Use the LiveKit CLI

The official LiveKit CLI executable is called lk. It can create rooms, inspect participants and issue access tokens for your local livekit-rs server. The Rust server executable is called livekit-server and controls the server process and its configuration.

Install and connect

Install the official LiveKit CLI. On macOS with Homebrew, run:

brew install livekit-cli
lk --version

Start your Rust server with the quickstart. In a second terminal, direct the CLI to it using the local development credentials. The API uses an HTTP URL. Browsers use a WebSocket URL when they join the room.

export LIVEKIT_URL=http://127.0.0.1:7880
export LIVEKIT_API_KEY=devkey
export LIVEKIT_API_SECRET=secret
lk room list

An empty room list is normal on a fresh server. Run the exports again in any new terminal that needs these settings. For a deployed server, use its HTTPS API URL and its own credentials.

Create a room and inspect participants

lk room create --empty-timeout 600 demo
lk room list
lk room participants list demo

The room appears in the room list. The participant list is empty until someone joins. If the room has expired, create it again. After joining with the browser SDK example, repeat the last command to see the connected identities.

Create a token for each participant

lk token create --join --room demo --identity alice --valid-for 10m
lk token create --join --room demo --identity bob --valid-for 10m

Copy the JWT after Access token: in each command's output. Use both tokens with the same room name and separate browser tabs. A token grants its own identity access to the named room. Generate a new token if it expires, and keep tokens and API secrets out of logs and source control.

Clean up and find more commands

lk room delete demo
lk room --help
lk token create --help
./target/release/livekit-server --help

Deleting the room disconnects its participants. If the demo room has already closed, there is nothing to delete. See the CLI command reference for more room and participant operations. Check the compatibility notes for the server behaviors covered by published tests.