Build Your Own Clubhouse in 5 Steps with NetEase G2 SDK

Architecture Design

Client components encapsulate interaction with Clubhouse Server and audio‑video services. Gateway proxy provides the application service gateway. Clubhouse Server simulates the Clubhouse backend. NetEase G2 audio‑video RTC service offers stable, high‑quality real‑time audio‑video calls, including the NetEase IM SDK and G2 SDK.

Core Process

The functionality is divided into room list, create/join room, admin invite, hand‑up to speak, and leave room. Room control relies on NetEase G2 SDK with server assistance; audio capabilities are provided by the SDK, and server notifications use the IM SDK long‑link service.

Detailed steps:

1. Get Room List

Call the server API to retrieve the list of rooms.

2. Create/Join Room

Call /clubRoom/join; if the room does not exist it is created, otherwise the user joins. After receiving room info, invoke G2 SDK’s joinChannelWithToken to enter the audio channel. On success the SDK notifies the server to update user status.

3. Admin Invites User

The admin fetches the friend list, the server generates a short link, and the invited user joins the room by clicking the link.

4. Hand‑up to Speak

The client calls /clubRoom/handsup; the server forwards the request via IM to the room admin. When the admin approves, the server updates the member’s audio state, and the client enables the microphone with G2’s enableLocalAudio.

5. Leave Room

The client calls G2 SDK’s leaveChannel; the SDK reports the leave event to the server, which marks the user as left.

G2 SDK Detailed Description

Key methods include: #import <NERtcSDK/NERtcSDK.h> Initialize the engine with setupEngineWithContext:, set the appKey, and assign a delegate.

@interface Myapp ()<NERtcEngineDelegateEx>;
...
NERtcEngine *coreEngine = [NERtcEngine sharedEngine];
NERtcEngineContext *context = [[NERtcEngineContext alloc] init];
context.engineDelegate = self;
context.appKey = AppKey;
[coreEngine setupEngineWithContext:context];
...

Join a room using joinChannelWithToken:channelName:myUid:completion:.

// Example
[NERtcEngine.sharedEngine joinChannelWithToken:@""
                                 channelName:roomId
                                       myUid:userId
                                  completion:^(NSError * _Nullable error, uint64_t channelId, uint64_t elapsed) {
    if (error) {
        // join failed
    } else {
        // join succeeded
    }
}];

Leave a room with leaveChannel and monitor the result via onNERtcEngineDidLeaveChannelWithResult:.

// Example
[NERtcEngine.sharedEngine leaveChannel];

Technical Difficulty Analysis

Audio challenges : packet loss on weak networks, device compatibility, and audio quality. Solutions include NetEase’s weak‑network algorithm supporting up to 80% loss, extensive device adaptation for echo cancellation, and a proprietary AI noise‑reduction algorithm.

Content moderation challenges : real‑time detection of prohibited audio (violence, politics, pornography, ads). NetEase provides a real‑time audio anti‑spam service combining speech recognition with text filtering, scalable via cloud resources.

Conclusion

By following the five steps and leveraging NetEase Cloud‑communication capabilities, you can quickly build your own Clubhouse‑style voice chat application and capture the market momentum.