Cometchat Angular V5 Calls

Ground truth: calling UI ships INSIDE @cometchat/chat-uikit-angular@5 — there is no separate calls-UI package — but the WebRTC engine is a SEPARATE, NOT-bundled peer: @cometchat/calls-sdk-javascript@^5.0.3 (major 5, distinct from the chat SDK's v4). Every CometChat* symbol below exists in the angular-v5 catalog. Exhaustive inputs/outputs and advanced call surfaces are FETCHED, not baked — {DOCS_BASE}/ui-kit/angular/call-features.md, the per-component pages (/components/cometchat-incoming-call, -call-buttons, -call-logs, -outgoing-call), and /guides/call-log-details; base + paths in cometchat-angular-v5-core/references/docs-map.md. APPEND to the user's app — additive wiring only (RULES.md).

Companion skills (read first)

• cometchat-angular-v5-core — install, credentials, init→login→render. Assumed.
• cometchat-angular-v5-placement — where the incoming-call listener mounts.

Use this skill when

Adding voice/video calling, or diagnosing calls that never ring.

Prerequisites & install — calls needs a second package

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npm install @cometchat/calls-sdk-javascript@^5

It is an optional peer of the UI Kit (^5.0.3), so it is not installed by default. Without it the call components are inert and CometChatUIKit.isCallingEnabled() returns false.

Calling must also be enabled for the app in the dashboard. Code alone is not enough.

⚠️ Installing the package is NOT what turns calling on

core inits with initFromSettings, and on that path the kit derives calling from the settings object:

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// verified in the shipped 5.1.0 bundle
const callingEnabled = !!settings.uiKit?.['callsSDK'];
if (callingEnabled) builder.setCallingEnabled(true);

So you must declare a uiKit.callsSDK block or calling stays off no matter what you installed:

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CometChatUIKit.initFromSettings({
  appId, region,
  credentials: { authKey },
  chatSDK: { presenceSubscription: { type: 'ALL_USERS' } },
  uiKit: { callsSDK: {} },          // ← REQUIRED for calling on the initFromSettings path
});

Symptom if you miss it: <cometchat-call-buttons> renders as a zero-size empty element and the message header shows no call buttons. Nothing errors, nothing logs, and the package is installed — so it reads as a layout or CSS bug. CometChatUIKit.isCallingEnabled() returns false; check that first.

The docs' builder path uses .setCallingEnabled(true) on UIKitSettingsBuilder instead. Both are correct for their own init — see cometchat-angular-v5-core/references/lifecycle.md. Do not mix them.

The four things, in order

1. Install the calls SDK (above).
2. Mount <cometchat-incoming-call> at APP ROOT — not in the chat page.
3. Add call buttons — the message header renders them by default.
4. Optionally add call logs.

Step 2 is the one that goes wrong.

Incoming calls — app root, not the chat route

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<!-- app.component.html -->
<cometchat-incoming-call
  (callAccepted)="onAccepted($event)"
  (callDeclined)="onDeclined($event)"
  (error)="onError($event)">
</cometchat-incoming-call>
<router-outlet></router-outlet>

Mounted inside the chat page it unmounts the moment the user navigates elsewhere, so calls stop ringing anywhere except that one route. It looks like the calls SDK is broken; it is a placement bug.

Remember CometChatIncomingCallComponent in the root component's imports: [].

Call buttons

<cometchat-message-header> renders voice and video buttons itself — check the running app before adding your own. Suppress with [hideVoiceCallButton]="true" / [hideVideoCallButton]="true".

The default is not hardcoded: the header reads COMETCHAT_GLOBAL_CONFIG and tracks whether you set the input explicitly, so an app-wide config can hide the buttons even though nothing on the component says so. If they are missing, check the global config before concluding the header does not render them — and if they are present, do not add <cometchat-call-buttons> alongside or you get two sets.

Standalone, elsewhere in your UI:

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<cometchat-call-buttons [user]="activeUser()" [group]="activeGroup()" (error)="onError($event)"></cometchat-call-buttons>

Both call components must be in the consuming component's imports: [] — omitted, they render nothing and never ring. Mount <cometchat-incoming-call> at the app root, not inside a route, or it stops ringing the moment the user navigates away:

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import { Component, inject, computed } from '@angular/core';
import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';
import {
  ChatStateService,
  CometChatCallButtonsComponent,
  CometChatIncomingCallComponent,
  CometChatUIKitCalls,
} from '@cometchat/chat-uikit-angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  standalone: true,
  imports: [CommonModule, CometChatCallButtonsComponent, CometChatIncomingCallComponent],
  template: `
    <cometchat-incoming-call (callAccepted)="onAccepted($event)"></cometchat-incoming-call>
    <cometchat-call-buttons [user]="activeUser()" [group]="activeGroup()"></cometchat-call-buttons>
  `,
})
export class AppRootComponent {
  private readonly chatState = inject(ChatStateService);
  readonly activeUser = computed(() => this.chatState.activeUser() ?? undefined);
  readonly activeGroup = computed(() => this.chatState.activeGroup() ?? undefined);
  // CometChatUIKitCalls is the calls-SDK accessor the kit exposes; it is null until the
  // SDK has loaded, so never touch it during construction.
  readonly calls = CometChatUIKitCalls;
  onAccepted(_call: unknown) { /* route to your ongoing-call screen */ }
}

