Peer Calls v4
WebRTC peer to peer calls for everyone. See it live in action at peercalls.com.
The server has been completely rewriten in Go and all the original functionality works. An optional implementation of a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) is available to make Peer Calls consume less bandwith for user video uploads. This wouldn't haven been possible without the awesome pion/webrtc library.
The config file format is still YAML, but is different than what was in v3. The v3 source code is available in version-3 branch. Version 4 will no longer be published on NPM since the server is no longer written in NodeJS.
What's New in v4
- Core rewritten in Golang.
- Selective Forwarding Unit. Can be enabled using
NETWORK_TYPE=sfuenvironment variable. The peercalls.com instance has this enabled. - Ability to change video and audio devices without reconnecting.
- Improved toolbar layout. Can be toggled by clicking or tapping.
- Multiple videos are now shown in a full-size grid and each can be minimized.
- Video cropping can be turned off.
- Improved file sending. Users are now able to send files larger than 64 or 256 KB (depends on the browser).
- Device names are correctly populated in the dropdown list.
- Improved desktop sharing.
- Copy invite link to clipboard. Will show as share icon on devices that support it.
- Fix: Toolbar icons render correctly on iOS 12 devices.
- Fix: Video autoplays.
- Fix: Toolbar is no longer visible until call is joined
- Fix: Add warning when using an unsupported browser
- Fix: Add warning when JavaScript is disabled
TODO for Selective Forwarding Unit
- Support dynamic adding and removing of streams
- Support RTCP packet Picture Loss Indicator (PLI)
- Support RTCP packet Receiver Estimated Maximum Bitrate (REMB)
- Add handling of other RTCP packets besides NACK, PLI and REMB
- Add JitterBuffer (experimental, currently without congestion control)
- Support multiple Peer Calls nodes when using SFU
- Add support for passive ICE TCP candidates
- End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) using Insertable Streams. See #142.
Requirements for Development
Alternatively, Docker can be used to run Peer Calls.
Stack
Backend
- Golang
- pion/webrtc
- github.com/go-chi/chi
- nhooyr.io/websocket
See go.mod for more information
Frontend
- React
- Redux
- TypeScript (since peer-calls
v2.1.0)
See package.json for more information.
Installation & Running
Download Release
Head to Releases and download a precompiled version. Currently the binaries for the following systems are built automatically:
- linux amd64
- linux arm
- darwin (macOS) amd64
- windows amd64
Deploying onto Kubernetes
The root of this repository contains a kustomization.yaml, allowing anyone to patch the manifests found within the deploy/ directory. To deploy the manifests without applying any patches, pass the URL to kubectl:
kubectl apply -k github.com/peer-calls/peer-calls
Using Docker
Use the peercalls/peercalls image from Docker Hub:
docker run --rm -it -p 3000:3000 peercalls/peercalls:latest
Building from Source
git clone https://github.com/peer-calls/peer-calls.git
cd peer-calls
npm install
# for production
npm run build
npm run build:go:linux
# for development
npm run start
Building Docker Image
git clone https://github.com/peer-calls/peer-calls
cd peer-calls
docker build -t peer-calls .
