Room Members#
A room member is any individual granted access to a specific room. Every room member joins as a participant of the meetings held in that room.
There are three kinds of room member:
- Users — individuals with an OpenVidu Meet account. They access the room through its shared user access link, logging in with their credentials.
- Identified guests — individuals without an account, added to the room with a fixed name. Each one accesses the room through their own unique personal access link, with no login required.
- Anonymous guests — individuals without an account who access the room through a shared anonymous access link, providing a name before joining the meeting.
Info
Users and identified guests are explicitly added to a room, so they can be listed and managed individually. Anonymous guests are not: anyone holding a shared anonymous access link can access the room, so they cannot be added, listed or revoked one by one — they only exist once they join a meeting.
Explicit members vs. anonymous guests#
Add users or identified guests when you need controlled, personalized access; rely on anonymous guests for quick, open access.
| Access approach | How it works | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Users & identified guests | Specific individuals are added to the room, each with a fixed identity, a base role and optional custom permissions. Their access can be revoked individually at any time. | Controlled access with predefined identities and per-person permissions. |
| Anonymous guests | Anyone with the room's Moderator or Speaker shared anonymous access link can join with that predefined role's permissions. Anonymous access can be enabled or disabled per role when creating or editing the room. |
Quick or public meetings where you don't need to track who joins. |
Users vs Identified guests#
Both are explicitly added to the room, but they differ in how they are identified and how they join:
| Aspect | Users | Identified guests |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Require an existing OpenVidu Meet account | No account required |
| Identification | Identified by their user account | Identified by the name given when they were added |
| Access link | Share the room's single user access link | Each gets a unique link that must not be shared |
| Authentication | Must log in with their credentials | None — the unique link grants access directly |
| Typical use | Team members, employees or regular collaborators | Guests, clients or one-time participants |
Permissions#
Every room member has a set of permissions derived from a base role:
- Anonymous guests get the role of the shared anonymous access link they use —
ModeratororSpeaker— with that predefined role's permissions. - Users and identified guests are assigned a base role (
ModeratororSpeaker) when added to the room, which can be fine-tuned with custom permissions.
In this section#
- Creation & Management — add, edit, list and remove the users and identified guests of a room from its "Room Members" tab, and the equivalent REST API operations.