# Google Signed-In Bots

Configure your MeetStream bot to sign in with a Google account before joining Google Meet meetings.

This guide applies to **Google Meet**.

## Overview

By default, MeetStream bots join meetings as anonymous users — similar to opening an incognito browser and navigating to the meeting URL. A signed-in bot changes this: it logs into a real Google account before joining, making it look and behave like a regular participant.

### Why use a signed-in bot?

**Required for restricted meetings** — Some Google Meet meetings are configured to block anonymous users entirely. In those cases, a signed-in bot is the only way to get in.

**Better presence** — Signed-in bots won't carry the "Unverified" or "Guest" labels that meeting platforms attach to anonymous users.
---

## How It Works

MeetStream uses **SAML SSO** to sign in the bot — not a username and password. You configure your Google Workspace to trust MeetStream as a SAML Identity Provider (IdP). When the bot needs to sign in, Google delegates authentication to MeetStream, which handles it securely.

This approach is more reliable and stable than credential-based login.

---

## Setup

### Step 1 — Create a Google Workspace account for the bot

1. **Create a new Google Workspace account.** This should be a separate workspace dedicated to the bot — not your primary organization. It must be on a paid plan and linked to a domain (or subdomain) you own.
2. **Create a non-admin user** inside this workspace. This is the account the bot will sign in as. Give it the name you want the bot to appear as in meetings, and optionally set a profile picture.
3. **Complete the Welcome flow.** Log in as this new user and finish the "Welcome to Google Workspace" onboarding. The bot won't be able to sign in until this is done.

---

### Step 2 — Configure SAML SSO in Google Workspace Admin

4. **Open the Admin Console** and navigate to **Security → Set up single sign-on (SSO) with a third party IdP**.
5. **Add a SAML Profile.** Click "Add SAML Profile". Scroll to the bottom of the SAML Profile page and click the **"Legacy SSO profile"** link.
6. **Generate a certificate and private key.** Run the following command on your machine:
   ```bash
   openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -sha256 -days 3650 -nodes
   ```
   This generates two files: `key.pem` (private key) and `cert.pem` (certificate). Keep both — you'll need them in the next steps.
7. **Fill in the Legacy SSO profile** with the following values:
   | Field | Value |
   |---|---|
   | Enable legacy SSO profile | Yes |
   | Sign-in URL | `https://app.meetstream.ai/bot_sso/google_meet_sign_in` |
   | Sign-out URL | `https://app.meetstream.ai/bot_sso/google_meet_sign_out` |
   | Use a domain-specific issuer | Yes |
   | Certificate | Upload your `cert.pem` file |
   > **Self-hosted users:** Replace `app.meetstream.ai` with the hostname of your own MeetStream instance.
8. **Save and assign the profile.** After saving, return to the SSO settings page. Under **Manage SSO profile assignments**, click "Manage", select the Legacy SSO profile you just created, and save.

---

### Step 3 — Add the bot login to MeetStream

9. **Go to Settings → Credentials** in the MeetStream dashboard.
10. **Scroll to Google Meet Bot Logins** and click **"Add Login"**.
11. **Fill in the required fields:**
    - **Email** — must match the bot user's email in your Google Workspace account
    - **Private key** — upload your `key.pem` file
    - **Certificate** — upload your `cert.pem` file (must match the certificate added to the Legacy SSO profile)

---

### Step 4 — Enable signed-in login on your bot

When calling the [Create Bot](https://docs.meetstream.ai/api-reference/ap-is/bot-endpoints/create-bot) endpoint, pass the following parameter to activate Google Meet sign-in:

```json
{
  "google_meet_settings": {
    "use_login": true
  }
}
```

There is also an optional `login_mode` parameter:

| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
| `"always"` *(default)* | The bot always signs in before joining |
| `"only_if_required"` | The bot only signs in if the meeting blocks anonymous users |

Example with `login_mode`:

```json
{
  "google_meet_settings": {
    "use_login": true,
    "login_mode": "only_if_required"
  }
}
```

---

## How Many Bot Logins Should I Create?

Google enforces concurrency limits on the number of active meetings a single account can participate in simultaneously. To stay within these limits at scale, you can create multiple Google Meet bot logins — MeetStream will distribute them across bots in a round-robin fashion.

**Recommended formula:**

```
Number of logins = MAX_CONCURRENT_MEETINGS / 20
```

**Example:** If your application peaks at 100 concurrent Google Meet sessions, create **5 bot logins**.

---

## Setup Checklist

- Created a dedicated Google Workspace account (paid plan, on a domain you own)
- Created a non-admin bot user and completed the Welcome flow
- Configured Legacy SSO profile in Google Workspace Admin with MeetStream as the IdP
- Generated `key.pem` and `cert.pem` using OpenSSL
- Added the bot login under **Settings → Credentials → Google Meet Bot Logins** in MeetStream
- Passing `"google_meet_settings": { "use_login": true }` when creating bots

---

For general bot setup, see the [Create Your First Bot](https://docs.meetstream.ai/guides/get-started/create-your-first-bot) guide.
For webhook event handling, see [Webhooks and Events](https://docs.meetstream.ai/guides/webhooks/webhooks-and-events).