Speech-to-Text

Transcription runs over POST /v1/audio/transcriptions (REST) and WS /v1/audio/transcriptions/realtime (streaming). See Speech-to-Text for the full reference.

422 — the endpoint expects multipart/form-data, not JSON

POST /v1/audio/transcriptions uses multipart/form-data, not a JSON body. Send fields as form parts (-F in curl, files=/data= in httpx). Posting JSON is the most common cause of a 422 here.

No audio provided

You must supply exactly one input source: a file upload, a source_url (public URL), or a cloud_storage_url (S3/GCS). Omitting all three fails.

422 on transcribe-and-translate

POST /v1/audio/transcriptions/translate requires a model that supports translation (defaults to sarvam/saaras:v2). If the selected model can’t translate, you get a 422. Confirm capabilities via GET /v1/models.

Realtime WebSocket won’t connect or auth fails

Pass the key one of three ways: Sec-WebSocket-Protocol: Bearer rsk_..., ?api_key=rsk_..., or ?token=rsk_.... In browsers (no custom headers), use the query parameter.

Realtime transcripts are empty or garbled

• audio_format must match what you actually send (default pcm_16000; the standard protocol expects PCM s16le, 16 kHz, mono).
• With commit_strategy: manual you must send input_audio_buffer.commit (or ElevenLabs commit: true) to get a final transcript; auto uses VAD.
• ElevenLabs realtime only forwards input_audio_chunk frames — any other message type is silently dropped.

WebSocket closed with an error

Realtime STT sends a JSON error frame and then closes with code 1000. Read the error frame for the reason (auth or upstream). REST errors use standard codes: 401, 422, 429, 402.

Still stuck?

See the Mesh API error reference or email contact@meshapi.ai.