Build Zoom REST API App

/build-zoom-rest-api-app

Background reference for deterministic server-side Zoom automation and resource management. Prefer plan-zoom-product, plan-zoom-integration, or debug-zoom first, then route here for endpoint-level detail.

Zoom REST API

Expert guidance for building server-side integrations with the Zoom REST API. This API provides 600+ endpoints for managing meetings, users, webinars, recordings, reports, and all Zoom platform resources programmatically.

Official Documentation: https://developers.zoom.us/api-hub/ API Hub Reference: https://developers.zoom.us/api-hub/meetings/ OpenAPI Inventories: https://developers.zoom.us/api-hub/<domain>/methods/endpoints.json

Quick Links

New to Zoom REST API? Follow this path:

1. [API Architecture](concepts/api-architecture.md) - Base URLs, regional URLs, me keyword, ID vs UUID, time formats
2. [Authentication Flows](concepts/authentication-flows.md) - OAuth setup (S2S, User, PKCE, Device Code)
3. [Meeting URLs vs Meeting SDK](concepts/meeting-urls-and-sdk-joining.md) - Stop mixing join_url with Meeting SDK
4. [Meeting Lifecycle](examples/meeting-lifecycle.md) - Create → Update → Start → End → Delete with webhooks
5. [Rate Limiting Strategy](concepts/rate-limiting-strategy.md) - Plan tiers, per-user limits, retry patterns

Reference:

• [Meetings](references/meetings.md) - Meeting CRUD, types, settings
• [Users](references/users.md) - User provisioning and management
• [Recordings](references/recordings.md) - Cloud recording access and download
• [AI Services](references/ai-services.md) - Scribe endpoint inventory and current AI Services path surface
• [GraphQL Queries](examples/graphql-queries.md) - Alternative query API (beta)
• Integrated Index - see the section below in this file

Most domain files under references/ are aligned to the official API Hub endpoints.json inventories. Treat those files as the local source of truth for method/path discovery.

Having issues?

• Start with preflight checks → 5-Minute Runbook
• 401 Unauthorized → Authentication Flows (check token expiry, scopes)
• 429 Too Many Requests → Rate Limiting Strategy
• Error codes → Common Errors
• Pagination confusion → Common Issues
• Webhooks not arriving → Webhook Server
• Forum-derived FAQs → Forum Top Questions
• Token/scope failures → Token + Scope Playbook

Building event-driven integrations?

• Webhook Server - Express.js server with CRC validation
• Recording Pipeline - Auto-download via webhook events

Quick Start

Get an Access Token (Server-to-Server OAuth)

curl -X POST "https://zoom.us/oauth/token" \
  -H "Authorization: Basic $(echo -n 'CLIENT_ID:CLIENT_SECRET' | base64)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  -d "grant_type=account_credentials&account_id=ACCOUNT_ID"

Response:

{
  "access_token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9...",
  "token_type": "bearer",
  "expires_in": 3600,
  "scope": "meeting:read meeting:write user:read"
}

Create a Meeting

curl -X POST "https://api.zoom.us/v2/users/HOST_USER_ID/meetings" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "topic": "Team Standup",
    "type": 2,
    "start_time": "2025-03-15T10:00:00Z",
    "duration": 30,
    "settings": {
      "join_before_host": false,
      "waiting_room": true
    }
  }'

For S2S OAuth, use an explicit host user ID or email in the path. Do not use me.

List Users with Pagination

curl "https://api.zoom.us/v2/users?page_size=300&status=active" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN"

Base URL

https://api.zoom.us/v2

Regional Base URLs

The api_url field in OAuth token responses indicates the user's region. Use regional URLs for data residency compliance:

Note: You can always use the global URL https://api.zoom.us regardless of the api_url value.

Key Features

Prerequisites

• Zoom account (Free tier has API access with lower rate limits)
• App registered on Zoom App Marketplace
• OAuth credentials (Server-to-Server OAuth or User OAuth)
• Appropriate scopes for target endpoints

Need help with authentication? See the [zoom-oauth](../oauth/SKILL.md) skill for complete OAuth flow implementation.

Critical Gotchas and Best Practices

⚠️ JWT App Type is Deprecated

The JWT app type is deprecated. Migrate to Server-to-Server OAuth. This does NOT affect JWT token signatures used in Video SDK — only the Marketplace "JWT" app type for REST API access.

// OLD (JWT app type - DEPRECATED)
const token = jwt.sign({ iss: apiKey, exp: expiry }, apiSecret);

// NEW (Server-to-Server OAuth)
const token = await getServerToServerToken(accountId, clientId, clientSecret);

⚠️ The me Keyword Rules

• User-level OAuth apps: MUST use me instead of userId (otherwise: invalid token error)
• Server-to-Server OAuth apps: MUST NOT use me — provide the actual userId or email
• Account-level OAuth apps: Can use either me or userId

⚠️ Meeting ID vs UUID — Double Encoding

UUIDs that begin with / or contain // must be double URL-encoded:

// UUID: /abc==
// Single encode: %2Fabc%3D%3D
// Double encode: %252Fabc%253D%253D  ← USE THIS

const uuid = '/abc==';
const encoded = encodeURIComponent(encodeURIComponent(uuid));
const url = `https://api.zoom.us/v2/meetings/${encoded}`;

⚠️ Time Formats

• yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ — UTC time (note the Z suffix)
• yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss — Local time (no Z, uses timezone field)
• Some report APIs only accept UTC. Check the API reference for each endpoint.

⚠️ Rate Limits Are Per-Account, Not Per-App

All apps on the same Zoom account share rate limits. One heavy app can impact others. Monitor X-RateLimit-Remaining headers proactively.

⚠️ Per-User Daily Limits