Build a Voice Agent in 5 Minutes with AssemblyAI

AssemblyAI’s quickstart describes how to build a conversational Python voice agent in a single file using one API key to combine real-time speech recognition, LLM-generated responses, and streaming text-to-speech. The example uses Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime to transcribe 16 kHz microphone audio and detect when a speaker has finished a turn, LLM Gateway to generate concise replies while maintaining conversation history, and a persistent TTS session to stream 24 kHz spoken output. It also supports barge-in behavior, stopping the agent’s audio when the user begins speaking, while recommending headphones to prevent speaker echo from triggering interruptions. The guide outlines setup requirements such as Python, PyAudio, PortAudio on some systems, and an AssemblyAI API key, then explains customization options including alternate voices, languages, LLM models, system prompts, tool calling, and recognition hints for specialized terms. It also addresses common audio, authentication, and plan-access issues and suggests extensions for phone integrations, production tuning, and function-enabled voice agents.

Use this post, company, and trend context to find content marketing opportunities, perform competitive analysis, or address product feature gaps via the Plushcap MCP server or the Plushcap API.