Ongoing and outgoing

The kit drives these once a call is accepted. Outputs, if you need to react:

<cometchat-ongoing-call> takes [sessionID] and optionally [callSettingsBuilder] / [isAudioOnly]. Do not build your own call screen — WebRTC state, permissions and teardown are handled.

Call history

⚠️ <cometchat-call-logs> HARD-CRASHES if it mounts before the Calls SDK has loaded. Its ngOnInit synchronously runs new CometChatUIKitCalls.CallLogRequestBuilder(), but CometChatUIKitCalls is null until the lazily-loaded Calls SDK resolves — so on a fresh initFromSettings app the tab renders an "OOPS! / Retry" error state and logs [CometChatCallLogs] Error: TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'CallLogRequestBuilder'). Retry does NOT recover it. This is the same "CometChatUIKitCalls is null until the SDK has loaded, so never touch it during construction" trap as the standalone accessor above — it just bites INSIDE the kit's own component. GATE the call-logs surface on the calls-SDK namespace ACTUALLY being populated — not on callingReady alone. Verified live (AUDIT-163): CometChatUIKit.callingReady defaults to a pre-resolved Promise.resolve(), and even after initCalling() runs the lazily-loaded CometChatUIKitCalls namespace can still be null (e.g. the calls chunk never loaded) — so a callingReady-ONLY gate STILL crashes. Await callingReady, THEN confirm CometChatUIKitCalls is non-null before mounting:

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// component
import { CometChatUIKit, CometChatUIKitCalls } from '@cometchat/chat-uikit-angular';
readonly callsReady = signal(false);
constructor() {
  CometChatUIKit.callingReady
    .then(() => this.callsReady.set(!!CometChatUIKitCalls))   // namespace must be populated, not just "ready"
    .catch(() => this.callsReady.set(false));
}

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<!-- Do NOT mount <cometchat-call-logs> unguarded — it NPEs on CometChatUIKitCalls being null. -->
<cometchat-call-logs *ngIf="callsReady()" (itemClick)="openCall($event)"></cometchat-call-logs>
<div *ngIf="!callsReady()">Loading call history…</div>

STOPGAP (remove once the kit component awaits getCometChatCalls() / null-guards CometChatUIKitCalls itself — filed as a UIKit bug; the docs page also omits this prerequisite — DOCS-BACKLOG). isCallingEnabled() is the sync settings check; callingReady + a CometChatUIKitCalls null-check is what actually guards the mount (callingReady alone is NOT enough — proven live).

Also available: CallLogsService for headless querying, and guides/call-log-details for a detail view.

Environment requirements

• HTTPS or localhost. getUserMedia is blocked on plain HTTP, so calls fail on a LAN IP over http.
• Microphone/camera permission is a user-gesture prompt — trigger it from a click, never on load.
• CometChatUIKit.callingReady is a promise that resolves once calling is initialised; isCallingEnabled() is the synchronous check.

Common pitfalls

1. Listener in the chat page → calls ring only on that route.
2. uiKit.callsSDK missing from initFromSettings → calling silently off; call buttons render as zero-size empty elements. Installing the package is not enough.
3. Calls SDK not installed → components inert, no error.
4. Calling not enabled in the dashboard → code correct, nothing happens.
5. Plain HTTP → getUserMedia blocked.
6. Duplicate call buttons → the header already renders them.
7. Hand-rolled call screen → loses WebRTC teardown; use <cometchat-ongoing-call>.
8. No zero-height container — the ongoing-call surface needs real dimensions like any other component.

Verify it works

Two browsers, two users, HTTPS or localhost · caller sees outgoing UI, callee's device rings from any route · accepting connects audio/video both ways · ending returns both to chat · the call appears in call logs · no console errors.

Explain what you built (REQUIRED close)

Tell the developer what changed, naming the files: calling — the packages added, that uiKit: { callsSDK: {} } is what switches it on, and where <cometchat-incoming-call> is mounted. Flag anything dev-only as dev-only, and say what you did not touch — this is additive.

Then offer these THREE options as a SELECTABLE choice and WAIT for the pick — never auto-continue (RULES.md §19):

1. Add another feature → call-log details, or another grow-set feature from features.angular-v5.json. Never offer an auto entry (reactions, mentions, receipts, typing, media) — those are core in v5 and already on.
2. Customize theming → cometchat-angular-v5-customization.
3. Test it manually → do nothing further; hand back so the user runs it.