Zoom Plugin SDK

Build native desktop companion applications that control the user's installed Zoom Workplace client through inter-process communication (IPC).

Hard Routing Guardrail

• Use Plugin SDK when a separate native macOS or Windows app must control the installed Zoom Workplace desktop client.
• Use Meeting SDK when Zoom meeting functionality must be embedded inside the application's own process or UI.
• Use Zoom Apps SDK when the app runs as a web application inside Zoom Workplace.
• Use REST API for server-side meeting resources, account administration, reporting, or workflows that do not control the local client.
• Do not describe Plugin SDK as a headless meeting bot or a replacement Zoom client. Zoom Workplace must be installed and compatible.

Platform Router

Target	Child skill
Swift, Objective-C, AppKit, Xcode, macOS	macOS
Native C++, Win32, MFC, Visual Studio, Windows	Windows

Choose one child skill before writing integration code.

Core Architecture

Native companion app
  -> user OAuth access token
  -> Plugin SDK runtime
  -> local IPC connection
  -> installed Zoom Workplace client
  -> meeting/webinar UI and supported controls

The application does not render or transport meeting media itself. It sends supported control requests to Zoom Workplace and observes asynchronous auth, IPC, meeting, participant, media-control, sharing, and UI events.

Common Lifecycle

1. Create a General app in Zoom App Marketplace.
2. Enable Plugin SDK under Features > Access.
3. Configure an OAuth redirect URL and request user authorization with plugin_sdk:read:connection_meta plus scopes needed by any REST API calls.
4. Install and sign the platform SDK libraries with the application.
5. Register and retain the platform event listener.
6. Receive the authorization code at the redirect URL and exchange it for an access token.
7. Initialize the Plugin SDK with the OAuth access token and https://zoom.us domain.
8. Wait for successful authentication and an IPC connected event.
9. Start or join a meeting, then wait for the in-meeting status before using meeting toolkits.
10. Treat immediate Boolean returns as request-submission results and completion callbacks as operation results.
11. Uninitialize the SDK during orderly application shutdown.

Need to create/configure the General App first? Use Marketplace app management for manifest validation, plugin_sdk feature shape, PKCE/public-client settings, redirect URL rules, and credential response shapes before wiring Plugin SDK auth. Start from the Plugin SDK template.

OAuth Token Exchange

For Plugin SDK, do not invent or manually paste an access token. Use the OAuth authorization-code flow. For native desktop apps, prefer Authorization Code with PKCE:

1. Register the redirect URL in the Marketplace app.
2. Generate a high-entropy code_verifier and store it only for the current auth attempt.
3. Derive code_challenge = BASE64URL(SHA256(code_verifier)).
4. Send the user to Zoom's OAuth authorize URL with code_challenge and code_challenge_method=S256.
5. Receive ?code=... on the redirect URL.
6. POST the code to https://zoom.us/oauth/token.
7. Include grant_type=authorization_code, the same redirect_uri, the authorization code, and code_verifier.
8. Use the returned access_token when initializing Plugin SDK.

If the app registration requires a confidential client secret, perform token exchange and refresh on a trusted backend instead of shipping the secret in the desktop app. The redirect_uri in the token exchange must exactly match the redirect URL used during authorization and configured for the Marketplace app. Do not persist tokens in plaintext files; use secure OS storage or backend-managed storage.

Feature Surface

The 7.1.0 packages expose platform-equivalent toolkits for:

• start/join, meeting status, meeting properties, leave/end, and statistics
• participants, roles, host/co-host controls, waiting room, and permissions
• audio/video devices and in-meeting audio/video controls
• application, monitor, camera, file, audio, frame, and whiteboard sharing
• recording, chat, reactions, closed captions/live transcription, Q&A, and webinars
• annotation, Zoom Workplace view/UI actions, and settings

Feature availability still depends on client version, meeting type, account settings, role, and host policy. Call capability checks where the SDK provides them.

Read Capabilities for a grouped inventory of what Plugin SDK can get or do through the official Zoom Workplace client.

Read FAQ when comparing Plugin SDK with Meeting SDK for Windows or macOS.

Skill Chaining

Need	Chain to
Create/select Marketplace app, validate manifest, or inspect credential shapes	Marketplace app management
User OAuth, PKCE, token refresh, and scopes	zoom-oauth
Create or manage meetings before local client control	zoom-rest-api
React to server-side lifecycle events when the desktop app is offline	zoom-webhooks
Embed a meeting instead of controlling Zoom Workplace	zoom-meeting-sdk
Compare official-client control versus embedded Meeting SDK	FAQ

Use Native Zoom Workplace Companion for the complete cross-platform workflow.

Version and Source Policy

• Public docs used for this skill: macOS and Windows.
• The public product changelog currently labels both platforms as Plugin SDK 1.0.0 (initial launch); this product release label is separate from the bundled package/build versions below.
• Package review baseline: macOS 7.1.0.595 and Windows 7.1.0.2020.
• Verify exact names and signatures against the headers and sample bundled with the downloaded package.
• Prefer package headers over examples when generated docs and the selected package disagree.
• Do not place machine-local extraction paths in implementation guidance.