Installation

CLI (Recommended)

The ElevenLabs CLI is the recommended way to create and manage agents:

npm install -g @elevenlabs/cli
# or
pnpm add -g @elevenlabs/cli
# or
yarn global add @elevenlabs/cli

Requires Node.js 16.0.0 or higher.

Authentication

elevenlabs auth login          # Authenticate with API key
elevenlabs auth whoami         # Verify current login status
elevenlabs auth logout         # Remove stored credentials

API keys are securely stored in ~/.agents/api_keys.json.

Quick Start

# Initialize a new project
elevenlabs agents init

# Create an agent from template
elevenlabs agents add "My Assistant" --template complete

# Push to ElevenLabs platform
elevenlabs agents push

JavaScript / TypeScript SDK

For programmatic access and client-side integration:

npm install @elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js

Important: Always use @elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js. The old elevenlabs npm package (v1.x) is deprecated and should not be used.

import { ElevenLabsClient } from "@elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js";

// Option 1: Environment variable (recommended)
// Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in your environment
const client = new ElevenLabsClient();

// Option 2: Pass directly
const client = new ElevenLabsClient({ apiKey: "your-api-key" });

Migrating from deprecated packages

If you have old packages installed, remove them:

# Remove deprecated packages
npm uninstall elevenlabs

# Install the current packages
npm install @elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js

# For client-side/browser usage, also install:
npm install @elevenlabs/client  # Browser client
npm install @elevenlabs/react   # React hooks

Import changes:

import { ElevenLabsClient } from "@elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js";
import { Conversation } from "@elevenlabs/client";
import { useConversation } from "@elevenlabs/react";

Python

pip install elevenlabs

from elevenlabs import ElevenLabs

# Option 1: Environment variable (recommended)
# Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in your environment
client = ElevenLabs()

# Option 2: Pass directly
client = ElevenLabs(api_key="your-api-key")

cURL / REST API

Set your API key as an environment variable:

export ELEVENLABS_API_KEY="your-api-key"

Include in requests via the xi-api-key header:

curl -X POST "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai/agents/create" \
  -H "xi-api-key: $ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "My Agent", "conversation_config": {"agent": {"prompt": {"prompt": "You are helpful.", "llm": "gemini-2.0-flash"}}, "tts": {"voice_id": "JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb"}}}'

Getting an API Key

1. Sign up at elevenlabs.io
2. Go to API Keys
3. Click Create API Key
4. Copy and store securely

Or use the setup-api-key skill for guided setup.

Environment Variables