/agents

Installation

CLI (Recommended)

The ElevenLabs CLI is the recommended way to create and manage agents:

# npm (any platform with Node.js)
npm install -g @elevenlabs/cli

# macOS / Linux (Homebrew)
brew install elevenlabs/tap/elevenlabs

# Windows (Scoop)
scoop bucket add elevenlabs https://github.com/elevenlabs/scoop-bucket
scoop install elevenlabs

# Shell installer (any platform)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/elevenlabs/cli/releases/latest/download/elevenlabs-cli-installer.sh | sh

Authentication

Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in your environment — the CLI picks it up automatically:

export ELEVENLABS_API_KEY="your-api-key"

Or authenticate with OAuth, which stores credentials in the OS keyring:

elevenlabs auth login          # Authenticate with OAuth
elevenlabs auth whoami         # Verify current login status
elevenlabs auth logout         # Remove stored credentials

Quick Start

# Initialize a new project
elevenlabs agents init

# Create an agent from template
elevenlabs agents add "My Assistant" --template default

# Push to ElevenLabs platform
elevenlabs agents push

JavaScript / TypeScript SDK

For programmatic access and client-side integration:

npm install @elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js@latest

Important: Always use @elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js. The old elevenlabs npm package (v1.x) is deprecated and should not be used.

import { ElevenLabsClient } from "@elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js";

// Option 1: Environment variable (recommended)
// Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in your environment
const client = new ElevenLabsClient();

// Option 2: Pass directly
const client = new ElevenLabsClient({ apiKey: "your-api-key" });

Migrating from deprecated packages

If you have old packages installed, remove them:

# Remove deprecated packages
npm uninstall elevenlabs

# Install the current packages
npm install @elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js@latest

# For browser apps, install the package that matches your UI layer:
npm install @elevenlabs/client@latest  # Vanilla JavaScript in the browser
npm install @elevenlabs/react@latest   # React on the web

Import changes:

import { ElevenLabsClient } from "@elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js";
import { Conversation } from "@elevenlabs/client";
import {
  ConversationProvider,
  useConversationControls,
  useConversationStatus,
} from "@elevenlabs/react";

@elevenlabs/react re-exports @elevenlabs/client, so React apps usually only need @elevenlabs/react. Wrap hook consumers in ConversationProvider and prefer granular hooks such as useConversationControls and useConversationStatus; useConversation remains available as the convenience all-in-one hook.

Use @elevenlabs/react-native for React Native projects with the same provider-and-hooks API; only the import path changes.

Python

pip install elevenlabs

from elevenlabs import ElevenLabs

# Option 1: Environment variable (recommended)
# Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in your environment
client = ElevenLabs()

# Option 2: Pass directly
client = ElevenLabs(api_key="your-api-key")

CLI Usage

Every REST endpoint is available as a CLI subcommand. Set your API key as an environment variable and the CLI picks it up automatically — no headers or key flags needed:

export ELEVENLABS_API_KEY="your-api-key"

elevenlabs agents create \
  --json '{"name": "My Agent", "conversation_config": {"agent": {"prompt": {"prompt": "You are helpful.", "llm": "gemini-2.0-flash"}}, "tts": {"voice_id": "JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb"}}}'

Getting an API Key

1. Sign up at elevenlabs.io
2. Go to API Keys
3. Click Create API Key
4. Copy and store securely

Or use the setup-api-key skill for guided setup.

Environment Variables