Deepgram Install & Auth

Current State

!npm list @deepgram/sdk 2>/dev/null || echo '@deepgram/sdk not installed' !pip show deepgram-sdk 2>/dev/null | grep Version || echo 'deepgram-sdk (Python) not installed'

Overview

Install the Deepgram SDK and configure API key authentication. Deepgram provides speech-to-text (Nova-3, Nova-2), text-to-speech (Aura-2), and audio intelligence APIs. The JS SDK uses createClient() (v3/v4) or new DeepgramClient() (v5+).

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+
• Deepgram account at console.deepgram.com
• API key from Console > Settings > API Keys

Instructions

Step 1: Install SDK

Node.js (v3/v4 — current stable):

npm install @deepgram/sdk
# or
pnpm add @deepgram/sdk

Python:

pip install deepgram-sdk

Step 2: Configure API Key

# Option A: Environment variable (recommended)
export DEEPGRAM_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

# Option B: .env file (add .env to .gitignore)
echo 'DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=your-api-key-here' >> .env

Never hardcode keys. Use dotenv for local dev, secret managers in production.

Step 3: Initialize Client (TypeScript)

import { createClient } from '@deepgram/sdk';

// Reads DEEPGRAM_API_KEY from env automatically
const deepgram = createClient(process.env.DEEPGRAM_API_KEY!);

SDK v5+ uses a different constructor:

import { DeepgramClient } from '@deepgram/sdk';
const deepgram = new DeepgramClient({ apiKey: process.env.DEEPGRAM_API_KEY });

Step 4: Initialize Client (Python)

from deepgram import DeepgramClient, PrerecordedOptions, LiveOptions
import os

client = DeepgramClient(os.environ["DEEPGRAM_API_KEY"])

Step 5: Verify Connection

// TypeScript — list projects to verify key is valid
async function verify() {
  const deepgram = createClient(process.env.DEEPGRAM_API_KEY!);
  const { result, error } = await deepgram.manage.getProjects();
  if (error) {
    console.error('Auth failed:', error.message);
    process.exit(1);
  }
  console.log(`Connected. Projects: ${result.projects.length}`);
  result.projects.forEach(p => console.log(`  - ${p.name} (${p.project_id})`));
}
verify();

# Python — verify connection
from deepgram import DeepgramClient
import os

client = DeepgramClient(os.environ["DEEPGRAM_API_KEY"])
response = client.manage.v("1").get_projects()
print(f"Connected. Projects: {len(response.projects)}")
for p in response.projects:
    print(f"  - {p.name} ({p.project_id})")

Step 6: Configure for Production

// Singleton client with custom options
import { createClient, DeepgramClient } from '@deepgram/sdk';

let client: DeepgramClient | null = null;

export function getDeepgramClient(): DeepgramClient {
  if (!client) {
    const apiKey = process.env.DEEPGRAM_API_KEY;
    if (!apiKey) throw new Error('DEEPGRAM_API_KEY is required');
    client = createClient(apiKey);
  }
  return client;
}

API Key Scopes

Scope	Permission	Use Case
member	Full access	Development only
listen	STT transcription	Production transcription services
speak	TTS synthesis	Voice generation services
manage	Project management	Admin tools
usage	Usage data	Monitoring dashboards

Create scoped keys in Console > Settings > API Keys > Create Key.

Output

• Installed @deepgram/sdk (Node.js) or deepgram-sdk (Python)
• API key configured via environment variable or .env
• Verified connection with project listing
• Singleton client pattern for production use

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
401 Unauthorized	Invalid or expired API key	Regenerate key in Console > API Keys
403 Forbidden	Key lacks required scope	Create new key with correct scopes
MODULE_NOT_FOUND	SDK not installed	Run npm install @deepgram/sdk
ENOTFOUND api.deepgram.com	Network/DNS issue	Check internet, verify no proxy blocking
TypeError: createClient is not a function	SDK v5 installed	Use new DeepgramClient() instead

Resources

• Deepgram Console
• JavaScript SDK
• Python SDK
• API Key Management
• SDK Feature Matrix

Next Steps

Proceed to deepgram-hello-world for your first transcription.