livekit-agents@1.5.3

livekit/agentslivekit-agents@1.5.3Apr 16, 2026by theomonnom

AI Summary

This release adds support for xAI Grok and Cerebras LLMs, Runway Characters avatar plugin, and includes various bug fixes for AgentTask deadlock, Realtime session reuse, and provider compatibility.

Key Highlights

  • Added xAI Grok LLM support for inference
  • Added Cerebras LLM plugin
  • Added Runway Characters avatar plugin
  • Enabled Realtime session reuse across agent handoffs

New Features

  • xAI Grok LLM support
  • Cerebras LLM plugin
  • Runway Characters avatar plugin
  • InstructionParts for modular instruction customization
  • ToolSearchToolset and ToolProxyToolset

Full Release Notes

> [!NOTE]  
> **livekit-agents 1.5 introduced many new features. You can check out the changelog [here](https://github.com/livekit/agents/releases/tag/livekit-agents%401.5.0).**

## What's Changed
* feat(amd): add OTEL span and tag for AMD by @chenghao-mou in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5376
* fix(openai): prepend session instructions in realtime generate_reply by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5394
* fix: AgentTask deadlock when on_enter awaits generate_reply that triggers another AgentTask by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5377
* telemetry: emit OTel span events for developer-role messages by @joaquinhuigomez in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5403
* feat(realtime): reuse realtime session across agent handoffs if supported by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5229
* fix(llm): handle double-encoded JSON tool arguments from providers by @prettyprettyprettygood in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5409
* chore: exposed the max session duration in with_azure() function by @k-1208 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5383
* (gemini live 3.1): fix tool responses by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5413
* fix(google): capture usage_metadata before early continues in streaming by @Panmax in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5404
* fix(voice): block new user turns immediately on update_agent() to prevent transition delay by @Panmax in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5396
* fix(tests): update drive thru instructions by @chenghao-mou in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5405
* feat(inference): handle preflight_transcript in inference STT plugin by @adrian-cowham in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5412
* fix(aws): unwrap doubly-encoded JSON tool arguments from Nova Sonic by @rililinx in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5411
* chore: pin GHA by commit by @davidzhao in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5415
* chore(deps): update dependency langchain-core to v1.2.28 [security] by @renovate[bot] in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5417
* chore(deps): update dependency aiohttp to v3.13.4 [security] by @renovate[bot] in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5416
* chore(deps): update dependency nltk to v3.9.4 [security] by @renovate[bot] in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5418
* (azure openai): ensure gpt-realtime-1.5 compatibility by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5407
* chore(deps): update github workflows (major) by @renovate[bot] in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5424
* update: Sarvam STT - add verbose error loggin and remove retry connection by @dhruvladia-sarvam in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5373
* fix(inworld): do not leak connections when when cancelled by @davidzhao in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5427
* feat: add service_tier parameter to Responses API LLM by @piyush-gambhir in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5346
* Feature/krisp viva sdk support by @realgarik in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/4370
* fix: empty transcript blocks commit_user_turn until timeout by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5429
* fix: allow multiple AsyncToolsets by deduplicating management tools by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5369
* feat(beta/workflows): add InstructionParts for modular instruction customization by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5077
* add ToolSearchToolset and ToolProxyToolset for dynamic tool discovery by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5140
* Feature - Configurable session close transcript timeout by @bml1g12 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5328
* Fix FrameProcessor lifecycle for selector based noise cancellation by @Topherhindman in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5433
* feat: add Runway Characters avatar plugin by @robinandeer in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5355
* Rename e2ee to encryption in JobContext.connect by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5454
* chore: reduce renovate noise by @davidzhao in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5421
* fix(liveavatar): wait for connected state and chunk audio before sending by @dyi1 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5453
* (phonic): support realtimemodel say() by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5293
* feat: add Cerebras LLM plugin by @u9g in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5456
* (google tts): add "gemini-3.1-flash-tts-preview" model by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5459
* (hedra) remove from examples and raise exception by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5460
* xai stt by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5458
* feat(openai): expose max_output_tokens on Responses API LLM by @piyush-gambhir in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5449
* (xai stt): pass diarization capability + minor fix by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5461
* Adding xAI Grok llm support for inference by @russellmartin-livekit in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5201
* (release workflow): allow spacing in dependency by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5463
* livekit-agents@1.5.3 by @github-actions[bot] in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5464

## New Contributors
* @joaquinhuigomez made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5403
* @k-1208 made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5383
* @rililinx made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5411
* @renovate[bot] made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5417
* @realgarik made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/4370
* @robinandeer made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5355
* @dyi1 made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5453
* @u9g made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/5456

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/livekit/agents/compare/livekit-agents@1.5.2...livekit-agents@1.5.3