your CSS styles here */
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Twilio Video API with WebRTC</h1>
    <div id="video-container"></div>
    <script src="//media.twiliocdn.com/sdk/js/video/releases/2.9.0/twilio-video.min.js"></script>
    <script>
      // Add your JavaScript code here
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Integrating Twilio Video API with WebRTC

In the index.ejs file, add the following JavaScript code to set up Twilio Video API with WebRTC:

(async () => {
  const identity = 'user-' + Date.now(); // Generate a unique user identity

  // Fetch an access token from the server
  const response = await fetch('/token?identity=' + encodeURIComponent(identity));
  const token = await response.text();

  // Connect to a Twilio Room
  const room = await Twilio.Video.connect(token, { audio: true, video: true });

  // Attach local video and audio tracks to the DOM
  room.localParticipant.tracks.forEach((trackPublication) => {
    const track = trackPublication.track;
    document.getElementById('video-container').appendChild(track.attach());
  });

  // Attach remote video and audio tracks to the DOM
  room.on('participantConnected', (participant) => {
    console.log('Participant connected:', participant.identity);
    participant.tracks.forEach((trackPublication) => {
      const track = trackPublication.track;
      document.getElementById('video-container').appendChild(track.attach());
    });
  });
})();

In the server.js file, add a new route to generate the Twilio access token:

app.get('/token', (req, res) => {
  const identity = req.query.identity;

  const token = new AccessToken(
    process.env.TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID,
    process.env.TWILIO_API_KEY,
    process.env.TWILIO_API_SECRET,
    { ttl: 3600 }
  );

  token.identity = identity;
  token.addGrant(new AccessToken.VideoGrant({ room: 'example-room' }));

  res.send(token.toJwt());
});

Testing the application

Start your server:

node server.js

Open two browser windows and navigate to http://localhost:3000. You should see the video conferencing working with both local and remote video feeds.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to integrate Twilio Video API with WebRTC to create a seamless video conferencing experience in your web applications. With these tools, you can now build powerful and customizable video conferencing solutions for your projects. Happy coding!