ElevenLabs Python API: A Practical Guide for Python Developers Python Developers, get started with the ElevenLabs Python API in minutes. Here's how.

So, you’re a Python developer who wants to dive into text-to-speech (TTS) using the ElevenLabs API? Or maybe you just want to build a chatbot that talks back—because, let’s face it, silent bots are so last season. Either way, you’re in the right place. Today, we’ll break down how to use the ElevenLabs Python API to convert text into high-quality audio, tweak voices, and even clone them (because every Python coder needs a digital twin, right?).

ElevenLabs API in a Nutshell

The ElevenLabs Python API offers developers the ability to integrate AI voice and voice cloning technologies into their projects with just a few lines of code. Whether you want to add multilingual support, customize voice settings, or clone your own voice (cue the evil laugh), ElevenLabs has got you covered.

To make it even easier, they’ve got a fantastic GitHub repo where you can access everything you need to get started. So, let’s jump right in.

Getting Started: Installing the ElevenLabs Python API

Before you even think about running code, we need to install the ElevenLabs Python package.

pip install elevenlabs

Next, make sure you have your API key handy. You can find this in your ElevenLabs dashboard after signing up.

Now, for security (because we all love security, right?), it’s best to keep your xi-api-key in your environment variables. If you’re not familiar with this, just add the following line to your .env file:

XI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Then, load the environment variable in Python like this:

import os
from elevenlabs import set_api_key

# Load API key
set_api_key(os.getenv("XI_API_KEY"))

And that’s it for setup—seriously, no complex configurations here. Time to move on to something fun, like generating your first audio!

Convert Text to Speech: Hello, Python Voice!

Alright, the magic begins. We’ll start by converting a simple text string into audio. This will be your “Hello, World!” moment—but instead of printing to the console, you’ll get a voice to speak it out loud.

from elevenlabs import generate, play

# Generate audio from text
audio = generate(
    text="Hello, Python developers! Let's build something awesome with ElevenLabs.",
    voice="Rachel"  # You can change this to any available voice
)

Play the audio (works locally)
play(audio)

Boom! You’ve just created a talking bot! If you prefer not to play the audio directly, you can save it to a file instead.

# Save generated audio to file
with open("output_audio.mp3", "wb") as f:
    f.write(audio)

Now you’ve got yourself a nice little audio file. You’re officially a text-to-speech api wizard.

Using Different Voices and Customizing Voice Settings

ElevenLabs comes with pre-made voices like Rachel, Bella, and Domi. You can also fine-tune their voice settings with the voice_id and similarity_boost parameters.

Let’s play with those options. Here’s an example of customizing voice settings:

from elevenlabs import generate, voices

# Get available voices
available_voices = voices()

# Pick a voice (based on voice_id)
voice_id = available_voices[0].voice_id

# Generate audio with custom settings
audio = generate(
    text="Python is awesome! Especially with ElevenLabs for text-to-speech.",
    voice=voice_id,
    model="eleven_monolingual_v1",  # Using Eleven's AI voice model
    settings={
        "stability": 0.8,  # Adjust stability
        "similarity_boost": 0.75  # Fine-tune the voice likeness
    }
)

You can experiment with different voice_id and model_id values to suit your needs. If you’re building something like a podcast or an audiobook, this level of control allows you to create the perfect voice to match your project’s tone.

Pro Tip: Voice Cloning

If the standard voices don’t cut it for you, ElevenLabs offers voice cloning. Just upload some sample recordings of a voice, and it’ll mimic that voice! Imagine the possibilities for a voice assistant that sounds exactly like you (or your favorite sci-fi character).

Streaming Audio for Real-Time Applications

If you’re building a real-time chatbot or anything interactive, streaming the audio directly is key. Thankfully, ElevenLabs supports audio streaming via its API.

Here’s a quick example of how you can stream generated audio:

from elevenlabs import stream

# Stream audio
stream(
    text="Real-time Python audio streaming with ElevenLabs is fast and efficient!",
    voice="Rachel"
)

This reduces latency, allowing for seamless real-time responses in things like voice assistants or multilingual chatbots.

Endpoints: What Can You Do?

The ElevenLabs API offers a variety of endpoints for different tasks. Here are a few highlights:

• generate — Convert text to speech.
• voices — Get the list of available voices.
• stream — Real-time TTS audio streaming.
• clone_voice — Create a custom voice based on uploaded recordings.
• models — List of available AI voice models.

Each endpoint responds with JSON objects, so it’s easy to work with in Python. Check out the full docs on GitHub to see all the available features.

AI Voice in Workflows: Let’s Build a Voice-Powered Chatbot

Now, if you’re like me, you probably love playing with chatbots and OpenAI APIs. Here’s an idea: combine ChatGPT (or any OpenAI API) with ElevenLabs to create a talking chatbot.

import openai
from elevenlabs import generate, play

# Set OpenAI API key
openai.api_key = os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")

# Chatbot function
def chat_with_voice(prompt):
    response = openai.Completion.create(
        engine="text-davinci-003",
        prompt=prompt,
        max_tokens=150
    )
    
    # Convert chatbot response to speech
    audio = generate(
        text=response.choices[0].text,
        voice="Rachel",
        model="eleven_monolingual_v1"
    )
    
    # Play the response audio
    play(audio)

# Example usage
chat_with_voice("What is the meaning of life?")

This will make your ChatGPT chatbot speak with one of ElevenLabs’ voices. You can swap out the OpenAI model for your own use case or extend the project into something like a voice assistant.

Conclusion: Building with ElevenLabs and Python

The ElevenLabs Python API is incredibly flexible and easy to use. Whether you’re looking to build a talking chatbot, generate audio for a podcast, or even create a voice clone of yourself (because why not?), ElevenLabs offers the tools to do it. With just a few lines of code, you can add AI-powered voices to your Python projects, convert text into high-quality speech, and dive into the world of artificial intelligence audio.

If you’re serious about building awesome voice-based applications, this is the TTS API to get behind.

And if you’re still here after all this, you probably deserve to hear this out loud:

generate("Congratulations! You're now an ElevenLabs Python API expert.", voice="Rachel")

Now go build that AI-powered, voice-cloning Python project of your dreams – with the fastest Text to Speech API, from PlayHT!