Pipecat Quickstart

Run your first Pipecat bot in under 5 minutes. This example creates a voice AI bot that you can talk to in your browser.

Prerequisites

Python 3.10+

Pipecat requires Python 3.10 or newer. Check your version:

python --version

If you need to upgrade Python, we recommend using a version manager like uv or pyenv.

AI Service API keys

Pipecat orchestrates different AI services in a pipeline, ensuring low latency communication. In this quickstart example, we'll use:

• Deepgram for Speech-to-Text transcriptions
• OpenAI for LLM inference
• Cartesia for Text-to-Speech audio generation

Have your API keys ready. We'll add them to your .env shortly.

Setup

1. Clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat-quickstart.git
   cd pipecat-quickstart

2. Configure environment variables

   Create a .env file:

   cp env.example .env

   Then, add your API keys:

   DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=your_deepgram_api_key
   OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
   CARTESIA_API_KEY=your_cartesia_api_key
   

3. Set up a virtual environment and install dependencies

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
   pip install -r requirements.txt

   Using uv? Create your venv using: uv sync

4. Run the example

   python bot.py

   Using uv? Run your bot using: uv run bot.py.

5. Connect and test

   Open http://localhost:7860/client in your browser and click Connect to start talking to your bot.

   💡 First run note: The initial startup may take ~15 seconds as Pipecat downloads required models, like the Silero VAD model.

Troubleshooting

• Browser permissions: Make sure to allow microphone access when prompted by your browser.
• Connection issues: If the WebRTC connection fails, first try a different browser. If that fails, make sure you don't have a VPN or firewall rules blocking traffic. WebRTC uses UDP to communicate.
• Audio issues: Check that your microphone and speakers are working and not muted.

Next Steps

• Read the docs: Check out Pipecat's docs for guides and reference information.
• Join Discord: Join Pipecat's Discord server to get help and learn about what others are building.