W3C Live Archiver — RTMS Edition

Real-time meeting transcription system for W3C working groups. Uses Zoom's Real-Time Media Streams (RTMS) API to receive transcripts server-side — bot does not need to join the meeting.

Note: The legacy Deepgram + Zoom Meeting SDK approach is preserved on the git tag v0.1-deepgram-zoom-sdk and archived in backups/pre-rtms-zoom-sdk-deepgram.zip.

Architecture

  Zoom Meeting (host)
        │
        │  Webhooks: meeting.started / meeting.rtms_started / meeting.rtms_stopped
        ▼
  ┌─────────────────┐
  │  RTMS Gateway   │  Node.js/TypeScript
  │  (Express +     │  Webhook signature verification
  │   @zoom/rtms    │  RTMS session management
  │   SDK)          │  Manual RTMS start via REST API
  └────────┬────────┘
           │  Redis pub/sub (transcript events + commands)
           ▼
  ┌─────────────────┐
  │    IRC Bot      │  Node.js/TypeScript
  │                 │  Invite-based channel joining
  │                 │  Transcript buffering
  │                 │  IRC command handling
  └─────────────────┘
           │
           ▼
     IRC Channel

Data flow: Zoom meeting → meeting.started webhook → IRC connect command → RTMS Gateway calls Zoom API → meeting.rtms_started webhook → @zoom/rtms SDK → Redis → IRC Bot → IRC channel

How It Works

The RTMS Gateway is a webhook server. It receives meeting.started events from Zoom and logs which IRC channel the meeting maps to, but does not start RTMS automatically.
The IRC Bot waits to be invited to an IRC channel rather than auto-joining. On receiving an invite it checks whether the channel is in its authorised list (CHANNEL_MEETING_MAP). If authorised it joins and announces itself; if not it posts an apology message and leaves.
Once the bot is in the channel and a Zoom meeting is running, a chair types transcriber-bot, connect. The gateway looks up the meeting ID for that IRC channel and calls Zoom's REST API to manually start RTMS.
Zoom confirms via a meeting.rtms_started webhook. The gateway uses the @zoom/rtms SDK to connect to the media stream and receive real-time transcript segments with speaker attribution.
Transcript segments are published to Redis and picked up by the IRC Bot, which buffers them briefly to consolidate short utterances, then posts them to the IRC channel.
Chairs can pause and resume transcription mid-meeting. When the meeting ends Zoom fires meeting.rtms_stopped and the system returns to idle.

IRC Output Example

--> transcriber-bot has joined #wpwg
* transcriber-bot Transcription bot ready. Type "transcriber-bot, help" for commands.
ottomorac: transcriber-bot, connect
* transcriber-bot Attempting to connect to the Zoom meeting — transcription will start automatically once connected.
* transcriber-bot ▶️  Transcription ACTIVE (RTMS connected)
<transcriber-bot> scribe+
<transcriber-bot> Otto Mora: Good morning everyone, let's get started...
<transcriber-bot> Jane Smith: Thanks for joining, today's agenda has three items...
ottomorac: transcriber-bot, pause
* transcriber-bot ⏸️  Transcription PAUSED (Paused by ottomorac)
ottomorac: transcriber-bot, resume
* transcriber-bot ▶️  Transcription ACTIVE (Resumed by ottomorac)
<transcriber-bot> Jane Smith: As I was saying, the first item is...
ottomorac: transcriber-bot, please excuse us
* transcriber-bot Happy to be of service bye!
<-- transcriber-bot has left #wpwg

Components

Component	Language	Location	Description
RTMS Gateway	TypeScript	`packages/rtms-gateway/`	Webhook server, RTMS session management, Redis publishing
IRC Bot	TypeScript	`packages/irc-bot/`	IRC integration, command handling, transcript buffering
Shared	TypeScript	`packages/shared/`	Common types, Redis channels, interfaces

Prerequisites

x86_64 (amd64) CPU — the @zoom/rtms SDK ships native binaries only for linux/x64 and darwin/x64. ARM64/aarch64 servers (including AWS Graviton, Raspberry Pi, and Apple Silicon running Linux) are not supported.
Node.js 20.3+ (required by the @zoom/rtms SDK)
npm 9+
Redis server
Zoom account with RTMS enabled (see Setup below)
ngrok (or any reverse proxy) to expose your local webhook to Zoom during development

