livekit-agents@1.6.8

yarnpkg/yarnlivekit-agents@1.6.8Aug 3, 2026by chenghao-mou

AI Summary

This release deprecates the legacy console and dev CLI modes in favor of the new `lk agent` command. It includes a critical fix for Ink-2 speech onset delays and adds new STT capabilities for SmallestAI and ElevenLabs.

Key Highlights

  • Deprecated console and dev modes in favor of `lk agent` CLI
  • Ink-2 speech onset fix for interruption detection
  • SmallestAI STT support with endpointing and keyword boosting
  • ElevenLabs STT support for previous_text
  • Expressive mode refactor with Fish Audio support

Breaking Changes

  • Deprecated console and dev modes in favor of `lk agent` CLI

New Features

  • User transcription timeout feature
  • Auto-disable server-side turn detection
  • ElevenLabs STT previous_text support
  • SmallestAI STT endpointing and keyword boosting
  • Cartesia STT ink-2 turn-detection thresholds
  • Expressive mode refactor
  • Gateway minting avatar worker token

Full Release Notes

## What's Changed

> [!WARNING]
> **`console` and `dev` modes are deprecated** in favor of `lk agent` (#6656). Existing workflows that shell out to `python agent.py console` or `python agent.py dev` should migrate to the `lk agent` CLI.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Inference **Ink-2 speech onset fix (#6630)** — if you rely on the STT model for interruption detection without a local VAD, upgrade for this fix. Previously the provider's speech-onset signal was delayed until first non-empty interim transcript, so STT interruptions could be delayed on Ink-2 via Inference. Setups with a local VAD in the pipeline are unaffected.

### Features

* feat(core): add user transcription timeout by @chenghao-mou in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6182
* feat(voice): auto-disable realtime server-side turn detection by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6495
* feat(cli): deprecate console and dev modes in favor of `lk agent` by @u9g in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6656
* feat(elevenlabs): support previous_text on realtime STT by @tulanisahil1-beep in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6534
* feat(smallestai): add endpointing, keyword boosting, format, and sentence timestamps to Smallest STT by @harshitajain165 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6565
* (xai stt): expose vad_threshold, smart_turn, smart_turn_timeout, and keyterm params by @ajayarora1235 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6587
* (cartesia stt): expose ink-2 turn-detection thresholds and keyterm params by @ajayarora1235 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6594
* (inference): type Cartesia turn-detection params in CartesiaOptions by @ajayarora1235 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6597
* (inference openai llm): set default reasoning to none by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6609
* Update Cerebras models and default by @ryanl-cerebras in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6593
* plugins/phonic: add configs_for_tools for per-tool behavior overrides by @arunwpm-work in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6634
* (expressive mode): refactor options, remove prompt presets by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6406
* (expressive mode): register inference replaces presets by @cshape in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6632
* (expressive mode): add fish audio by @cshape in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6631
* (expressive mode): remove unconditional bracket stripping by @tinalenguyen in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6590
* feat(inference): let the gateway mint the avatar worker token by @shawnfeldman in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6575
* add agent id and deployment resource attrs by @jmcclanahan in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6570
* feat(deps): relax opentelemetry constraint to >=1.39.0,<2 by @biztex in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6552
* chore(krisp): adjust default noise_suppression_level by @lukasIO in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6640

### Bug Fixes

* fix: defer interim interruptions to local VAD by @chenghao-mou in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6599
* fix(voice): retain concrete language for turn detection by @Oxygen56 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6531
* fix(openai realtime): treat create_response=False as client-side turn taking by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6642
* fix(inference): report Ink-2 speech onset when the provider detects it by @russellmartin-livekit in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6630
* fix(inference): don't claim word alignment for models that send none by @russellmartin-livekit in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6629
* fix(stt): send the turn commit when a flush yields no buffered audio by @chenghao-mou in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6598
* fix: account for STT fallback transcript alignment by @chenghao-mou in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6633
* fix(voice): tolerate formatting changes in preemptive transcripts by @swayamg20 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6667
* fix(elevenlabs): populate SpeechData.confidence from Scribe logprobs by @captainbanan in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6461
* fix(sarvam): saaras:v3 does not support the config/prompt message by @biztex in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6617
* fix(aws): emit streaming STT usage metrics by @swayamg20 in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6653
* fix(voice): avoid dropping turns and resuming early while a speech is paused by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6662
* fix(voice): place a realtime user turn where the turn began by @u9g in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6616
* fix(voice): reset tool call created_at at execution start in realtime replies by @u9g in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6615
* fix(room_io): don't re-fire playback_started on resume by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6636
* fix(google): release the genai client when the realtime session closes by @biztex in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6643
* voice: strip markdown emphasis in CJK text by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6560
* fix(llm): apply tool defaults across all schema shapes; keep response formats sentinel-free by @u9g in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6444
* "ValueError: EOF while parsing a string" during tool calls by @AlvaroBalbin in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6382
* fix(llm): tolerate list-shaped streaming delta content in strip_thinking_tokens by @biztex in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6625
* fix(workflows): return corrective instructions as tool output instead of generate_reply by @u9g in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6372
* fix(anthropic): disable vendor SDK retries by default by @axelray-dev in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6604
* fix(aws): count cached tokens in Bedrock's prompt_tokens by @arthi-arumugam-git in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6663
* fix: disable AEC warmup for outbound SIP calls by @chenghao-mou in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6608
* fix(livekit-agents): propagate prewarm through the STT fallback and stream adapters by @fxhxdxd in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6583
* fix(livekit-agents): forward prewarm to the primary LLM in the fallback adapter by @fxhxdxd in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6582
* bithuman: skip the SDK dependency on Python 3.14 by @longcw in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6561
* bithuman: fail closed on Python versions the SDK has no build for by @u9g in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6614
* fix(examples): pass LemonSlice avatar options via extra_kwargs by @shawnfeldman in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6574
* fix(evals): avoid overriding judge reasoning by @inickt in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6566

### Other

* Add homepage voice agent example by @ShayneP in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6422
* docs: correct krisp noise_suppression_level default to 75 by @detail-app[bot] in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6651
* fix(scripts): type-check for linux on every host OS, matching CI by @biztex in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6623
* bump livekit sdk to 1.1.14 by @theomonnom in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6654
* livekit-agents@1.6.8 by @github-actions[bot] in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6659


## New Contributors
* @tulanisahil1-beep made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6534
* @AlvaroBalbin made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6382
* @biztex made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6552
* @Oxygen56 made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6531
* @ajayarora1235 made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6587
* @fxhxdxd made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6583
* @ryanl-cerebras made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6593
* @axelray-dev made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6604
* @arthi-arumugam-git made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6663
* @swayamg20 made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6653
* @captainbanan made their first contribution in https://github.com/livekit/agents/pull/6461

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/livekit/agents/compare/livekit-agents@1.6.7...livekit-agents@1.6.8