--- title: AI Gateway Realtime Quickstart product: vercel url: /docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/realtime canonical_url: "https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/realtime" last_updated: 2026-09-08 type: tutorial prerequisites: - /docs/ai-gateway/getting-started - /docs/ai-gateway related: - /docs/ai-gateway/pricing - /docs/ai-gateway/modalities/realtime summary: Start a realtime speech session using AI Gateway. install_vercel_plugin: npx plugins add vercel/vercel-plugin --- # AI Gateway Realtime Quickstart Start a realtime speech session through AI Gateway. ## Related pages > **For AI agents:** Follow these links to understand how this page connects to the rest of the Vercel ecosystem. For the full cross-link map (inbound, outbound, prerequisites, and semantic neighbors), see the .graph.md link below. - [Realtime voice, speech, and transcription now supported on AI Gateway](https://vercel.com/changelog/realtime-voice-speech-and-transcription-now-supported-on-ai-gateway?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) - [xAI Grok audio models now available on Vercel AI Gateway](https://vercel.com/changelog/xai-grok-audio-models-now-available-on-vercel-ai-gateway?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) - [Build realtime voice agents on AI Gateway](https://vercel.com/blog/realtime-voice-agents-on-ai-gateway?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) - [Realtime](https://ai-sdk.dev/docs/ai-sdk-core/realtime?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) - [Using TanStack AI with Vercel AI Gateway](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/tanstack-ai-vercel-ai-gateway?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Connect TanStack AI to Vercel AI Gateway with the @tanstack/ai-vercel-gateway adapter to stream chat, route across provi - [AI Gateway Speech Quickstart: Transcription and TTS](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/speech?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Generate speech and transcribe it using AI Gateway. - [Video Generation Quickstart](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/video?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Generate a video from a text prompt using AI Gateway. - [AI SDK with AI Gateway](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/sdks-and-apis/ai-sdk?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Build AI-powered TypeScript applications using the AI SDK with AI Gateway for unified access to 200+ models. Full cross-link map for this page: [/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/realtime.graph.md](/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/realtime.graph.md?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Frealtime&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=graph) ## Start a realtime session ### Use a coding agent Paste this prompt into a coding agent with terminal access: **Agent prompt** ```text Add a realtime speech session through AI Gateway in the current environment. Use the AI Gateway skill for this task. If it is unavailable, run npx skills add vercel/vercel-plugin --skill ai-gateway, then find and read its SKILL.md before continuing. Reuse the environment's language, framework, package manager, and interface when possible, choose an AI Gateway SDK or API that supports realtime speech, and add only required dependencies. Read AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY from the environment. If it is missing, run npx vercel@latest whoami and pause for login if needed. Determine the team, then run npx vercel@latest --scope ai-gateway api-keys create --name . Capture stdout directly into AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY for the request or existing ignored secret storage, and never expose the value. Use openai/gpt-realtime-2, start a session, handle its transcript or audio in the existing interface, run the result, and report the output. ``` ### Run the Node.js example Use [Node.js 22.18 or later](https://nodejs.org/) and a team with available [AI Gateway Credits](/docs/ai-gateway/pricing). Export `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` in your current shell. If you need a key, open the [Create API Key dialog](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai-gateway%2Fapi-keys%3FshowCreateKeyModal%3Dtrue\&title=AI+Gateway+API+Keys). ```bash filename="Terminal" export AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY="your_ai_gateway_api_key" ``` Install the AI Gateway provider and WebSocket client: ```bash filename="Terminal" pnpm add @ai-sdk/gateway@latest ws ``` Create `realtime.mts`: ```typescript filename="realtime.mts" import { gateway } from '@ai-sdk/gateway'; import WebSocket from 'ws'; const modelId = 'openai/gpt-realtime-2'; const { token, url } = await gateway.experimental_realtime.getToken({ model: modelId, }); const model = gateway.experimental_realtime(modelId); const config = model.getWebSocketConfig({ token, url }); const ws = new WebSocket(config.url, config.protocols); const send = async (event: Parameters[0]) => ws.send(JSON.stringify(await model.serializeClientEvent(event))); ws.on('open', async () => { await send({ type: 'conversation-item-create', item: { type: 'text-message', role: 'user', text: 'Say hello in one sentence.', }, }); await send({ type: 'response-create' }); }); ws.on('message', (data) => { const parsed = model.parseServerEvent(JSON.parse(data.toString())); for (const event of Array.isArray(parsed) ? parsed : [parsed]) { if (event.type === 'audio-transcript-delta') { process.stdout.write(event.delta); } if (event.type === 'response-done') { console.log(); ws.close(); } if (event.type === 'error') { console.error(event.message); ws.close(); } } }); ``` Run the script: ```bash filename="Terminal" node realtime.mts ``` ## Next steps - Build a live browser voice agent with a server-minted token in the [Realtime guide](/docs/ai-gateway/modalities/realtime#browser-voice-agent) - Configure [sessions and limits](/docs/ai-gateway/modalities/realtime#session-config) - Browse [realtime models](/ai-gateway/models) --- [View full sitemap](/docs/sitemap)