docker run --rm -it -p 3000:3000 peer-calls
Configuration
Environment variables
| Variable | Type | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
PEERCALLS_LOG |
csv | Enables or disables logging for certain modules | -sdp,-ws,-nack,-rtp,-rtcp,-pion:*:trace,-pion:*:debug,-pion:*:info,* |
PEERCALLS_FS |
string | When set to a non-empty value, use the path to find resource files | |
PEERCALLS_BASE_URL |
string | Base URL of the application | |
PEERCALLS_BIND_HOST |
string | IP to listen to | 0.0.0.0 |
PEERCALLS_BIND_PORT |
int | Port to listen to | 3000 |
PEERCALLS_TLS_CERT |
string | Path to TLS PEM certificate. If set will enable TLS | |
PEERCALLS_TLS_KEY |
string | Path to TLS PEM cert key. If set will enable TLS | |
PEERCALLS_STORE_TYPE |
string | Can be memory or redis |
memory |
PEERCALLS_STORE_REDIS_HOST |
string | Hostname of Redis server | |
PEERCALLS_STORE_REDIS_PORT |
int | Port of Redis server | |
PEERCALLS_STORE_REDIS_PREFIX |
string | Prefix for Redis keys. Suggestion: peercalls |
|
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_TYPE |
string | Can be mesh or sfu. Setting to SFU will make the server the main peer |
mesh |
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_INTERFACES |
csv | List of interfaces to use for ICE candidates, uses all available when empty | |
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_JITTER_BUFFER |
bool | Set to true to enable the use of Jitter Buffer |
false |
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_PROTOCOLS |
csv | Can be udp4, udp6, tcp4 or tcp6 |
udp4,udp6 |
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_TCP_BIND_ADDR |
string | ICE TCP bind address. By default listens on all interfaces. | |
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_TCP_LISTEN_PORT |
int | ICE TCP listen port. By default uses a random port. | 0 |
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_TRANSPORT_LISTEN_ADDR |
string | When set, will listen for external RTP, Data and Metadata UDP streams | |
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_TRANSPORT_NODES |
csv | When set, will transmit media and data to designated host:port(s). |
|
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_UDP_PORT_MIN |
int | Defines ICE UDP range start to use for UDP host candidates. | 0 |
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_UDP_PORT_MAX |
int | Defines ICE UDP range end to use for UDP host candidates. | 0 |
PEERCALLS_ICE_SERVER_URLS |
csv | List of ICE Server URLs | |
PEERCALLS_ICE_SERVER_AUTH_TYPE |
string | Can be empty or secret for coturn static-auth-secret config option. |
|
PEERCALLS_ICE_SERVER_SECRET |
string | Secret for coturn | |
PEERCALLS_ICE_SERVER_USERNAME |
string | Username for coturn | |
PEERCALLS_PROMETHEUS_ACCESS_TOKEN |
string | Access token for prometheus /metrics URL |
The default ICE servers in use are:
stun:stun.l.google.com:19302stun:global.stun.twilio.com:3478?transport=udp
Only a single ICE server can be defined via environment variables. To define more use a YAML config file. To load a config file, use the -c /path/to/config.yml command line argument.
See config/types.go for configuration types.
Example:
base_url: ''
bind_host: '0.0.0.0'
bind_port: 3005
ice_servers:
- urls:
- 'stun:stun.l.google.com:19302'
- urls:
- 'stun:global.stun.twilio.com:3478?transport=udp'
#- urls:
# - 'turn:coturn.mydomain.com'
# auth_type: secret
# auth_secret:
# username: "peercalls"
# secret: "some-static-secret"
# tls:
# cert: test.pem
# key: test.key
store:
type: memory
# type: redis
# redis:
# host: localhost
# port: 6379
# prefix: peercalls
network:
type: mesh
# type: sfu
# sfu:
# interfaces:
# - eth0
prometheus:
access_token: "mytoken"
Prometheus /metrics URL will not be accessible without an access token set. The access token can be provided by either:
- Setting
Authorizationheader toBearer mytoken, or - Providing the access token as a query string:
/metrics?access_token=mytoken
To access the server, go to http://localhost:3000.
Accessing From Network
Most browsers will prevent access to user media devices if the application is accessed from the network (not via 127.0.0.1). If you wish to test your mobile devices, you'll have to enable TLS by setting the PEERCALLS_TLS_CERT and PEERCALLS_TLS_KEY environment variables. To generate a self-signed certificate you can use:
openssl req -nodes -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -subj "/C=US/ST=Oregon/L=Portland/O=Company Name/OU=Org/CN=example.com" -out cert.pem -days 365
Replace example.com with your server's hostname.
