New to real-time apps, or to Livqeno? Look up any word here. Each entry links to the page that covers it in depth.
Terms are grouped by where you meet them: setting up, calls (RTC), chat, live streaming, and your backend.
Setting up
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Project | A container for one app. Every room, conversation, stream, and key belongs to one project, and projects never share data. See Project. |
| Environment | A separate space inside a project: development, staging, or production. Data, keys, and webhooks in one environment never reach another. See Environment. |
| API key | Your backend's secret for talking to Livqeno, like rvk_dev_.... It can make tokens, so it must never reach a browser or phone. See API key. |
| Dashboard | The website at app.livqeno.com where you create projects, keys, and webhooks. |
| CLI | The livqeno command-line tool (@livqeno/cli). Does the same jobs as the dashboard from your terminal. See CLI. |
| SDK | A library you install to use Livqeno. Server SDKs (@livqeno/server, livqeno) run on your backend. Client SDKs (@livqeno/rtc, @livqeno/chat, Flutter, React Native) run in your app. See Install an SDK. |
| Origin / Allowed origins | An origin is a website address: scheme + host + port, like https://app.example.com. Allowed origins is the list of sites that may connect to your project from a browser. localhost is always allowed. See Browser security & CORS. |
Tokens and access
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Token | A short-lived pass your backend makes and gives to your app. It lets one user into one room or conversation. It's the only Livqeno credential an app ever holds. See Token. |
| Grant | The full object your backend gets back when it makes an RTC token: the token plus endpoint, iceServers, roomName, permissions, and more. Send it to your app unchanged. See Quickstart. |
| Identity | The user id your backend puts in a token, like alice or user-42. Livqeno doesn't care what it means, but it must come from your own login session, never from the request body. See Participant. |
| Permissions | What a token lets its user do. Anything not turned on is off. For calls: join (enter the room), subscribe (see and hear others), publish (send camera/mic). See Permissions. |
| Scope | A chat permission inside a chat token, like chat:read or chat:send. See Chat authentication. |
| Expiry / TTL | How long a token works. Every token expires; you make a new one each time a user joins. See Access tokens. |
| Role | What a person may do. In a project, teammates are OWNER, ADMIN, DEVELOPER, VIEWER, or BILLING (Roles & permissions). In a conversation, members are MEMBER, MODERATOR, or ADMIN (Members). |
Video calls (RTC)
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| RTC | Real-time communication: live audio and video between people. Livqeno's calling product. See RTC overview. |
| WebRTC | The browser and mobile standard for sending live audio and video. Livqeno's SDKs use it for you; you don't call it directly. |
| Room | Where a call happens. Two people are in the same call because their tokens are for the same room. See Room. |
| Participant | One person (one identity) in a room. Remote participants are everyone except you. See Participant. |
| Track | One stream of media: a camera, a microphone, or a screen share. See Track. |
| Publish | Send your own track (camera, mic, screen) into the room. In Livqeno, turning on a device publishes it. See Tracks & publishing. |
| Subscribe | Receive someone else's track so you can see or hear it. See Tracks & publishing. |
| Mute vs unpublish | Muting (mute()) stops sending but keeps the track, so others keep your tile on screen. Disabling the device (disableCamera()) unpublishes: the track is removed. See Track. |
| Signaling | The WebSocket your app uses to join a room and set up the call, before any media flows. The SDK handles it. See Signaling protocol. |
| SFU | Selective Forwarding Unit: the media server that receives each person's tracks and forwards them to everyone else. Livqeno runs it for you. |
| STUN | A small server that tells a device its public network address, so two devices can try to connect directly. |
| TURN | A relay server that carries media when a direct connection is blocked, for example on many mobile and corporate networks. Without it, calls often work on Wi-Fi but fail on cellular. See Reconnection. |
ICE / iceServers | ICE is how WebRTC finds a working network path. iceServers is the list of STUN and TURN servers in your grant. Forward it unchanged. |
| Reconnection | What happens when the network drops: the SDK tries to rejoin on its own and fires events so your UI can say "Reconnecting…". See Reconnection. |
| Connection (record) | A saved record of one client joining one room: when, how it ended, and any errors. Useful for debugging calls after the user is gone. See Connection. |
| Participant-minute | The RTC usage unit: one person in a room for one minute. See Usage. |
Chat
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Conversation | Where chat messages live. Chat's version of a room. See Conversation. |
| Member | A user who belongs to a conversation. A chat token only works for conversations the user is a member of. Only your backend can add members. See Members. |
| Message | One saved entry in a conversation. It counts as sent only once the server has stored it. See Message. |
| Message history | Past messages, loaded page by page. See Message history. |
| Cursor | A bookmark (nextCursor, previousCursor) that says where the next page of history starts. Pass it back to load more. See Message history. |
| Presence | Whether a user is online, away, or offline. See Presence. |
| Typing indicator | The "Alice is typing…" signal. See Typing. |
| Read receipt | How far each user has read in a conversation. Powers "Seen by" and unread counts. See Read receipts. |
| Thread | A set of replies to one message. See Threads. |
| Reaction | An emoji on a message, like 👍. See Reactions. |
| Attachment | A file or image sent with a message. See Attachments. |
| Moderation | Removing messages or users. Needs the right role. See Moderation. |
Live streaming
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Live stream | One host (plus optional co-hosts) broadcasting to many viewers, with a chat attached. Under the hood, it's an RTC room plus a chat conversation. See Live stream. |
| Host / co-host | The people who can broadcast video and audio in a stream. See Hosts & co-hosts. |
| Viewer | Someone who watches, chats, and reacts, but can't broadcast. See Viewers. |
| Host-hour | The live-streaming usage unit. See Usage. |
Your backend
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| REST API | The HTTP API your backend calls with its API key, under /v1. The server SDKs wrap it. See API reference. |
| Event | A notice that something happened, like a user joining or a message arriving. Client events fire in your app; webhook events go to your backend. See Event. |
| Webhook | A URL on your backend that Livqeno sends events to, as signed HTTP POSTs. See Webhooks. |
| Signature / signing secret | Each webhook comes with a Swalvo-Signature header made with your endpoint's secret. Check it to prove the request really came from Livqeno. See Webhooks. |
| Retry | If your webhook endpoint fails, Livqeno sends the event again later. So you can receive the same event twice. See Webhooks. |
| Idempotency / Idempotency key | Idempotent means "safe to repeat": doing it twice has the same result as once. An Idempotency-Key header lets you retry a request without creating a duplicate. See Idempotency. |
getOrCreate | An option on room and conversation create. Returns the existing one instead of failing with a conflict, so every user can call the same code. See Quickstart. |
| Rate limit | The most requests an endpoint accepts in a time window. Over the limit, you get an error and should wait. See Rate limits. |
| Usage / allowance | Each account gets fixed free amounts of RTC, Chat, and Live Streaming. When one runs out, Livqeno refuses new use of that product only (new tokens, joins, or messages); anything already running keeps going. See Usage. |
| Audit log | A permanent record of every admin action in your project, like creating a key. See Audit logs. |