Building a Zoom Bot for Cloud Recording

Video SDK
1

Hi, we’re going to build a zoom app / zoom bot to:

  • Be added to the meeting by host
  • Start the cloud recording when the host click to a button inside my Zoom app (not the record button of the Zoom Client)
  • The recording will be started on behalf of Zoom App/Zoom bot.
  • The recorded video is owned by the bot, not the host or any other participants.

Since our goal is reliable meeting recording, we believe cloud recording is the best approach. We also want to avoid handling raw data (e.g., meetingsdk-linux-raw-recording-sample), so cloud recording seems ideal.

However, we have a few questions:

Q1:
The documentation Video SDK - Web mentions using in-session SDK functions, implying the host manually starts the recording.
Can a Zoom Bot initiate cloud recording automatically?

Q2:
Does the Zoom bot need to be promoted to co-host to start recording? If so, can this be done programmatically using the host’s access token?

Q3:
Must the host be a Pro user? Or is it sufficient to license only the Zoom bot?

Q4:
Since we don’t require raw data access, is the Linux SDK (e.g., meetingsdk-headless-linux-sample) necessary? Or are there lighter alternatives?

Q5:
The new rivet-javascript includes Video SDK interfaces. Would this be suitable for developing a cloud-recording Zoom app?

Thanks for your support!

3

Hi @z-ple an easier solution for this could look like:

  1. Host clicks button in your Zoom app (or website) to start the recording
  2. The In-Meeting Controls API Endpoint is called to manage starting and stopping the cloud recording

To use this API, you would only need to set up an OAuth app on our Marketplace.

All cloud recordings are owned by the hosts of the meeting. For managing this, you could get that recording once it is done processing and delete it from the users account.

To also answer your questions above:

  1. The host or alternative host of the meeting must be the one to call the in-meeting controls API
  2. For cloud recordings, yes. It will need a alt-host or co-host role.
  3. The host must be a licensed user with cloud recording permissions
  4. I would not recommend the Linux Bot if you do not need Raw Data access
  5. This would be suitable for easy configuration and implementation of API calls to our REST API Endpoints. For this use case, you could use the In-meeting Controls method which handles the API call to the In-meeting controls REST Endpoint
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