OpenAI LLM integration guide

Available in

Python

Node.js

Overview

OpenAI provides powerful language models like gpt-4o and o1. With LiveKit's OpenAI integration and the Agents framework, you can build sophisticated voice AI applications using their industry-leading models.

Using Azure OpenAI?

See our Azure OpenAI LLM guide.

Quick reference

This section includes a basic usage example and some reference material. For links to more detailed documentation, see Additional resources.

Installation

Install the plugin from PyPI:

pip install "livekit-agents[openai]~=1.2"

pnpm add @livekit/agents-plugin-openai@1.x

Authentication

The OpenAI plugin requires an OpenAI API key.

Set OPENAI_API_KEY in your .env file.

Usage

Use OpenAI within an AgentSession or as a standalone LLM service. For example, you can use this LLM in the Voice AI quickstart.

from livekit.plugins import openai

session = AgentSession(
    llm=openai.LLM(
        model="gpt-4o-mini"
    ),
    # ... tts, stt, vad, turn_detection, etc.
)

import * as openai from '@livekit/agents-plugin-openai';

const session = new voice.AgentSession({
    llm: openai.LLM(
        model: "gpt-4o-mini"
    ),
    // ... tts, stt, vad, turn_detection, etc.
});

Parameters

This section describes some of the available parameters. See the plugin reference links in the Additional resources section for a complete list of all available parameters.

modelstringOptionalDefault: gpt-4o-mini

The model to use for the LLM. For more information, see the OpenAI documentation.

temperaturefloatOptionalDefault: 0.8

Controls the randomness of the model's output. Higher values, for example 0.8, make the output more random, while lower values, for example 0.2, make it more focused and deterministic.

Valid values are between 0 and 2.

tool_choiceToolChoice | Literal['auto', 'required', 'none']OptionalDefault: auto

Controls how the model uses tools. Set to 'auto' to let the model decide, 'required' to force tool usage, or 'none' to disable tool usage.

Additional resources

The following resources provide more information about using OpenAI with LiveKit Agents.

Python Agents

Reference GitHub PyPI

Node.js Agents

Reference GitHub NPM

OpenAI docs

OpenAI platform documentation.

Voice AI quickstart

Get started with LiveKit Agents and OpenAI.

OpenAI ecosystem overview

Overview of the entire OpenAI and LiveKit Agents integration.