LiveKit CLI

Overview

The LiveKit CLI (lk) is the essential developer tool for building agents with LiveKit. Use it to set up your coding agent, scaffold an agent, run and test it locally, and deploy it to LiveKit Cloud. It also manages projects, rooms, and telephony.

GitHub repository

Source code and releases for the LiveKit CLI.

Get started

To install the CLI and link a project, see the CLI setup guide.

Agent workflow

A typical agent goes from template to deployment in a few commands:

lk agent init my-agent         # Scaffold an agent and set up your coding agent
cd my-agent
lk agent console               # Talk to it locally
lk agent simulate text         # Test it against simulated users
lk agent create                # Deploy it to LiveKit Cloud
lk agent deploy                # Deploy each new version

lk a is short for lk agent.

Set up your coding agent

lk agent init offers to add LiveKit's Agent Skills and the Docs MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and other coding agents in your new project. For an existing project, run lk skills install in its directory, or add --global to install for all projects. lk docs searches and fetches the LiveKit docs from the terminal.

Skills installation reference

Install, update, and remove skills with lk skills.

Docs search reference

Search and read the docs with lk docs.

Build and run locally

lk agent init scaffolds a Python or Node.js agent from a starter template. lk agent console lets you talk to it through your microphone, lk agent dev runs it with auto-reload, and lk agent start runs it in production mode.

Agent development reference

Reference for init, dev, start, and console.

Test it

lk agent debugger lets a coding agent or script talk to your agent one turn at a time and see the tool calls and errors behind each reply. lk agent simulate runs whole conversations against simulated users and scores them.

Agent testing reference

Reference for debugger and simulate.

Deploy to LiveKit Cloud

lk agent create registers your agent with LiveKit Cloud and deploys its first version. After that, lk agent deploy builds and deploys each new version. Other commands check status, stream logs, manage secrets, and roll back.

Agent deployment reference

Reference for deploying and managing agents on LiveKit Cloud.

Other commands

The CLI also covers the rest of LiveKit:

Project management: Link LiveKit Cloud projects with lk cloud auth, switch projects, and scaffold frontends with lk app.
Rooms and participants: Manage rooms, create tokens, and dispatch agents.
Egress and ingress: Record, stream, and import media.
Telephony: Manage SIP trunks, dispatch rules, and phone numbers.
Load testing: Load test rooms and agents.