Ngrok setup

Local Setup

For running one or more bots locally, you'll need an ngrok authtoken. Follow these steps:

1. Sign up for a free account at ngrok.com
2. After signing up, get your authtoken from the Your Authtoken page
3. Add the token to your .env file or set it as an environment variable:

NGROK_AUTHTOKEN=your_ngrok_auth_token_here

That's it folks :)

WebSocket URL Resolution

When running the server in local development mode, it will automatically detect and use your ngrok URLs. The server determines the WebSocket URL to use in the following priority order:

1. User-provided URL in the request (if specified in the websocket_url field)
2. BASE_URL environment variable (recommended for production)
3. ngrok URL in local development mode
4. Auto-detection from request headers (fallback, not reliable in production)

To use local development mode with automatic ngrok detection:

# Start the API server with local development mode enabled
poetry run python run.py --local-dev

Troubleshooting WebSocket Connections

Common Issues

1. Timing Issues with ngrok and Meeting Baas Bots

   Sometimes, due to WebSocket connection delays through ngrok, the Meeting Baas bots may join the meeting before your local bot connects. If this happens:

   • Simply press Enter to respawn your bot
   • This will reinitiate the connection and allow your bot to join the meeting

2. Connection failures

   • Make sure ngrok is running with the correct configuration
   • Verify that you've entered the correct ngrok URLs when prompted
   • Check that your ngrok URLs are accessible (try opening in a browser)
   • Make sure you're using the wss:// protocol with ngrok URLs

Production Considerations

For production deployments, you should:

1. Set the BASE_URL environment variable to your server's public domain:

   export BASE_URL=https://your-server-domain.com

2. Ensure your server is accessible on the public internet
3. Consider using HTTPS/WSS for secure connections in production