The XAPlayer secure player with Node.js and Express

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Get a playback token on your Node.js server with fetch and show the XAPlayer secure player on an Express lesson page.

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You’ll write a small function that gets a playback token for the signed-in user, and an Express route that shows the player. Node.js 18 and later include fetch, so no extra package is needed.

Before you start#

  1. In your XAPlayer panel, open Settings and create an API key. It is shown only once, so copy it right away.
  2. Under Websites allowed to show your player, add your site’s full address, such as https://academy.example.com. If your site also opens with www, add that too.
  3. Get the course ID: in Settings, pick the course in “Show the player on your website” and the ID is filled into the sample code. It is also the last part of the course page’s address in the panel.
.env
# .env (or your host's environment settings)
XAPLAYER_API_KEY=xap_sk_...

The token function#

xaplayer.js
// xaplayer.js (Node 18 or later: fetch is built in)
const XAPLAYER = 'https://en.xaplayer.ir/api/v1';

export async function playerUrl({ courseId, videoId, user }) {
  const res = await fetch(`${XAPLAYER}/embed-tokens`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.XAPLAYER_API_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      ...(videoId ? { videoId } : { courseId }),
      viewer: { id: String(user.id), name: user.name },
    }),
  });
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`XAPlayer ${res.status}: ${await res.text()}`);
  const { url } = await res.json();
  return url;
}

The lesson route#

// server.js
import express from 'express';
import { playerUrl } from './xaplayer.js';

const app = express();

// requireLogin and userBoughtCourse are your own: your sign-in and your orders.
app.get('/courses/:courseId/watch', requireLogin, async (req, res, next) => {
  try {
    if (!(await userBoughtCourse(req.user, req.params.courseId))) return res.sendStatus(403);
    const url = await playerUrl({ courseId: req.params.courseId, user: req.user });
    res.render('watch', { url }); // or any template engine you use
  } catch (err) {
    next(err);
  }
});

If it doesn’t work#

What you seeCause and fix
The player area is empty or the browser says it refused to connectYour site isn’t in the allowed websites, or www differs. Add the page’s exact address.
401 unauthorizedThe API key is wrong, or you created a new key and the old one stopped working. Copy the key again.
404 not_foundThe course or video ID is wrong or belongs to another account.
400 bad_requestThe body is incomplete: send exactly one of courseId or videoId, and a non-empty viewer.id.
After a few hours the player says the page timed outThe token expired. Get a fresh token every time the page opens, and never cache the player address.

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