ElevenAPI quickstart

Learn how to make your first ElevenLabs API request.

By the end of this guide you will have a working script that sends a text string to the ElevenLabs API and plays the returned audio through your speakers. You will learn how to authenticate with an API key, install the SDK, and make your first text-to-speech request.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/W-XF7uo0bpk?rel=0

For guides covering other capabilities — streaming, voice cloning, speech-to-text — see the Tutorials section.

Using the Text to Speech API

Create an API key
Create an API key in the dashboard here, which you’ll use to securely access the API.
Store the key as a managed secret and pass it to the SDKs either as a environment variable via an .env file, or directly in your app’s configuration depending on your preference.
.env
JavaScript
```
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=<your_api_key_here>
```
Install the SDK
- SDK
- CLI
We’ll also use the dotenv library to load our API key from an environment variable.
Python
TypeScript
Python
pip install elevenlabs pip install python-dotenv
Install the ElevenLabs CLI. Homebrew (macOS) and Scoop (Windows) are recommended.
Homebrew (macOS)
Homebrew (macOS)
brew install elevenlabs/tap/elevenlabs
Scoop (Windows)
Scoop (Windows)
scoop bucket add elevenlabs https://github.com/elevenlabs/scoop-bucket scoop install elevenlabs
npm
npm
npm install -g @elevenlabs/cli
curl
curl
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/elevenlabs/cli/releases/latest/download/elevenlabs-cli-installer.sh | sh
Working with an AI coding assistant? Run elevenlabs generate-skills in your project to write a SKILL.md for every command group into skills/, so your assistant knows the CLI's full surface without you pasting docs. Use --output-dir to put them elsewhere. This reads the CLI's own embedded API definition, so it needs no API key and works offline — and it stays in step with whichever CLI version you have installed.
Then authenticate — this opens your browser to authorize the CLI:
Bash
elevenlabs auth login
To play the audio through your speakers, you may be prompted to install MPV and/or ffmpeg.

Make your first request

Create a new file named example.py or example.mts, depending on your language of choice and add the following code:

Python

from dotenv import load_dotenv
from elevenlabs.client import ElevenLabs
from elevenlabs.play import play
import os

load_dotenv()

elevenlabs = ElevenLabs(
  api_key=os.getenv("ELEVENLABS_API_KEY"),
)

audio = elevenlabs.text_to_speech.convert(
    text="The first move is what sets everything in motion.",
    voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb",  # "George" - browse voices at elevenlabs.io/app/voice-library
    model_id="eleven_v4",
    output_format="mp3_44100_128",
)

play(audio)

Then run it:

Python

python example.py

You should hear the audio play through your speakers.

Generate speech and save it to an MP3 file:

Bash

elevenlabs text-to-speech convert \
  --voice-id JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb \
  --model-id eleven_v4 \
  --text "The first move is what sets everything in motion." \
  --output-format mp3_44100_128 \
  --output audio.mp3

Open audio.mp3 to hear the result.

Next steps

Stream audio

Reduce latency by streaming audio as it generates rather than waiting for the complete file

Browse voices

Explore 10,000+ voices and swap the example voice ID for one that fits your use case

Clone a voice

Create a custom voice from a short audio recording