LiveKit docs › Models › Virtual avatar › AvatarTalk

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# AvatarTalk Realtime Avatar integration guide

> How to use the AvatarTalk virtual avatar plugin for LiveKit Agents.

Available in:
- [ ] Node.js
- [x] Python

## Overview

[AvatarTalk's](https://avatartalk.ai/) Realtime Avatars let you create your own avatar that can participate in live, interactive conversations. You can use the open-source AvatarTalk integration for LiveKit Agents in your voice AI app.

## Quick reference

This section includes a basic usage example and some reference material. For links to more detailed documentation, see [Additional resources](#additional-resources).

### Installation

Install the plugin from PyPI:

```shell
uv add "livekit-plugins-avatartalk~=1.5"

```

### Authentication

The AvatarTalk plugin requires a [AvatarTalk API key](https://avatartalk.ai/users/register).

Set `AVATARTALK_API_KEY` in your `.env` file.

### Avatar setup

The AvatarTalk plugin accepts an avatar ID, which can either be set as the `AVATARTALK_AVATAR` environment variable or as the `avatar` argument in the avatar session. You can choose an avatar on the AvatarTalk [dashboard](https://avatartalk.ai/dashboard/).

You may also set the avatar's emotion, which can be set either as the `AVATARTALK_EMOTION` environment variable or as the `emotion` argument passed to the `AvatarSession`.

### Usage

Use the plugin in an `AgentSession`. For example, you can use this avatar in the [Voice AI quickstart](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/start/voice-ai.md).

```python
from livekit import agents
from livekit.agents import AgentServer, AgentSession
from livekit.plugins import avatartalk

server = AgentServer()

@server.rtc_session(agent_name="my-agent")
async def my_agent(ctx: agents.JobContext):
   session = AgentSession(
      # ... stt, llm, tts, etc.
   )

   avatar = avatartalkAvatarSession(
      avatar="...",  # ID of the AvatarTalk avatar to use. See "Avatar setup" for details.
   )

   # Start the avatar and wait for it to join
   await avatar.start(session, room=ctx.room)

   # Start your agent session with the user
   await session.start(
      # ... room, agent, room_options, etc....
   )

```

Preview the avatar in the [Agent Console](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/start/console.md) or a frontend [starter app](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/start/frontend.md#starter-apps) that you build.

### Parameters

This section describes some of the available parameters. See the [plugin reference](https://docs.livekit.io/reference/python/livekit/plugins/avatartalk/index.html.md#livekit.plugins.avatartalk.AvatarSession) for a complete list of all available parameters.

- **`avatar`** _(string)_ (optional) - Default: `japanese_man`: ID of the AvatarTalk avatar to use. See [Avatar setup](#avatar) for details.

- **`emotion`** _(string)_ (optional) - Default: `expressive`: The avatar's emotion for the session. See [Avatar setup](#avatar) for details.

- **`avatar_participant_name`** _(string)_ (optional) - Default: `avatartalk-agent`: The name of the participant to use for the avatar.

## Additional resources

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

- **[Python package](https://pypi.org/project/livekit-plugins-avatartalk/)**: The `livekit-plugins-avatartalk` package on PyPI.

- **[Plugin reference](https://docs.livekit.io/reference/python/livekit/plugins/avatartalk/index.html.md)**: Reference for the AvatarTalk avatar plugin.

- **[GitHub repo](https://github.com/livekit/agents/tree/main/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-avatartalk)**: View the source or contribute to the LiveKit AvatarTalk avatar plugin.

- **[AvatarTalk API docs](https://github.com/avatartalk-ai/avatartalk-examples/blob/main/API.md)**: AvatarTalk's API docs.

- **[Agent Console](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/start/console.md)**: A virtual workbench to test your avatar agent.

- **[Frontend starter apps](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/start/frontend.md#starter-apps)**: Ready-to-use frontend apps with avatar support.

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This document was rendered at 2026-06-07T11:35:50.849Z.
For the latest version of this document, see [https://docs.livekit.io/agents/models/avatar/plugins/avatartalk.md](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/models/avatar/plugins/avatartalk.md).

To explore all LiveKit documentation, see [llms.txt](https://docs.livekit.io/llms.txt).