LiveKit Agents
An Apache-2.0 framework for real-time voice agents that connects any speech, language and voice provider, with semantic turn detection, native MCP tool support, a test framework, and an open-source media and SIP stack it can run on entirely.
What it does
LiveKit Agents "is designed for building realtime, programmable participants that run on servers", for "conversational, multi-modal voice agents that can see, hear, and understand". The agent joins a LiveKit room as a participant, and the framework handles the audio path.
The README lists a mix-and-match ecosystem of speech-to-text, language and text-to-speech providers and realtime models, naming OpenAI, Deepgram, Cartesia and Google in its examples. Semantic turn detection uses a transformer model "to detect when a user is done with their turn", which the README says reduces interruptions. MCP servers plug in "with one line of code". Telephony works through LiveKit's own stack, which includes an open-source SIP service. There is a built-in test framework with judges, and multi-agent handoff appears in the samples.
What it replaces
LiveKit Agents replaces Vapi, Retell AI and ElevenLabs Agents for a team that wants the framework, the media server and the phone bridge all open source on its own machines. The README: "Fully open-source, allowing you to run the entire stack on your own servers, including LiveKit server."
Where it falls short: beyond the console test mode, a LiveKit server is required, either LiveKit Cloud or one you host. The turn-detection models are under a separate LiveKit model licence, which the README points to and this page has not read. The README calls the framework "under active development in a rapidly evolving field".
How it runs
pip install "livekit-agents[openai,deepgram,cartesia]" with the providers you need as extras. Three modes: console for a local test with no external servers, dev and start, which connect to a LiveKit server through a URL, key and secret. A Node.js version lives in the separate AgentsJS repository. LiveKit sells LiveKit Cloud and a unified model API called LiveKit Inference; no prices are stated.
Who it fits
A team that already runs or is willing to run LiveKit, wants turn detection and testing built in, and wants tools through MCP. A team that wants to avoid running a media server at all should compare Pipecat's transport list.
Limits the README states
Active development. Plugin integration tests need credentials and run only for maintainers' pull requests.
Sources
- LiveKit Agents README and Apache-2.0 LICENSE: github.com/livekit/agents, read 2026-09-16.
More voice agent frameworks
A Python framework under BSD-2-Clause, maintained by Daily, for real-time voice and multimodal agents, with the widest provider list on this site and telephony serialisers for Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo, Vonage, Exotel and Genesys.
A real-time conversational AI framework from Agora with a visual designer, a SIP extension and turn detection, released under Apache-2.0 plus conditions that forbid competing deployments, which makes it source available rather than open source.
Added September 16, 2026. Found an error on this page? Write to reveneau@licheo.com and it gets fixed in the next weekly pass.
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