> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getrivet.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What makes Rivet video different

> Therapy-focused video: clients join from any browser, you keep your face on screen while you share, and EMDR + whiteboard live in the same workspace.

Rivet video isn't a generic meeting tool with a therapy skin. It's built
around the specific shape of a session: one practitioner, one client, a
permanent room, no recording, and the clinical tools you actually use during
the hour — EMDR, whiteboard, screen share, clinical templates — sitting
inside the same workspace.

## The four things that make it different

**Clients join from a browser. No app, no account.**
Your client clicks `getrivet.ca/your-name`, fills in their first name and
phone, and is in the waiting room. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge — on a
phone, a tablet, a laptop. Nothing to install. See
[Clients don't install anything](/video-sessions/clients-need-no-app).

**Your face stays on screen when you share.**
When you share your screen (a worksheet, a safety plan, an EMDR target image),
the client still sees you in a corner tile. Most meeting tools replace your
camera with the shared content for the duration of the share. In a clinical
session that reads as withdrawal — a real cost in EMDR specifically.
See [Sharing your screen](/video-sessions/screen-sharing).

**EMDR and whiteboard live inside the call.**
You don't pivot to a second tool when a client needs bilateral stimulation
or a quick CBT diagram. Tap EMDR in the toolbar — the workspace opens.
Tap Share Screen → Whiteboard — the canvas mounts. The client sees a single
session, not a tool stack.

**Sessions are never recorded.**
There is no recording feature. There is no AI scribe listening in. The audio
and video are end-to-end encrypted, peer-to-peer when network conditions
allow. Practitioner notes are separate and live in the Notes section of the
app — never derived from session audio.

## How a session flows

<Steps>
  <Step title="You share your link once">
    Drop `getrivet.ca/your-slug` into your intake email, your booking
    confirmation, your email signature. It never changes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="At session time, the client opens the link">
    They land on a public waiting-room page. First name, phone number, tap
    Join. No download.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You see them waiting in the inbox">
    A "\{Name} is waiting" pill lights up across the app. The thread shows a
    green Start session button.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You tap Start. Both browsers connect">
    A pre-join screen lets each of you check camera and mic. Tap Join
    Session. The connection is made.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The session runs in the workspace">
    Mic, cam, screen share, EMDR, whiteboard, end call. All in one toolbar.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You end the call. The client sees a summary card">
    Session duration, "Session ended", and the option to close the tab.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What's not in scope today

A few things are deliberately omitted — calling these out so you know what
you're working with:

* **Multi-party calls.** Rivet video is 1:1 — one practitioner, one client.
  Couples and family work on a shared device works; a third browser joining
  is rejected with "session full." Group video isn't planned.
* **Recording.** No recording, no transcript-from-audio, no AI scribe. By
  design.
* **Background blur.** Not available — the current generation of in-browser
  blur looks acceptable for a casual chat and noticeably wrong for a clinical
  session.
* **Native iOS/Android video.** The video session today runs in the browser
  on every platform. Native softphone calling is in the Rivet app; video
  sessions stay in the browser for now.

<Note>
  Rivet video is end-to-end encrypted. When your network needs a relay
  server (about 5–10% of sessions, mostly behind corporate or hospital
  firewalls), the relay passes encrypted data it can't read.
</Note>

## Related articles

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Your session link" icon="link" href="/video-sessions/creating-a-session-link">
    The persistent slug URL and how to claim yours.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The session workspace" icon="display" href="/video-sessions/the-session-workspace">
    A tour of every control in the in-call toolbar.
  </Card>

  <Card title="EMDR in Rivet" icon="waveform" href="/emdr/overview">
    Bilateral stimulation inside the same video call.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>