Use this SDK to add realtime video, audio and data features to your Python app. By connecting to LiveKit Cloud or a self-hosted server, you can quickly build applications such as multi-modal AI, live streaming, or video calls with just a few lines of code.
This repo contains two packages
- livekit: Real-time SDK for connecting to LiveKit as a participant
- livekit-api: Access token generation and server APIs
Using Server API
$ pip install livekit-api
Generating an access token
from livekit import api import os # will automatically use the LIVEKIT_API_KEY and LIVEKIT_API_SECRET env vars token = api.AccessToken() \ .with_identity("python-bot") \ .with_name("Python Bot") \ .with_grants(api.VideoGrants( room_join=True, room="my-room", )).to_jwt()
Creating a room
RoomService uses asyncio and aiohttp to make API calls. It needs to be used with an event loop.
from livekit import api import asyncio async def main(): lkapi = api.LiveKitAPI("https://my-project.livekit.cloud") room_info = await lkapi.room.create_room( api.CreateRoomRequest(name="my-room"), ) print(room_info) results = await lkapi.room.list_rooms(api.ListRoomsRequest()) print(results) await lkapi.aclose() asyncio.run(main())
Using other APIs
Services can be accessed via the LiveKitAPI object.
lkapi = api.LiveKitAPI("https://my-project.livekit.cloud") # Room Service room_svc = lkapi.room # Egress Service egress_svc = lkapi.egress # Ingress Service ingress_svc = lkapi.ingress # Sip Service sip_svc = lkapi.sip # Agent Dispatch dispatch_svc = lkapi.agent_dispatch # Connector Service connector_svc = lkapi.connector
Using Real-time SDK
Connecting to a room
see room_example for full example
from livekit import rtc async def main(): room = rtc.Room() @room.on("participant_connected") def on_participant_connected(participant: rtc.RemoteParticipant): logging.info( "participant connected: %s %s", participant.sid, participant.identity) async def receive_frames(stream: rtc.VideoStream): async for frame in stream: # received a video frame from the track, process it here pass # track_subscribed is emitted whenever the local participant is subscribed to a new track @room.on("track_subscribed") def on_track_subscribed(track: rtc.Track, publication: rtc.RemoteTrackPublication, participant: rtc.RemoteParticipant): logging.info("track subscribed: %s", publication.sid) if track.kind == rtc.TrackKind.KIND_VIDEO: video_stream = rtc.VideoStream(track) asyncio.ensure_future(receive_frames(video_stream)) # By default, autosubscribe is enabled. The participant will be subscribed to # all published tracks in the room await room.connect(URL, TOKEN) logging.info("connected to room %s", room.name) # participants and tracks that are already available in the room # participant_connected and track_published events will *not* be emitted for them for identity, participant in room.remote_participants.items(): print(f"identity: {identity}") print(f"participant: {participant}") for tid, publication in participant.track_publications.items(): print(f"\ttrack id: {publication}")
RPC
Perform your own predefined method calls from one participant to another.
This feature is especially powerful when used with Agents, for instance to forward LLM function calls to your client application.
Registering an RPC method
The participant who implements the method and will receive its calls must first register support:
@room.local_participant.register_rpc_method("greet") async def handle_greet(data: RpcInvocationData): print(f"Received greeting from {data.caller_identity}: {data.payload}") return f"Hello, {data.caller_identity}!"
In addition to the payload, your handler will also receive response_timeout, which informs you the maximum time available to return a response. If you are unable to respond in time, the call will result in an error on the caller's side.
Performing an RPC request
The caller may then initiate an RPC call like so:
try: response = await room.local_participant.perform_rpc( destination_identity='recipient-identity', method='greet', payload='Hello from RPC!' ) print(f"RPC response: {response}") except Exception as e: print(f"RPC call failed: {e}")
You may find it useful to adjust the response_timeout parameter, which indicates the amount of time you will wait for a response. We recommend keeping this value as low as possible while still satisfying the constraints of your application.
Using local media devices
The MediaDevices class provides a high-level interface for working with local audio input (microphone) and output (speakers) devices. It's built on top of the sounddevice library and integrates seamlessly with LiveKit's audio processing features. In order to use MediaDevices, you must have the sounddevice library installed in your local Python environment, if it's not available, MediaDevices will not work.
Capturing microphone input
from livekit import rtc # Create a MediaDevices instance devices = rtc.MediaDevices() # Open the default microphone with audio processing enabled mic = devices.open_input( enable_aec=True, # Acoustic Echo Cancellation noise_suppression=True, # Noise suppression high_pass_filter=True, # High-pass filter auto_gain_control=True # Automatic gain control ) # Use the audio source to create a track and publish it track = rtc.LocalAudioTrack.create_audio_track("microphone", mic.source) await room.local_participant.publish_track(track) # Clean up when done await mic.aclose()
Playing audio to speakers
# Open the default output device player = devices.open_output() # Add remote audio tracks to the player (typically in a track_subscribed handler) @room.on("track_subscribed") def on_track_subscribed(track: rtc.Track, publication, participant): if track.kind == rtc.TrackKind.KIND_AUDIO: player.add_track(track) # Start playback (mixes all added tracks) await player.start() # Clean up when done await player.aclose()
Full duplex audio (microphone + speakers)
For full duplex audio with echo cancellation, open the input device first (with AEC enabled), then open the output device. The output player will automatically feed the APM's reverse stream for effective echo cancellation:
devices = rtc.MediaDevices() # Open microphone with AEC mic = devices.open_input(enable_aec=True) # Open speakers - automatically uses the mic's APM for echo cancellation player = devices.open_output() # Publish microphone track = rtc.LocalAudioTrack.create_audio_track("mic", mic.source) await room.local_participant.publish_track(track) # Add remote tracks and start playback player.add_track(remote_audio_track) await player.start()
Listing available devices
devices = rtc.MediaDevices() # List input devices input_devices = devices.list_input_devices() for device in input_devices: print(f"{device['index']}: {device['name']}") # List output devices output_devices = devices.list_output_devices() for device in output_devices: print(f"{device['index']}: {device['name']}") # Get default device indices default_input = devices.default_input_device() default_output = devices.default_output_device()
See publish_mic.py and full_duplex.py for complete examples.
Errors
LiveKit is a dynamic realtime environment and calls can fail for various reasons.
You may throw errors of the type RpcError with a string message in an RPC method handler and they will be received on the caller's side with the message intact. Other errors will not be transmitted and will instead arrive to the caller as 1500 ("Application Error"). Other built-in errors are detailed in RpcError.
Examples
- Facelandmark: Use mediapipe to detect face landmarks (eyes, nose ...)
- Basic room: Connect to a room
- Publish hue: Publish a rainbow video track
- Publish wave: Publish a sine wave
Getting help / Contributing
Please join us on Slack to get help from our devs / community members. We welcome your contributions(PRs) and details can be discussed there.
| LiveKit Ecosystem | |
|---|---|
| LiveKit SDKs | Browser · iOS/macOS/visionOS · Android · Flutter · React Native · Rust · Node.js · Python · Unity · Unity (WebGL) · ESP32 |
| Server APIs | Node.js · Golang · Ruby · Java/Kotlin · Python · Rust · PHP (community) · .NET (community) |
| UI Components | React · Android Compose · SwiftUI · Flutter |
| Agents Frameworks | Python · Node.js · Playground |
| Services | LiveKit server · Egress · Ingress · SIP |
| Resources | Docs · Example apps · Cloud · Self-hosting · CLI |