LiveKit C++ Client SDK

This SDK enables native C++ applications to connect to LiveKit servers for real-time audio/video communication.

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📦 Requirements

• CMake ≥ 4.0
• Rust / Cargo (latest stable toolchain)
• Protobuf compiler (protoc)
• macOS users: System frameworks (CoreAudio, AudioToolbox, etc.) are automatically linked via CMake.
• Git LFS (required for examples) Some example data files (e.g., audio assets) are stored using Git LFS. You must install Git LFS before cloning or pulling the repo if you want to run the examples.

🧩 Clone the Repository

Make sure to initialize the Rust submodule (client-sdk-rust):

# Option 1: Clone with submodules in one step
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/livekit/client-sdk-cpp.git

# Option 2: Clone first, then initialize submodules
git clone https://github.com/livekit/client-sdk-cpp.git
cd client-sdk-cpp
git submodule update --init --recursive

⚙️ BUILD

All build actions are managed by the provided build.sh script.

./build.sh clean        # Clean CMake build artifacts
./build.sh clean-all    # Deep clean (C++ + Rust + generated files)
./build.sh debug        # Build Debug version
./build.sh release      # Build Release version
./build.sh verbose      # Verbose build output

🧪 Run Example

./build/examples/SimpleRoom --url ws://localhost:7880 --token <jwt-token>

You can also provide the URL and token via environment variables:

export LIVEKIT_URL=ws://localhost:7880
export LIVEKIT_TOKEN=<jwt-token>
./build/examples/SimpleRoom

Press Ctrl-C to exit the example.

🧰 Recommended Setup

macOS

brew install cmake protobuf rust

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y cmake protobuf-compiler build-essential
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh

🛠️ Development Tips

Update Rust version

cd client-sdk-cpp
git fetch origin
git switch -c try-rust-main origin/main

# Sync submodule URLs and check out what origin/main pins (recursively):
git submodule sync --recursive
git submodule update --init --recursive --checkout

# Now, in case the nested submodule under yuv-sys didn’t materialize, force it explicitly:
cd ..
git -C client-sdk-rust/yuv-sys submodule sync --recursive
git -C client-sdk-rust/yuv-sys submodule update --init --recursive --checkout

# Sanity check:
git submodule status --recursive

If yuv-sys fails to build

cargo clean -p yuv-sys
cargo build -p yuv-sys -vv

Full clean (Rust + C++ build folders)

In some cases, you may need to perform a full clean that deletes all build artifacts from both the Rust and C++ folders:

./build.sh clean-all

Clang format

CPP SDK is using clang C++ format

brew install clang-format