how to configure livekit cloud egress recording service and LiveKit Community #ask-ai

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purple-autumn-79340

12/19/2025, 3:12 PM

how to configure livekit cloud egress recording service and manage its lifecycle?

tall-airline-16756

12/19/2025, 3:13 PM

Thanks for reaching out, Abijah. I'm an AI assistant and I'm here to help. Give me a moment while I research this topic.

tall-airline-16756

12/19/2025, 3:13 PM

Thanks — you’re asking how to configure LiveKit Cloud Egress recording and how to manage its lifecycle. I’ll summarize the main options and the exact actions you can take (start/update/list/stop), then ask one quick question so I can tailor any example to your setup. Overview — which egress types to choose • Room Composite: records an entire room with a rendered layout (grid, speaker, single-speaker, etc.). Good for full-session recordings (MP4, HLS, thumbnails). • Track Composite: exports synchronized audio+video using track IDs (useful when you need combined tracks but not full room layout). • Participant: record a specific participant by identity (optionally capture screen share). • Track: export a single raw track (no transcoding). • Web: record any web page via a URL (headless browser render). How to configure (what you must provide) • Identify egress type and room/track/identity or URL. • Choose outputs: file (S3/GCP/Azure/OSS), segment/HLS, stream (RTMP), or images. • Provide storage credentials and destination (bucket/container, region, keys) in the egress request. • Select encoding preset if needed (e.g., H264_720P_30). Basic JSON fields you’ll use • Room Composite:

room_name

layout

preset

file_outputs

segment_outputs

stream_outputs

. • Track Composite:

room_name

audio_track_id

video_track_id

file_outputs

. • Participant:

room_name

identity

screen_share

, output arrays. • Track:

room_name

track_id

file

(S3/GCP/Azure). • Web:

url

preset

, outputs. Start egress • CLI example: a. Create an egress JSON config (see fields above). b. Run:

lk egress start --type room-composite egress.json

• SDK / Twirp: call the corresponding Start*Egress RPC (StartRoomCompositeEgress, StartTrackEgress, etc.). • Ensure the access token includes

roomRecord

permission. Update an active egress • Change layout (Room Composite): ◦ CLI:

lk egress update-layout --id <egress_id> --layout speaker

◦ SDK/API: call UpdateLayout for the active egress. • Modify streaming targets: ◦ Add/remove RTMP URLs with

UpdateStream

(CLI or API). List active egresses • CLI:

lk egress list

• API: call

ListEgress

to get active jobs and their IDs/status. Stop egress • CLI:

lk egress stop --id <egress_id>

• API: call

StopEgress

with the egress ID. Auto-Egress (start recording when room is created) • Include an

egress

block in

CreateRoom

specifying room/tracks outputs to automatically start recording on room creation. Storage backends supported • S3-compatible (S3, MinIO, R2), GCP, Azure Blob, AliOSS — include respective credentials in the output config. Permissions & notes • All egress operations require appropriate API credentials and an access token with

roomRecord

. • You can use CLI, SDKs (Go/JS/Python), or Twirp HTTP API depending on your integration. Would you like: • A ready-to-use example JSON for a specific egress type (Room Composite → S3, RTMP stream, or HLS)? • Instructions for generating an access token with

roomRecord

purple-autumn-79340

12/19/2025, 3:16 PM

I'm interested in room egress, it seems to be always recording even if I specifically start recording when the call is already ongoing, where could this behavior come from?

tall-airline-16756

12/19/2025, 3:16 PM

Thanks — I’m looking into why Room Composite egress appears to always be recording even when you explicitly start it mid-call. A few likely causes and quick checks will narrow this down. Quick checks (please confirm these) • Do you set an

egress

block in your

CreateRoom

request (auto‑egress)? If yes, auto‑egress will start recording when the room is created. • Are you using any server or orchestration process that calls

StartRoomCompositeEgress

automatically on room events (room.created or participant.join)? • When you inspect active egresses (

lk egress list

ListEgress

), do you see an egress started earlier than your manual start time? If so, note its

egress_id

and `reason`/`start_time`. • Is your client using a long‑lived access token with

roomRecord

that a background job might reuse? What this behavior usually means • If auto‑egress is enabled in

CreateRoom

, recordings start automatically on room creation — so a later manual start looks redundant because an active egress already exists. • If a server process listens to room events and starts egress automatically, that will also make egress always active. • A previously started egress not stopped (or restarted by automation) will remain active until explicitly stopped or completed. Immediate actions to confirm/resolve 1. Check room creation code/config for an

egress

block and remove/disable it if you want manual starts only. 2. Run

lk egress list

or call

ListEgress

and compare

start_time

and

type

to your manual starts to find the originating job. 3. Search your backend for any automated calls to

StartRoomCompositeEgress

(webhooks, event handlers). 4. If you find an auto egress you don’t want, stop it with

lk egress stop --id <egress_id>

. If you’d like, share: • Whether you use

CreateRoom

with an

egress

section, or • The output of

lk egress list

(egress IDs and start times), or • A snippet of how you start recording (CLI/SDK/Twirp JSON) I can then point to the exact field or line to change and give a tailored example to disable the automatic recording.

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