Setup

1. Create a Zoom Marketplace App

Go to marketplace.zoom.us → Developer → Build App → General App
Choose how the app is managed: Basic information → Select how the app is managed → admin-managed
Choose OAuth (user-managed) app type — RTMS only works with user-level apps, not server-to-server OAuth
Under OAuth, set:
- OAuth Redirect URL: https://your-ngrok-url.ngrok-free.app/oauth/callback
Under Scopes, add:
- meeting:update:participant_rtms_app_status
- meeting:update:participant_rtms_app_status:admin
Under Features → Surface, enable Real-time Media Streams (RTMS) and disable the auto-start option (the bot starts RTMS manually via IRC command)
Under Features → Event Subscriptions, add a new subscription:
- Event notification endpoint URL: https://your-ngrok-url.ngrok-free.app/webhook
- Subscribe to events: meeting.started, meeting.rtms_started, meeting.rtms_stopped
- Select 'All users in your account'
Save and note your Client ID, Client Secret, and Secret Token

2. Request RTMS Enablement

RTMS is not self-service. Submit the 30-day free trial form on Zoom's RTMS page. Zoom's team will email you once your account is enabled (usually within a few days).

3. Install dependencies

npm install

4. Configure environment

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env with your values:

# IRC
IRC_SERVER=irc.w3.org
IRC_PORT=6667
# Map IRC channels to their Zoom meeting IDs (comma-separated channel:meetingId pairs)
CHANNEL_MEETING_MAP="#did:5637387869,#wpwg:86873854269"
IRC_BOT_NICK=transcriber-bot

# Redis
REDIS_HOST=localhost
REDIS_PORT=6379

# Zoom RTMS
ZOOM_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
ZOOM_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret
ZOOM_SECRET_TOKEN=your_secret_token
ZOOM_OAUTH_REDIRECT_URI=https://your-ngrok-url.ngrok-free.app/oauth/callback

# Required by @zoom/rtms SDK (same values as above)
ZM_RTMS_CLIENT=your_client_id
ZM_RTMS_SECRET=your_client_secret

# Webhook server
WEBHOOK_PORT=3000
WEBHOOK_PATH=/webhook

CHANNEL_MEETING_MAP is the authorised list of IRC channels and their corresponding Zoom meeting IDs. The bot will only join channels on this list and will only start RTMS for the mapped meeting.

5. Start Redis

# Using Docker
docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:alpine

# Or if installed locally (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo systemctl start redis-server

6. Start ngrok

ngrok http 3000

Copy the https://xxxx.ngrok-free.app URL and update it in:

Your Zoom app's OAuth Redirect URL: https://xxxx.ngrok-free.app/oauth/callback
Your Zoom app's Event notification endpoint URL: https://xxxx.ngrok-free.app/webhook
The ZOOM_OAUTH_REDIRECT_URI value in your .env

7. Start the services

npm run dev

This starts both the RTMS Gateway (port 3000) and IRC Bot concurrently.

8. Install the Zoom app on your account

Open in your browser:

https://your-ngrok-url.ngrok-free.app/oauth/install

This redirects you to Zoom's OAuth authorization page. Approve the app. You should see "App installed successfully" and the terminal will log OAuth token exchange successful — app installed, access token stored.

You only need to do this once. Tokens are saved to .zoom-tokens.json (or the path set by TOKEN_STORAGE_PATH) and reloaded automatically on every subsequent gateway restart.

9. Invite the bot to an IRC channel

The bot does not auto-join channels. Invite it from within the target channel:

/invite transcriber-bot #wpwg

The bot checks whether #wpwg is in CHANNEL_MEETING_MAP. If authorised it joins and announces itself. If not, it posts an apology and leaves.

10. Start a meeting and connect

Start the corresponding Zoom meeting as host, then in the IRC channel type:

transcriber-bot, connect

The gateway calls Zoom's API to start RTMS for that meeting. Within a few seconds transcription will begin and the bot announces ▶️ Transcription ACTIVE.

IRC Commands

All commands use the format transcriber-bot, <command> (the bot's IRC nick followed by a comma).

Command	Description
`transcriber-bot, connect`	Start RTMS for this channel's Zoom meeting and begin transcription
`transcriber-bot, pause`	Pause transcription (go off the record)
`transcriber-bot, resume`	Resume transcription after a pause
`transcriber-bot, status`	Show current transcription status
`transcriber-bot, please excuse us`	Bot emotes a goodbye message and leaves the IRC channel
`transcriber-bot, help`	Show available commands

Command details

connect — Triggers the full RTMS startup sequence for the Zoom meeting associated with the current IRC channel (via CHANNEL_MEETING_MAP). The bot replies immediately to confirm the attempt; the ▶️ Transcription ACTIVE announcement follows once Zoom confirms RTMS is running (usually within a few seconds). If no Zoom meeting is currently in progress the command has no effect.

pause — Silences transcript output in IRC without disconnecting from the RTMS stream. Useful for off-the-record discussions. The bot posts scribe- to signal the change to W3C tooling.

resume — Resumes posting transcripts after a pause. The bot posts scribe+.

please excuse us — The bot emotes Happy to be of service bye! and then parts the IRC channel. To invite it back use /invite transcriber-bot #channel-name.

