Video Chat With OpenTok on Glitch
By Melissa McEwen

August 15, 2019

Video Chat With OpenTok on Glitch

What if you could build your own version of Zoom or Google Hangouts? Using Glitch and OpenTok, the opportunity awaits you! Developer Advocate Garann Means wrote a helpful tutorial in Building a JavaScript Hotline with OpenTok and Node.js. It takes you through all the steps of creating an interactive video chat app on Glitch.

The idea behind this project is straightforward: if you have a question about, say, JavaScript (and don't we all), you can get connected with a JavaScript expert. They can walk you through all your questions in a live video chat. If you're an expert, you can sign up to get notified by text message when someone needs help. The app works in a browser, so there is no need to install any special software.

Best of all, you can remix it, throw in your OpenTok API keys and start coding your own features. We remixed this app and added a Glitch embed next to the video chat so you can code together on Glitch:

Nexmo + OpenTok + Glitch = Making Communication apps easy

Don't worry, you don't need to set up an entire telecommunications system by yourself. That's because OpenTok is doing most of the heavy lifting. Your Glitch app basically says, "hey, get me a video chat," and OpenTok sets it all up. The app itself is only about 200 lines of code, which primarily  tell OpenTok what to do.

OpenTok is part of Nexmo, Vonage’s API platform for messaging and voice. OpenTok has screen-sharing and recording capabilities as well. Build a Twitch-like app to show your screen, a video, and a live chat all at once. You can record it all so anyone can watch it later.

Remix To Get Started

Nexmo's Developer Blog has more valuable blog posts that explain how to use OpenTok and other Nexmo APIs on Glitch. Each post tells you how they made it and includes a nifty Glitch app. And, just like any public Glitch app, if you're curious you can view the source code, or remix to build your own versions! Test one out and prototype apps with these amazing communications capabilities.

Here’s some of what the Nexmo API family can do: