Building a video calling app might seem like a daunting task. But what if I told you it doesn't have to be? Imagine building an enterprise-ready video and audio experience, seamlessly adding it to any app within just a few hours.
In this tutorial, you'll learn how to build a scalable video conferencing app in hours with Next.js 14, Tailwind CSS, and third-party solutions like Stream's conferencing API for video and Clerk for authentication. But before we dive into the intricacies of the code, let's take a moment to understand how our app works.
Key Insights and Timestamps
Explore the summaries of each section and use the timestamp links to jump to the corresponding part of the video.
Setup
- 00:00:00 — Intro
- 00:04:03 — Setup
- 00:08:55 — File & Folder Structure
- 00:25:10 — Sidebar
- 00:42:23 — Navbar
The tutorial starts by summarizing the setup of the project's components and what you will accomplish by the end of the video. Starting with the basics of file, folder, sidebar, and navbar structure, there's an emphasis on creating a strong foundation to layer on third-party integrations we'll explore in later sections.
Integrating Clerk
Managing user authentication in your app can be critical, and it's natural to be cautious about relying on third-party tools for such crucial functions. Clerk is completely free for up to 10,000 monthly active users. Plus, the integration with Next.js applications is seamless, offering magic links, social sign-in, multi-factor authentication, and more in just minutes---features that would typically take weeks to implement.
Installing Clerk for Next.js is as simple as running a command and setting up environment keys. With Clerk's middleware and provider, managing user authentication becomes a breeze. Adding a header with the Clerk component and defining protected routes ensures a smooth user experience.
Customizing the sign-in and sign-up pages to match your app's design aesthetics is a cinch. Clerk's appearance object allows for easy tweaking of colors, logos, and social buttons, ensuring a seamless integration into your app's UI. Clerk offers a sleek, user-friendly interface for managing accounts, profiles, and connected services. With the groundwork laid, we're ready to transform our homepage and start implementing the video streaming functionalities.
Integrating Stream
- 01:50:00 — Stream Create Meeting
In the process of integrating the industry-leading tool Stream into our application, we began by setting up the Stream Client Provider. We created the Stream video client, ensuring authentication by implementing a token provider. This token provider, running server-side, authenticated users and generated tokens securely. With user authentication established, we could proceed to set up the Stream video client, linking it to user authentication for a seamless experience.
Once the client was set up, our next step was to enable the creation of calls within the application. This entailed checking for the existence of users and the client, generating a random ID for the call, and creating the call itself, specifying its type and ID.
To enhance user feedback and interaction, we implemented toast messages using Chakra UI Toast. These messages serve to inform users about the outcome of their actions.
Lastly, we focused on styling the toast components for a visually appealing experience. Customization options allowed us to tailor the appearance of the toast messages to align with the application's design aesthetics.
Meeting Setup
- 02:20:24 — Meetings Calls Setup
- 02:29:14 — Meeting Setup
- 02:38:06 — Meeting Room
- 03:05:00 — Schedule Meeting
- 03:17:28 — Upcoming Meetings Page
- 03:44:37 — Previous Meetings Page
- 03:45:56 — Recordings Page
- 03:53:22 — Personal Meeting Room
- 04:07:47 — Join Meeting Modal
The meeting setup page is a crucial step before entering the actual meeting room. In this section, we have the opportunity to configure our microphone and camera preferences, establish the meeting room setup, the upcoming and previous meeting pages, the recordings page, and how users can join future meetings.
Within the meeting room itself, we're not only connecting with our peers but also leveraging the power of technology to enhance our interactions. By seamlessly integrating features like user authentication and real-time updates, we're fostering a sense of community and collaboration. As we delve into the intricacies of setting up our audio and video equipment, we're laying the foundation for effective communication and engagement.
Deployment
04:13:32 — Deployment
In the journey of deploying our application, we embarked on a series of steps that seamlessly brought our project to life. Beginning with the creation of a new repository named "Zoom Clone", we made it public and initialized it by following a set of terminal commands. This process involved adding our code, committing the changes, setting up the main branch, and pushing the code to GitHub. With our codebase securely hosted, we transitioned to configuring environment variables. These variables, essential for our application's functionality, were copied from our local environment and added to Vercel, our deployment platform.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our journey from codebase to deployment showcased the power of modern development tools and platforms. Through meticulous planning and execution, we were able to create a user-friendly video-conferencing application that leveraged cutting-edge technologies. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a newcomer to the world of Next.js, there's always more to learn and explore. And with projects like our Zoom Clone paving the way, the possibilities are truly endless.
By following the tutorial and understanding the concepts, developers can gain the skills to build their own scalable video conferencing apps and become proficient in using the latest web development technologies. Stream and Clerk enable developers to save time and improve their skills by leveraging existing infrastructure and services. Embracing these tools can make developers more efficient and powerful in their work. Check out Stream's Video Javascript Github to learn more.