URL Format and parameters

There are two formats for Element Call URLs.

Link for sharing

Requires Element Call to be deployed in standalone mode.

https://element_call.domain/room/#
/<room_name_alias>?roomId=!id:domain&password=1234&<other params see below>

The URL is split into two sections. The https://element_call.domain/room/# contains the app and the intent that the link brings you into a specific room (https://call.element.io/# would be the homepage). The fragment is used for query parameters to make sure they never get sent to the element_call.domain server. Here we have the actual Matrix room ID and the password which are used to connect all participants with E2EE. This allows that <room_name_alias> does not need to be unique. Multiple meetings with the label weekly-sync can be created without collisions.

Additionally the following deprecated format is supported:

https://element_call.domain/<room_name>

With this format the livekit alias that will be used is the <room_name>. All people connecting to this URL will end up in the same unencrypted room. This does not scale, is super unsecure (people could end up in the same room by accident) and it also is not really possible to support encryption.

Widget within a messenger app

Package	Deployment	URL
Full	All	https://element_call.domain/room
Embedded	Remote URL	https://element_call.domain/ n.b. no /room part
Embedded	Embedded within messenger app	Platform dependent, but you load the index.html file without a /room part

Parameters

Common Parameters

These parameters are relevant to both widget and standalone modes:

Name	Values	Required for widget	Required for SPA	Description
intent	start_call, join_existing, start_call_voice, join_existing_voice, start_call_dm, join_existing_dm, start_call_dm_voice, or join_existing_dm_voice.	No, defaults to start_call	No, defaults to start_call	The intent is a special url parameter that defines the defaults for all the other parameters. In most cases it should be enough to only set the intent to setup element-call.
allowIceFallback	true or false	No, defaults to false	No, defaults to false	Allows use of fallback STUN servers for ICE if the user's homeserver doesn’t provide any.
posthogUserId	Posthog analytics ID	No	No	Available only with user's consent for sharing telemetry in Element Web.
confineToRoom	true or false	No, defaults to false	No, defaults to false	Keeps the user confined to the current call/room.
displayName		No	No	Display name used for auto-registration.
enableE2EE (deprecated)	true or false	No, defaults to true	No, defaults to true	Legacy flag to enable end-to-end encryption, not used in the livekit branch.
fontScale	A decimal number such as 0.9	No, defaults to 1.0	No, defaults to 1.0	Factor by which to scale the interface's font size.
fonts		No	No	Defines the font(s) used by the interface. Multiple font parameters can be specified: ?font=font-one&font=font-two....
header	none, standard or app_bar	No, defaults to standard	No, defaults to standard	The style of headers to show. standard is the default arrangement, none hides the header entirely, and app_bar produces a header with a back button like you might see in mobile apps. The callback for the back button is window.controls.onBackButtonPressed.
hideScreensharing	true or false	No, defaults to false	No, defaults to false	Hides the screen-sharing button.
homeserver		Not applicable	No	Homeserver for registering a new (guest) user, configures non-default guest user server when creating a spa link.
lang	BCP 47 code	No	No	The language the app should use.
password		No	No	E2EE password when using a shared secret. (For individual sender keys in embedded mode this is not required.)
perParticipantE2EE	true or false	No, defaults to false	No, defaults to false	Enables per participant encryption with Keys exchanged over encrypted matrix room messages.
controlledAudioDevices	true or false	No, defaults to false	No, defaults to false	Whether the global JS controls for audio devices should be enabled, allowing the list of audio devices to be controlled by the app hosting Element Call.
roomId	Matrix Room ID	Yes	No	Anything about what room we're pointed to should be from useRoomIdentifier which parses the path and resolves alias with respect to the default server name, however roomId is an exception as we need the room ID in embedded widget mode, and not the room alias (or even the via params because we are not trying to join it). This is also not validated, where it is in useRoomIdentifier().
showControls	true or false	No, defaults to true	No, defaults to true	Displays controls like mute, screen-share, invite, and hangup buttons during a call.
skipLobby (deprecated: use intent instead)	true or false	No. If intent is explicitly start_call then defaults to true. Otherwise defaults to false	No, defaults to false	Skips the lobby to join a call directly, can be combined with preload in widget. When true the audio and video inputs will be muted by default. (This means there currently is no way to start without muted video if one wants to skip the lobby. Also not in widget mode.)
theme	One of: light, dark, light-high-contrast, dark-high-contrast	No, defaults to dark	No, defaults to dark	UI theme to use.
background	One of: solid, gradient	No, defaults to gradient	No, defaults to gradient	Visual style of the page background.
viaServers	Comma separated list of Matrix Server Names	Not applicable	No	Homeserver for joining a room, non-empty value required for rooms not on the user’s default homeserver.
sendNotificationType	ring or notification	No	No	Will send a "ring" or "notification" m.rtc.notification event if the user is the first one in the call.
autoLeave	true or false	No, defaults to false	No, defaults to false	Whether the app should automatically leave the call when there is no one left in the call.
waitForCallPickup	true or false	No, defaults to false	No, defaults to false	When sending a notification, show UI that the app is awaiting an answer, play a dial tone, and (in widget mode) auto-close the widget once the notification expires.

Widget-only parameters

These parameters are only supported in widget mode.

Name	Values	Required	Description
baseUrl		Yes	The base URL of the homeserver to use for media lookups.
deviceId	Matrix device ID	Yes	The Matrix device ID for the widget host.
parentUrl		Yes	The url used to send widget action postMessages. This should be the domain of the client or the webview the widget is hosted in. (In case the widget is not in an Iframe but in a dedicated webview, we send the postMessages in the same WebView the widget lives in. Filtering is done in the widget so it ignores the messages it receives from itself.)
posthogUserId	Posthog user identifier	No	This replaces the analyticsID parameter
preload	true or false	No, defaults to false	Pauses app before joining a call until an io.element.join widget action is seen, allowing preloading.
returnToLobby	true or false	No, defaults to false	Displays the lobby in widget mode after leaving a call; shows a blank page if set to false. Useful for video rooms.
userId	Matrix User Identifier	Yes	The Matrix user ID.
widgetId	MSC2774 format widget ID	Yes	The id used by the widget. The presence of this parameter implies that element call will not connect to a homeserver directly and instead tries to establish postMessage communication via the parentUrl.

Embedded-only parameters

These parameters are only supported in the embedded package of Element Call and will be ignored in the full package.

Name	Values	Required	Description
posthogApiHost	Posthog server URL	No	e.g. https://posthog-element-call.element.io. Only supported in embedded package. In full package the value from config is used.
posthogApiKey	Posthog project API key	No	Only supported in embedded package. In full package the value from config is used.
rageshakeSubmitUrl	Rageshake server URL endpoint	No	e.g. https://rageshakes.element.io/api/submit. In full package the value from config is used.
sentryDsn	Sentry DSN	No	In full package the value from config is used.
sentryEnvironment	Sentry environment	No	In full package the value from config is used.