Multiple Instances and Redis
Redis can be used to allow users connected to different instances to connect. The following needs to be added to config.yaml to enable Redis:
store:
type: redis
redis:
host: redis-host # redis host
port: 6379 # redis port
prefix: peercalls # all instances must use the same prefix
Logging
By default, Peer Calls server will log only basic information. Client-side logging is disabled by default.
Server-side logs can be configured via the PEERCALLS_LOG environment variable. Setting it to * will enable all server-side logging:
PEERCALLS_LOG=*
Client-side logs can be configured via localStorage.DEBUG and localStorage.LOG variables:
- Setting
localStorage.log=1enables logging of Redux actions and state changes - Setting
localStorage.debug=peercalls,peercalls:*enables all other client-side logging
Development
Below are some common scripts used for development:
npm start build all resources and start the server.
npm run build build all client-side resources.
npm run start:server start the server
npm run js:watch build and watch resources
npm test run all client-side tests.
go test ./... run all server tests
npm run ci run all linting, tests and build the client-side
Browser Support
Tested on Firefox and Chrome, including mobile versions. Also works on Safari and iOS since version 11. Does not work on Microsoft Edge because they do not support DataChannels yet.
For more details, see here:
In Firefox, it might be useful to use about:webrtc to debug connection issues. In Chrome, use about:webrtc-internals.
When experiencing connection issues, the first thing to try is to have all peers to use the same browser.
Epheremal UDP Ports for ICE
The UDP port range can be defined for opening epheremal ports. These ports will be used for generating UDP host ICE candidates. It is recommended to enable these UDP ports when ICE TCP is enabled, because the priority of TCP host candidates will be higher than srflx/prflx candidates, as such TCP will be used even though UDP connectivity might be possible.
ICE TCP
Peer Calls supports ICE over TCP as described in RFC6544. Currently only passive ICE candidates are supported. This means that users whose ISPs or corporate firewalls block UDP packets can use TCP to connect to the SFU. In most scenarios, this removes the need to use a TURN server, but this functionality is currently experimental and is not enabled by default.
Add the tcp4 and tcp6 to your PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_PROTOCOLS to enable support for ICE TCP:
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_TYPE=sfu PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_PROTOCOLS=`udp4,udp6,tcp4,tcp6` peer-calls
To test this functionality, udp4 and udp6 network types should be omitted:
PEERCALLS_NETWORK_TYPE=sfu PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_PROTOCOLS=`tcp4,tcp6` peer-calls
Please note that in production the PEERCALLS_NETWORK_SFU_TCP_LISTEN_PORT should be specified and external TCP access allowed through the server firewall.
TURN Server
When a direct connection cannot be established, it might be help to use a TURN server. The peercalls.com instance is configured to use a TURN server and it can be used for testing. However, the server bandwidth there is not unlimited.
Here are the steps to install a TURN server on Ubuntu/Debian Linux:
sudo apt install coturn
Use the following configuration as a template for /etc/turnserver.conf:
lt-cred-mech
use-auth-secret
static-auth-secret=p4ssw0rd
realm=example.com
total-quota=300
cert=/etc/letsencrypt/live/rtc.example.com/fullchain.pem
pkey=/etc/letsencrypt/live/rtc.example.com/privkey.pem
log-file=/dev/stdout
no-multicast-peers
proc-user=turnserver
proc-group=turnserver
Change the p4ssw0rd, realm and paths to server certificates.
Use the following configuration for Peer Calls:
iceServers:
- urls:
- 'turn:rtc.example.com'
auth_type: secret
auth_secret:
username: 'example'
secret: 'p4ssw0rd'
Finally, enable and start the coturn service:
sudo systemctl enable coturn
sudo systemctl start coturn
Contributing
See Contributing section.
If you encounter a bug, please open a new issue!
Support
The development of Peer Calls is sponsored by rondomoon. If you'd like enterprise on-site support or become a sponsor, please contact [email protected].
If you wish to support future development of Peer Calls, you can donate here:
Thank you