Configuration Reference

Variable	Required	Description
`CHANNEL_MEETING_MAP`	Yes	Comma-separated `#channel:meetingId` pairs of authorised channels (e.g. `"#did:5637387869,#wpwg:86873854269"`)
`ZOOM_CLIENT_ID`	Yes	OAuth Client ID from Zoom Marketplace
`ZOOM_CLIENT_SECRET`	Yes	OAuth Client Secret from Zoom Marketplace
`ZOOM_SECRET_TOKEN`	Yes	Secret Token from Event Subscriptions section (not the Client Secret)
`ZM_RTMS_CLIENT`	Yes	Same as `ZOOM_CLIENT_ID` (used by `@zoom/rtms` SDK)
`ZM_RTMS_SECRET`	Yes	Same as `ZOOM_CLIENT_SECRET` (used by `@zoom/rtms` SDK)
`ZOOM_OAUTH_REDIRECT_URI`	Yes	Full public URL for OAuth callback (ngrok URL + `/oauth/callback`)
`TOKEN_STORAGE_PATH`	No	Path to the file where OAuth tokens are persisted across gateway restarts (default: `.zoom-tokens.json` in the project root)
`WEBHOOK_PORT`	No	Port for webhook server (default: `3000`)
`WEBHOOK_PATH`	No	Webhook endpoint path (default: `/webhook`)
`IRC_SERVER`	Yes	IRC server hostname
`IRC_PORT`	No	IRC server port (default: `6667`)
`IRC_BOT_NICK`	No	Bot's IRC nick (default: `transcriber-bot`)
`REDIS_HOST`	No	Redis hostname (default: `localhost`)
`REDIS_PORT`	No	Redis port (default: `6379`)

Troubleshooting

Bot joins a channel then immediately leaves

The channel is not in CHANNEL_MEETING_MAP. Add the channel and its Zoom meeting ID to the variable and restart.

transcriber-bot, connect has no effect

Confirm a Zoom meeting is currently in progress for the mapped meeting ID
Confirm the gateway has a valid OAuth token (visit /oauth/install if the gateway was restarted)
Check the gateway logs for "CONNECT" and "startRTMS" lines to see the API response

No meeting.rtms_started webhook after a successful connect

Confirm RTMS auto-start is disabled in your Zoom app's Feature settings (if auto-start is on, Zoom may have already started and stopped RTMS before connect was typed)
Confirm meeting.rtms_started is listed under Event Subscriptions in your Zoom app

Webhook signature invalid

Check that ZOOM_SECRET_TOKEN matches the Secret Token in your Zoom app's Event Subscriptions section (not the Client Secret)

Could not locate the bindings file / rtms.node error on startup

The @zoom/rtms SDK requires an x86_64 (amd64) machine. ARM64/aarch64 servers are not supported — switch to an x86_64 host.
If the architecture is correct, the SDK's install script may have been blocked by npm. Run npm install-scripts approve @zoom/rtms then npm install to allow it to download the native binary.

ZM_RTMS_CLIENT cannot be empty error

Make sure ZM_RTMS_CLIENT and ZM_RTMS_SECRET are set in .env

failed to open file ... logs/node_XXXXX messages

Create the logs directory: mkdir -p packages/rtms-gateway/logs
These are non-fatal; the SDK just can't write its internal log files

ngrok URL changes on every restart

Update the OAuth Redirect URL and Event notification endpoint URL in your Zoom app settings after each ngrok restart
Consider a paid ngrok account for a stable domain

OAuth token lost after gateway restart

Tokens are persisted to the file set by TOKEN_STORAGE_PATH (default: .zoom-tokens.json in the project root) and reloaded automatically on startup. If the file is missing or corrupted, visit /oauth/install to re-authorize and generate a new token file.

Project Status

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
packages		packages
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json

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W3C Live Archiver — RTMS Edition

Architecture

How It Works

IRC Output Example

Components

Prerequisites

Setup

1. Create a Zoom Marketplace App

2. Request RTMS Enablement

3. Install dependencies

4. Configure environment

5. Start Redis

6. Start ngrok

7. Start the services

8. Install the Zoom app on your account

9. Invite the bot to an IRC channel

10. Start a meeting and connect

IRC Commands

Command details

Configuration Reference

Troubleshooting

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W3C Live Archiver — RTMS Edition

Architecture

How It Works

IRC Output Example

Components

Prerequisites

Setup

1. Create a Zoom Marketplace App

2. Request RTMS Enablement

3. Install dependencies

4. Configure environment

5. Start Redis

6. Start ngrok

7. Start the services

8. Install the Zoom app on your account

9. Invite the bot to an IRC channel

10. Start a meeting and connect

IRC Commands

Command details

Configuration Reference

Troubleshooting

Project Status

License

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