LiveKit docs › Partner spotlight › AWS › Amazon Transcribe STT --- # Amazon Transcribe plugin guide > How to use the Amazon Transcribe STT plugin for LiveKit Agents. Available in: - [ ] Node.js - [x] Python ## Overview This plugin allows you to use [Amazon Transcribe](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/what-is.html) as an STT provider for your voice agents. ### Installation Install the plugin from PyPI: ```shell uv add "livekit-agents[aws]~=1.5" ``` ### Authentication The Amazon Transcribe plugin requires an [AWS API key](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-sec-cred-types.html). Set the following environment variables in your `.env` file: ```shell AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID= AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY= AWS_DEFAULT_REGION= ``` ### Usage Use Amazon Transcribe STT in an `AgentSession` or as a standalone transcription service. For example, you can use this STT in the [Voice AI quickstart](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/start/voice-ai.md). ```python from livekit.plugins import aws session = AgentSession( stt = aws.STT( session_id="my-session-id", language="en-US", vocabulary_name="my-vocabulary", vocab_filter_name="my-vocab-filter", vocab_filter_method="mask", ), # ... llm, tts, etc. ) ``` ### Multilingual For multilingual scenarios, the plugin can auto-detect the language at the start of the stream or detect switches between languages mid-stream. Pick the simplest mode that fits your use case. Auto-detection is more flexible than a fixed language but less reliable, especially with short utterances or specialized vocabulary. #### Single-language auto-detection Detects the language once at the start of the session and uses it for all transcripts. Use this when the language is unknown at the start of the session but stable for its duration. Provide between 2 and 12 candidate language codes: ```python from livekit.plugins import aws session = AgentSession( stt = aws.STT( identify_language=True, language_options="en-US,es-US,fr-FR", ), # ... llm, tts, etc. ) ``` #### Mid-stream language switching Detects language switches per segment of speech. Use this when speakers may switch languages mid-conversation, like multilingual customer support. Each final transcript reports the detected language: ```python from livekit.plugins import aws session = AgentSession( stt = aws.STT( identify_multiple_languages=True, language_options="en-US,es-US,fr-FR,de-DE,ja-JP,ko-KR,zh-HK,pt-BR,hi-IN,vi-VN,pl-PL,ru-RU", ), # ... llm, tts, etc. ) ``` #### Multilingual turn detection Pairs mid-stream switching with the [multilingual turn detector](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/logic/turns/turn-detector.md) so end-of-turn predictions adapt to the language of each segment. ```python from livekit.plugins import aws from livekit.plugins.turn_detector.multilingual import MultilingualModel session = AgentSession( stt = aws.STT( identify_multiple_languages=True, language_options="en-US,es-US,fr-FR", ), turn_detection=MultilingualModel(), # ... llm, tts, etc. ) ``` ### Parameters This section describes some of the available parameters. See the [plugin reference](https://docs.livekit.io/reference/python/livekit/plugins/aws/index.html.md#livekit.plugins.aws.STT) for a complete list of all available parameters. - **`speech_region`** _(string)_ (optional) - Default: `us-east-1` - Environment: `AWS_DEFAULT_REGION`: The region of the AWS deployment. Required if the environment variable isn't set. - **`language`** _(LanguageCode)_ (optional) - Default: `en-US`: [Language code](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/models/stt.md#language-codes) for the audio. Ignored when `identify_language` or `identify_multiple_languages` is enabled. For a full list of supported languages, see the [Supported languages](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/supported-languages.html) page. - **`identify_language`** _(bool)_ (optional) - Default: `False`: Enable automatic detection of a single dominant language for the stream. Provide candidate languages with `language_options`. Cannot be combined with `identify_multiple_languages`. - **`identify_multiple_languages`** _(bool)_ (optional) - Default: `False`: Detect language switches mid-stream so the agent can transcribe each segment in the spoken language. Provide candidate languages with `language_options`. Cannot be combined with `identify_language`. - **`language_options`** _(string)_ (optional): Comma-separated list of expected [language codes](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/lang-id-stream.html) (between 2 and 12 codes). Required when `identify_language` or `identify_multiple_languages` is enabled. - **`preferred_language`** _(string)_ (optional): A language code from `language_options` that biases detection toward this language. Only applies when `identify_language` or `identify_multiple_languages` is enabled. - **`vocabulary_names`** _(string)_ (optional): Comma-separated list of per-language custom vocabulary names that map to the codes in `language_options`. Use when different candidate languages have different vocabularies. Only applies when `identify_language` or `identify_multiple_languages` is enabled. - **`vocabulary_filter_names`** _(string)_ (optional): Comma-separated list of per-language custom vocabulary filter names that map to the codes in `language_options`. Only applies when `identify_language` or `identify_multiple_languages` is enabled. - **`vocabulary_name`** _(string)_ (optional) - Default: `None`: Name of the custom vocabulary you want to use when processing your transcription. To learn more, see [Custom vocabularies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/custom-vocabulary.html). - **`session_id`** _(string)_ (optional): Name for your transcription session. If left empty, Amazon Transcribe generates an ID and returns it in the response. - **`vocab_filter_name`** _(string)_ (optional) - Default: `None`: Name of the custom vocabulary filter that you want to use when processing your transcription. To learn more, see [Using custom vocabulary filters to delete, mask, or flag words](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/vocabulary-filtering.html). - **`vocab_filter_method`** _(string)_ (optional) - Default: `None`: Display method for the vocabulary filter. To learn more, see [Using custom vocabulary filters to delete, mask, or flag words](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/vocabulary-filtering.html). ## Additional resources The following resources provide more information about using Amazon Transcribe with LiveKit Agents. - **[Python package](https://pypi.org/project/livekit-plugins-aws/)**: The `livekit-plugins-aws` package on PyPI. - **[Plugin reference](https://docs.livekit.io/reference/python/livekit/plugins/aws/index.html.md#livekit.plugins.aws.STT)**: Reference for the Amazon Transcribe STT plugin. - **[GitHub repo](https://github.com/livekit/agents/tree/main/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-aws)**: View the source or contribute to the LiveKit Amazon Transcribe STT plugin. - **[AWS docs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/what-is.html)**: Amazon Transcribe's full docs site. - **[Voice AI quickstart](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/start/voice-ai.md)**: Get started with LiveKit Agents and Amazon Transcribe. --- This document was rendered at 2026-06-07T11:34:59.740Z. For the latest version of this document, see [https://docs.livekit.io/agents/models/stt/aws.md](https://docs.livekit.io/agents/models/stt/aws.md). To explore all LiveKit documentation, see [llms.txt](https://docs.livekit.io/llms.txt).