ElevenLabs ConvAI — Full-Duplex Voice Agent Platform

Quick Use

1. Create agent at elevenlabs.io/app/conversational-ai (or via API)
2. Set prompt, voice, optional tools schema
3. Embed via <elevenlabs-convai> widget or connect to Twilio Stream

Intro

ElevenLabs Conversational AI is a managed voice agent platform — bring an agent prompt and an optional function-call schema, ElevenLabs handles STT, LLM routing, ElevenLabs TTS, VAD, and barge-in. Drop it into a web widget, a Twilio phone number, or any custom WebRTC client. Best for: customer support bots, lead qualification calls, voice characters in mobile apps, anyone who wants sub-1-second voice without wiring four providers. Works with: Web JS SDK, Python SDK, Twilio Voice integration. Setup time: 15 minutes.

Create an agent (dashboard or API)

import requests

agent = requests.post(
    "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai/agents/create",
    headers={"xi-api-key": API_KEY},
    json={
        "name": "Refund Triage",
        "conversation_config": {
            "agent": {
                "prompt": {
                    "prompt": "You triage refund requests. Confirm order ID, reason, then offer to escalate to a human if amount > $500.",
                    "llm": "gpt-4o-mini",
                },
                "first_message": "Hi, I can help with refunds. What's your order ID?",
                "language": "en",
            },
            "tts": {"voice_id": "21m00Tcm4TlvDq8ikWAM", "model_id": "eleven_turbo_v2_5"},
            "asr": {"provider": "elevenlabs", "language": "en"},
        },
    },
).json()
print(agent["agent_id"])

Attach a tool (function call)

tools = [{
    "type": "client",
    "name": "lookup_order",
    "description": "Look up order status by ID",
    "parameters": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
        "required": ["order_id"],
    },
}]

requests.patch(
    f"https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai/agents/{agent_id}",
    headers={"xi-api-key": API_KEY},
    json={"conversation_config": {"agent": {"tools": tools}}},
)

Embed in a web app

<!-- One-line embed via official widget -->
<elevenlabs-convai agent-id="YOUR_AGENT_ID"></elevenlabs-convai>
<script src="https://elevenlabs.io/convai-widget/index.js" async type="text/javascript"></script>

Wire to Twilio (phone agent)

# In Twilio Voice webhook
from twilio.twiml.voice_response import VoiceResponse, Connect

response = VoiceResponse()
connect = Connect()
connect.stream(url="wss://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai/conversation?agent_id=YOUR_AGENT_ID")
response.append(connect)
return str(response)

Pricing tiers (May 2026)

FAQ

Q: ConvAI vs LiveKit Agents? A: ConvAI is managed and opinionated — one bill, ElevenLabs TTS, fast to ship. LiveKit Agents is self-assembled — you pick STT/LLM/TTS, run on your infra, cheaper at scale, more control. Use ConvAI for fast launch, LiveKit when scale or vendor diversity matters.

Q: Can I use a non-ElevenLabs LLM? A: Yes — set llm to a custom endpoint with OpenAI-compatible schema. Or use Anthropic / Gemini through the supported list. ElevenLabs handles the orchestration regardless of which LLM serves tokens.

Q: Latency in practice? A: Typical round-trip 600-900ms on Pro tier with Turbo v2.5 TTS. Long agents with verbose tool calls slip into 1.2-1.8s. Use first_message and avoid huge system prompts to keep TTFR (time-to-first-response) tight.

Source & Thanks

Built by ElevenLabs. ConvAI docs at elevenlabs.io/docs/conversational-ai.

elevenlabs/elevenlabs-python — official SDK