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ADR-002: Zero-Cost Architecture

Status: Accepted Date: December 17, 2025 Deciders: CODITECT Architecture Team

Context​

The integration must operate without incurring external API costs, using only free-tier services and open-source components.

Decision​

We will architect the integration with the following constraints:

Free APIs Only​

  1. Zoom REST API - Free (within quota limits)
  2. Zoom Webhooks - Free (event notifications)
  3. Zoom Cloud Recording API - Free for Business+ accounts

No Paid Services​

  • NO Recall.ai ($0.10-0.20/min) - Third-party bot service
  • NO Zoom RTMS (Real-Time Media Streams) - Requires paid add-on
  • NO Third-party transcription services
  • NO Meeting SDK for bots (SDK is for human UI embedding only)

Post-Meeting Focus​

  • Focus on post-meeting artifact retrieval (free)
  • Defer real-time processing to future paid tier
  • Use Zoom's built-in transcription (requires Business+ account)

Consequences​

Positive​

  • Zero marginal cost per meeting
  • No external vendor dependencies
  • Simple deployment (no bot infrastructure)
  • Uses native Zoom capabilities

Negative​

  • No real-time transcription during meetings
  • Limited to post-meeting analysis only
  • Requires Zoom Business+ for cloud recording/transcripts
  • No support for Basic/Pro accounts without cloud recording

Neutral​

  • Customers needing real-time must upgrade to future paid tier
  • Architecture allows easy extension to paid services later

Implementation Notes​

# Feature availability by cost tier
free_tier:
  - Meeting scheduling (REST API)
  - Meeting management (REST API)
  - Participant list retrieval
  - Post-meeting transcript retrieval*
  - Post-meeting recording access*
  - Webhook event notifications

paid_tier_future:
  - Real-time transcription (RTMS)
  - Live meeting bots
  - Real-time AI insights
  - Third-party integrations

# * Requires Zoom Business Standard+ with cloud recording enabled

Zoom Plan Requirements​

FeatureBasicProBusinessEnterprise
REST API✅✅✅✅
Webhooks✅✅✅✅
Cloud Recording❌Optional✅✅
Transcription❌❌✅✅
RTMS (Real-time)❌❌❌Paid Add-on

References​

  • Business requirements document
  • Cost analysis spreadsheet
  • Zoom Pricing