Sessions

Sessions are the foundation of Uplink’s security and connection model. Understanding how to create, manage, and secure sessions is essential for production use.

What is a session?

A session is an authenticated connection that allows your JavaScript code to communicate with mobile devices. Sessions are created programmatically using your OAuth client credentials and enable secure, real-time bidirectional communication.

const session = await uplink.session(
  {
    clientId: process.env.UPLINK_CLIENT_ID,
    clientSecret: process.env.UPLINK_CLIENT_SECRET
  },
  {
    include: { ecdsa: true, ecdh: true }
  }
)
const client = await uplink.client.fromSession(session)

Creating sessions

Sessions are created programmatically in your code using your OAuth client credentials. The session is automatically scoped to the project the client belongs to.

Get your credentials

Create an OAuth client in Uplink Console and copy its client ID and secret. See Authentication for the full walkthrough.

Create a session in code

Use the uplink.session() method to create a session with your credentials:

const session = await uplink.session(
  {
    clientId: process.env.UPLINK_CLIENT_ID,
    clientSecret: process.env.UPLINK_CLIENT_SECRET
  },
  {
    include: { ecdsa: true, ecdh: true }
  }
)

Connect a client to the session

Create a client from your session to interact with connected devices:

const client = await uplink.client.fromSession(session)

Deliver the session to your device

The session object exposes two URLs for connecting a device. Use the one that matches your integration:

Connect app
Native SDK

Display session.qrUrl as a QR code in your UI. When your user scans it, the Uplink Connect app opens and joins the session automatically.

import QRCode from 'qrcode'

const qrCodeImage = await QRCode.toDataURL(session.qrUrl)
// Render qrCodeImage in your UI

Deliver session.sessionUrl to your app through your own channel (push notification, deep link, API response, etc.), then pass it to the native SDK’s worker.connect method.

const sessionUrl = session.sessionUrl
// Deliver sessionUrl to your iOS or Android app

See the iOS SDK and Android SDK guides for how the app side consumes the URL.

Session security

Sessions are authenticated with your OAuth client credentials, which provide:

Project identity: Each OAuth client belongs to exactly one project — sessions created with it are scoped to that project automatically.
Secure communication: Encrypted connections between your code and devices
Access control: Manage permissions through Console settings

For how to create credentials and keep them safe, see Authentication.

Session lifecycle

Connection

When you connect to a session, the client establishes a WebSocket connection to the Uplink relay server:

const session = await uplink.session(
  {
    clientId: process.env.UPLINK_CLIENT_ID,
    clientSecret: process.env.UPLINK_CLIENT_SECRET
  },
  {
    include: { ecdsa: true, ecdh: true }
  }
)
const client = await uplink.client.fromSession(session)
console.log('Connected to session')

// The client is now ready to interact with devices

Active session

During an active session:

Devices can connect and disconnect
Browsers can be launched and managed
Commands are sent in real-time
Events are emitted for device state changes

client.on('worker-connected', (device) => {
  console.log('Device joined session:', device.address)
})

client.on('worker-disconnected', (device) => {
  console.log('Device left session:', device.address)
})

Closing a session

Always close the client when you’re done to properly clean up resources:

// Clean up in order: pages, browsers, then client
await page.close()
await browser.close()
await client.close()

Create and destroy sessions as needed for your use case. For automated testing, create a new session for each test run and close it when complete.

Session expiration

Sessions end when:

The connection is closed by the client (client.close())
The session is terminated in the Console
The OAuth client used to create the session is disabled or deleted
Network connectivity is lost

When a session expires, all connected devices are disconnected and browsers are closed. Plan for graceful handling of session expiration in long-running automations.

Multi-session patterns

Load distribution

For high-volume automation, distribute load across multiple sessions:

const sessions = await Promise.all([
  createAndConnectSession('session-1'),
  createAndConnectSession('session-2'),
  createAndConnectSession('session-3')
])

// Round-robin device allocation
const device = sessions[nextIndex++ % sessions.length]

Introduction

Fundamentals

MCP Server

What is a session?

Creating sessions

Session security

Session lifecycle

Connection

Active session

Closing a session

Session expiration

Multi-session patterns

Load distribution

Next steps

Device management

Client API

​What is a session?

​Creating sessions

​Session security

​Session lifecycle

​Connection

​Active session

​Closing a session

​Session expiration

​Multi-session patterns

​Load distribution

​Next steps

Device management

Client API

What is a session?

Creating sessions

Session security

Session lifecycle

Connection

Active session

Closing a session

Session expiration

Multi-session patterns

Load distribution

Next steps