deepgram-js-speech-to-text

Using Deepgram Speech-to-Text (JavaScript / TypeScript SDK)

Basic transcription for prerecorded audio (REST) or live audio (WebSocket) via /v1/listen.

When to use this product

• REST (client.listen.v1.media.transcribeUrl / transcribeFile) — one-shot transcription of a finished URL or file. Good for batch jobs, caption generation, offline processing.
• WebSocket (client.listen.v1.createConnection() / connect()) — continuous streaming transcription. Good for live captions, microphone audio, telephony streams, browser or Node realtime apps.

Use a different skill when:

• You also want summaries, topics, intents, sentiment, language detection, or redaction guidance on the same /v1/listen call → deepgram-js-audio-intelligence.
• You need Flux turn-taking and end-of-turn events on /v2/listen → deepgram-js-conversational-stt.
• You need a full interactive assistant with STT + LLM + TTS over one socket → deepgram-js-voice-agent.

Authentication

require("dotenv").config();
 
const { DeepgramClient } = require("@deepgram/sdk");

Use the exported DeepgramClient from src/CustomClient.ts, not DefaultDeepgramClient. The wrapper adds the required Token auth prefix, session headers, and patched WebSocket behavior.

Quick start — REST (prerecorded URL)

From examples/04-transcription-prerecorded-url.ts:

Quick start — REST (prerecorded file)

From examples/05-transcription-prerecorded-file.ts:

transcribeFile(...) accepts multiple upload shapes in this SDK: fs.ReadStream, Buffer, ReadableStream, Blob, File, ArrayBuffer, and Uint8Array (see examples/23-file-upload-types.ts).

Quick start — WebSocket (live streaming)

From examples/07-transcription-live-websocket.ts:

The repo examples use the two-step socket flow: createConnection() → register handlers → connect() → waitForOpen().

Key parameters / API surface

• REST: model, language, punctuate, smart_format, paragraphs, utterances, multichannel, numerals, search, keyterm, keywords, encoding, sample_rate, callback, tag.
• WSS connect args (src/api/resources/listen/resources/v1/client/Client.ts): model is required; common realtime flags include language, interim_results, endpointing, utterance_end_ms, vad_events, encoding, sample_rate, multichannel, punctuate, smart_format.
• WSS client messages (src/api/resources/listen/resources/v1/client/Socket.ts): sendMedia(...), sendFinalize(...), sendCloseStream(...), sendKeepAlive(...).
• WSS server events: Results, Metadata, UtteranceEnd, SpeechStarted.

API reference (layered)

1. In-repo reference: reference.md → Listen V1 Media for REST; WSS behavior lives in src/CustomClient.ts and src/api/resources/listen/resources/v1/client/{Client,Socket}.ts.
2. Canonical OpenAPI (REST): https://developers.deepgram.com/openapi.yaml
3. Canonical AsyncAPI (WSS): https://developers.deepgram.com/asyncapi.yaml
4. Context7: library ID /llmstxt/developers_deepgram_llms_txt
5. Product docs:
   • https://developers.deepgram.com/reference/speech-to-text/listen-pre-recorded
   • https://developers.deepgram.com/reference/speech-to-text/listen-streaming

Gotchas

1. Use DeepgramClient, not DefaultDeepgramClient. The custom wrapper adds Token auth, session IDs, browser WS auth protocols, and patched sockets.
2. Repo examples are two-stage for WSS. createConnection() does not open the socket; call connect() and usually waitForOpen().
3. Finalize before closing v1 streams. sendFinalize({ type: "Finalize" }) flushes the final partial.
4. Keep idle streams alive. Use audio or sendKeepAlive({ type: "KeepAlive" }) on long pauses.
5. Raw audio metadata must match reality. If you send PCM, encoding and sample_rate must match the bytes.
6. Browser auth differs from Node auth. In browsers, the wrapper moves auth/session info into WebSocket subprotocols because custom headers are unavailable.
7. Use /v2/listen only for Flux. If you need turn-aware conversational STT, switch skills instead of forcing v1.

Example files in this repo

• examples/04-transcription-prerecorded-url.ts
• examples/05-transcription-prerecorded-file.ts
• examples/06-transcription-prerecorded-callback.ts
• examples/07-transcription-live-websocket.ts
• examples/08-transcription-captions.ts
• examples/23-file-upload-types.ts
• examples/27-deepgram-session-header.ts

Central product skills

For cross-language Deepgram product knowledge — the consolidated API reference, documentation finder, focused runnable recipes, third-party integration examples, and MCP setup — install the central skills:

This SDK ships language-idiomatic code skills; deepgram/skills ships cross-language product knowledge (see api, docs, recipes, examples, starters, setup-mcp).