Key Terms

Session

A logical “room” hosted in Vonage Video Cloud where clients connect, publish, and subscribe. Sessions are created by your backend and identified by a sessionId.
See: Server SDKs (overview) • Inspector

Token

A signed credential your backend issues to let a client join a specific session, optionally with a role (e.g., publisher). Tokens are short-lived by design.
See: Authentication

Client

Your app code using a client SDK (Web, iOS, Android, etc.) to connect to a session, publish local media, subscribe to others, and handle events.
See: Web (JavaScript) SDK • Getting Started

Server

Your backend using a Server SDK or REST to create sessions, mint tokens, and run server-side features (archives, broadcasts, moderation, webhooks).
See: Server SDKs (overview)

Connection

The persistent signaling channel (e.g., WebSocket) that delivers session events and coordinates WebRTC setup. Separate from the media connections that carry A/V.
See: Developer tools

Stream

An A/V source published into a session (for example, camera + microphone) that other clients can subscribe to; each stream has its own lifecycle and events.
See: Web SDK (publishing/subscribing)

Publish

Sending the local media stream from a client into the session; requires a token/role that permits publishing.
See: Web SDK (publish)

Subscribe

Receiving and rendering a remote participant’s stream(s); typically triggered by a streamCreated event.
See: Web SDK (subscribe)

Events

Session- and stream-level notifications (join/leave, new stream, network warnings, etc.) that your client handles to update UI/state.
See: Inspector

Client SDK

Platform libraries for implementing client-side features: connect, publish/subscribe, screen share, signaling.
See:

• Android SDK
• iOS SDK
• Linux SDK
• React Native SDK
• Web (JavaScript) SDK
• Windows SDK

Server SDK

Language-specific libraries that wrap the Video REST API to create sessions, generate tokens, and control features like archiving/broadcast.
See: Server SDKs (overview)

Vonage Video REST API

HTTP endpoints behind the platform; typically used via Server SDKs but available directly when needed.
See: Video REST API

Vonage Video Cloud

Managed infrastructure that hosts sessions, routes media, and delivers signaling/events across clients and servers.
See: Technical Details