Authenticate Users with a token

To enhance communication security, Agora uses tokens to authenticate users before they access the Agora service, or joining an RTC channel.

Installation

This is a Node.js module available through the
npm registry.

Before installing, download and install Node.js.

Installation is done using the
npm install command:

``console
$ npm install agora-token
`

Code structure

Under the nodejs directory:

* /src/ contains the source code for generating a token, where RtcTokenBuilder.js is used for generating an RTC token, and RtmTokenBuilder.js is used for generating an RTM token.
* /sample/ contains the sample code for generating a token, where RtcTokenBuilderSample.js is used for generating an RTC token, and RtmTokenBuilderSample.js is used for generating an RTM token.

Generate a token with the sample code

This section takes RtcTokenBuilderSample.js as an example to show how to generate a token with the sample code.

Before proceeding, ensure that you have installed the LTS version of Node.js.

1. Run the following command to install the Node.js dependencies:

`
npm install
`

2. Download or clone the Tools repository.

3. Open the DynamicKey/AgoraDynamicKey/nodejs/sample/RtcTokenBuilderSample.js file, replace the value of appID, appCertificate, channelName, and uid with your own, and comment out the code snippets of buildTokenWithUserAccount.

4. Open your Terminal, navigate to the same directory that holds RtcTokenBuilderSample.js, and run the following command. The token is generated and printed in your Terminal window.

`
node RtcTokenBuilderSample.js
``

Reference

For a complete authentication flow between the app server and app client, see [Authenticate Your Users with Tokens]().