skills/sound-effects/references/installation.md

Installation

JavaScript / TypeScript

npm install @elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js

Important: Always use @elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js. The old elevenlabs npm package (v1.x) is deprecated and should not be used.

import { ElevenLabsClient } from "@elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js";

// Option 1: Environment variable (recommended)
// Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in your environment
const client = new ElevenLabsClient();

// Option 2: Pass directly
const client = new ElevenLabsClient({ apiKey: "your-api-key" });

Python

pip install elevenlabs

from elevenlabs import ElevenLabs

# Option 1: Environment variable (recommended)
# Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in your environment
client = ElevenLabs()

# Option 2: Pass directly
client = ElevenLabs(api_key="your-api-key")

cURL / REST API

Set your API key as an environment variable:

export ELEVENLABS_API_KEY="your-api-key"

Include in requests via the xi-api-key header:

curl -X POST "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/sound-generation" \
  -H "xi-api-key: $ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Thunder rumbling in the distance"}' --output output.mp3

Getting an API Key

1. Sign up at elevenlabs.io
2. Go to API Keys
3. Click Create API Key
4. Copy and store securely

Or use the setup-api-key skill for guided setup.