One Engine, Infinite Integration Points
Wowza Streaming Engine works with your existing architecture and systems as-is, no rebuilding your workflows and no hidden costs. Each path meets your stack where it already is, whether that’s on-prem, in the cloud, at the edge, or anywhere in between.
- Provision applications programmatically
- Inject custom business logic at the packet level
- Generate an SDK
- Hand control to an AI agent
- Integrate with backend and security systems
Integrate faster, avoid vendor lock-in, and make the media server a native part of your operational infrastructure.
Provision and Control Everything With The Wowza Streaming Engine REST API
The Wowza Streaming Engine REST API lets you configure, customize, manage, and monitor your media server programmatically. Through standard HTTP calls, you can:
- Create and manage live applications and sources like encoders and IP cameras
- Manage recordings of live streams or events
- Set up and scale nDVR stores and Media Cache
- Manage server users
- Configure stream targets to publish to a CDN
- Create webhooks that monitor streaming events
- Pull server logs and retrieve stream or server statistics
See what else is possible with the Wowza Streaming Engine REST API.
Inject Custom Logic At The Core With The Wowza Streaming Engine Java API
Wowza Streaming Engine is built on Java and designed to be extended. Your unique business logic runs inside the media server, including server-guided ad insertion with SCTE-35 signaling, HLS interstitials, and ID3 metadata injection for synchronized interactive experiences. The Java API gives you four ways to add functionality.
- Server-side modules load with an application and can modify the video, extract frames, add captions, and control stream behavior
- HTTP providers expose lightweight HTTP interfaces into your instances
- Event listeners react to events at the server and virtual-host level
- Custom classes extend Wowza Streaming Engine, including with the Wowza IDE, an add-on for Eclipse
Get more out of your video streams with the Wowza Streaming Engine Java API.
Drive Agentic AI Streaming Workflows With The Wowza Streaming Engine MCP Server
Translate high-level, natural-language requests into Wowza REST API commands and give AI agents, scripts, and services access to the full range of Wowza Streaming Engine capabilities. Connect to MCP-compatible clients such as Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, and Windsurf over HTTP, or run it in STDIO mode as a trusted subprocess. Control exactly what an agent can touch, both by category (applications, publishers, transcoders, monitoring, server actions, and more) and by access level (read-only or write).
What makes Wowza Streaming Engine extensible?
An extensible streaming server is one you provision, manage, and integrate through code and open interfaces, rather than a fixed appliance you configure by hand. Extensibility comes down to how completely you can automate the server's lifecycle, how deeply you can customize its behavior, and how cleanly it connects to the rest of your stack.
When To Use The REST API
To provision, configure, and monitor Wowza Streaming Engine from your own systems or scripts over secure HTTPS connections.
When To Use The Java API
To build custom behavior or logic inside Wowza Streaming Engine at the protocol or packet level.
When To Use The SDK
To access the Wowza Streaming Engine REST API using the language of your choice, without hand-writing API calls.
When To Use The MCP Server
To have AI agents or assistants operate Wowza Streaming Engine using natural language.
Infrastructure you build on, not around
Zero Lock-In
You deploy where you need to (cloud, on-premises, hybrid, or edge) and keep control of your data and architecture.
Lower Operational Costs
Anything you can do in the Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, you can also do through the REST API or an AI agent.
Future-Proof Investments
Custom modules and integrations keep working across upgrades to protect the engineering effort you put in today.
Help When You Want It
Fork an existing module, build from scratch, or engage Wowza Design Center to build and maintain specialized workflows.
Wowza Streaming Engine Extensibility FAQs
How do I automate Wowza Streaming Engine?
You automate Wowza Streaming Engine through its REST API, which configures, manages, and monitors the server programmatically over HTTP. You can create live applications, manage sources and stream targets, set up recording and webhooks, and retrieve statistics. For natural-language or AI-driven automation, the Wowza Streaming MCP Server translates high-level requests into REST API commands so agents and scripts control the engine directly.
Does Wowza Streaming Engine have a REST API?
Yes. Wowza Streaming Engine includes a full REST API on port 8087 under the /v2/ path. It configures, customizes, manages, and monitors the media server, covering live applications, publishers, stream targets, recorders, nDVR, Media Cache, webhooks, logs, and statistics. Wowza publishes the API as an OpenAPI specification, and it supports configurable authentication with HTTP digest as the default method.
How do I integrate Wowza Streaming Engine with other systems?
You integrate Wowza Streaming Engine in several ways. You call its REST API from your applications, generate native client SDKs from its OpenAPI spec, push streaming events to your systems through webhooks, extend the engine with custom Java modules and HTTP providers, and connect AI agents and developer tools through the MCP server. These paths let the engine both call out to and accept control from the rest of your stack.
Can I control a streaming server with AI agents?
Yes. The Wowza Streaming MCP Server, currently in beta, implements the Model Context Protocol so AI agents and MCP-compatible clients such as Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, and Windsurf operate Wowza Streaming Engine using natural-language prompts. It converts those requests into Wowza REST API calls and uses granular flag-based filtering to control which operations each agent can perform.
How do I build custom modules in Wowza Streaming Engine?
You build custom modules by writing Java classes with the Wowza IDE or any editor, an add-on for the Eclipse development environment. Modules load when an application starts and can control streaming behavior, such as extracting frames, adding captions, and modifying the video. You can also use Docker to spin up a local Wowza Streaming Engine instance in seconds, and compile custom JAR files quickly using Gradle. There are more than 50 examples in Wowza’s public GitHub repository.
What is the Wowza Streaming Engine MCP server?
The Wowza Streaming Engine MCP Server is an open-source, MIT-licensed Model Context Protocol server that lets AI agents, scripts, and services control Wowza Streaming Engine through natural-language prompts or API calls. It converts high-level requests into Wowza REST API commands, runs as a Docker Compose deployment in either STDIO or HTTP mode, and offers granular tool filtering so you scope agent access by category and by read or write permission. It is currently in beta.
What is the difference between the Wowza Streaming Engine REST API and Java API?
The REST API operates the engine from the outside. You use it to provision, configure, manage, and monitor the server over HTTP from any system or language. The Java API extends the engine from the inside. You use it to add custom logic that runs within the media server through modules, HTTP providers, event listeners, and custom classes. Most architectures use both, with REST for automation and orchestration and Java for bespoke streaming behavior.