FastRTC Voice Backend¶

RoomKit provides two FastRTC-based voice backends for browser-to-server real-time audio. Both use the FastRTC library (by Gradio) as the underlying transport.

Backend	Transport	Use case	VAD
`FastRTCVoiceBackend`	WebSocket	Traditional STT/TTS pipeline	Client-side (pipeline)
`FastRTCRealtimeTransport`	WebRTC	Speech-to-speech AI (Gemini Live, OpenAI Realtime)	Server-side (provider)

Installation¶

pip install roomkit[fastrtc] fastapi uvicorn

This installs fastrtc and numpy as dependencies.

FastRTCVoiceBackend (WebSocket)¶

The traditional voice pipeline path. Audio flows through VAD, STT, AI, and TTS stages on the server.

Architecture¶

Browser mic → WebSocket → FastRTCVoiceBackend
  → AudioPipeline: [Resampler] → [AEC] → [Denoiser] → VAD
  → STT (Deepgram, sherpa-onnx, etc.)
  → AI (Claude, GPT, etc.)
  → TTS (ElevenLabs, etc.)
  → mu-law encode → WebSocket → Browser speaker

Quick start¶

from fastapi import FastAPI
from contextlib import asynccontextmanager

from roomkit import RoomKit, VoiceChannel, AIChannel, ChannelCategory
from roomkit import AnthropicAIProvider, AnthropicConfig
from roomkit.voice.backends.fastrtc import FastRTCVoiceBackend, mount_fastrtc_voice
from roomkit.voice.pipeline import AudioPipelineConfig
from roomkit.voice.pipeline.vad.energy import EnergyVADProvider
from roomkit.voice.stt.deepgram import DeepgramConfig, DeepgramSTTProvider
from roomkit.voice.tts.elevenlabs import ElevenLabsConfig, ElevenLabsTTSProvider

kit = RoomKit()

backend = FastRTCVoiceBackend(
    input_sample_rate=48000,   # Browser mic rate
    output_sample_rate=24000,  # TTS output rate
)

vad = EnergyVADProvider(energy_threshold=300.0, silence_threshold_ms=600)
pipeline = AudioPipelineConfig(vad=vad)
stt = DeepgramSTTProvider(config=DeepgramConfig(api_key="...", model="nova-3"))
tts = ElevenLabsTTSProvider(config=ElevenLabsConfig(api_key="..."))

voice = VoiceChannel("voice", stt=stt, tts=tts, backend=backend, pipeline=pipeline)
kit.register_channel(voice)

ai = AIChannel("ai", provider=AnthropicAIProvider(AnthropicConfig(api_key="...")))
kit.register_channel(ai)


async def session_factory(websocket_id: str):
    """Auto-create room + session when a browser connects."""
    room = await kit.create_room()
    await kit.attach_channel(room.id, "voice")
    await kit.attach_channel(room.id, "ai", category=ChannelCategory.INTELLIGENCE)
    session = await backend.connect(room.id, "browser-user", "voice")
    session.metadata["websocket_id"] = websocket_id
    voice.bind_session(session, room.id)
    return session


@asynccontextmanager
async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
    mount_fastrtc_voice(app, backend, path="/voice", session_factory=session_factory)
    yield
    await kit.close()


app = FastAPI(lifespan=lifespan)

Constructor parameters¶

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`input_sample_rate`	`int`	`48000`	Browser microphone sample rate. FastRTC defaults to 48kHz.
`output_sample_rate`	`int`	`24000`	TTS output sample rate. Must match your TTS provider's native rate.
`audio_queue_maxsize`	`int`	`1000`	Per-session outbound audio queue depth.

mount_fastrtc_voice parameters¶

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`app`	`FastAPI`	required	FastAPI application instance.
`backend`	`FastRTCVoiceBackend`	required	The backend instance.
`path`	`str`	`"/fastrtc"`	Base path for the FastRTC endpoints.
`session_factory`	`async (str) → VoiceSession`	`None`	Called with `websocket_id` when a client connects. If not provided, sessions must be created manually before clients connect.
`auth`	`async (WebSocket) → dict \\| None`	`None`	Authentication callback. Return a metadata dict to accept, `None` to reject.

Endpoints created¶

When mounted at /voice, FastRTC creates:

/voice/websocket/offer — WebSocket endpoint for audio streaming
/voice/webrtc/offer — WebRTC offer endpoint (POST)
/voice/ui — Built-in Gradio UI (useful for quick testing)

Session lifecycle¶

1. Browser connects to /voice/websocket/offer
2. Browser sends: {"event": "start", "websocket_id": "abc123"}
3. session_factory("abc123") → creates Room + VoiceSession
4. Backend registers WebSocket → fires on_session_ready callbacks
5. Audio frames flow: browser → backend → pipeline → STT → AI → TTS → browser
6. Browser disconnects → session cleanup

FastRTCRealtimeTransport (WebRTC)¶

The speech-to-speech path. Audio passes through to the AI provider (Gemini Live, OpenAI Realtime) which handles VAD and response generation server-side.

Architecture¶

Browser mic → WebRTC → FastRTCRealtimeTransport
  → Raw PCM bytes → Provider (Gemini Live / OpenAI Realtime)
  → Provider generates audio + transcriptions
  → mu-law encode → DataChannel → Browser speaker

Quick start¶

from fastapi import FastAPI
from contextlib import asynccontextmanager

from roomkit import RoomKit, RealtimeVoiceChannel
from roomkit.providers.gemini.realtime import GeminiLiveProvider
from roomkit.voice.realtime.fastrtc_transport import (
    FastRTCRealtimeTransport,
    mount_fastrtc_realtime,
)

kit = RoomKit()

provider = GeminiLiveProvider(
    api_key="...",
    model="gemini-2.5-flash-native-audio-preview-12-2025",
)

transport = FastRTCRealtimeTransport(
    input_sample_rate=16000,
    output_sample_rate=24000,
)

channel = RealtimeVoiceChannel(
    "realtime-voice",
    provider=provider,
    transport=transport,
    system_prompt="You are a helpful assistant.",
    voice="Aoede",
)
kit.register_channel(channel)


async def on_client_connected(webrtc_id: str) -> None:
    room = await kit.create_room()
    await kit.attach_channel(room.id, "realtime-voice")
    await channel.start_session(room.id, "user-1", connection=webrtc_id)


transport.on_client_connected(on_client_connected)


@asynccontextmanager
async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
    mount_fastrtc_realtime(app, transport, path="/rtc-realtime")
    yield
    await kit.close()


app = FastAPI(lifespan=lifespan)

Constructor parameters¶

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`input_sample_rate`	`int`	`16000`	Browser microphone sample rate.
`output_sample_rate`	`int`	`24000`	Provider output sample rate.

mount_fastrtc_realtime parameters¶

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`app`	`FastAPI`	required	FastAPI application instance.
`transport`	`FastRTCRealtimeTransport`	required	The transport instance.
`path`	`str`	`"/rtc-realtime"`	Base path for WebRTC endpoints.
`auth`	`async (context) → dict \\| None`	`None`	Authentication callback. Receives the FastRTC context (with `webrtc_id`, connection info). Return metadata dict to accept, `None` to reject.

Endpoints created¶

When mounted at /rtc-realtime:

/rtc-realtime/webrtc/offer — WebRTC SDP offer endpoint (POST)
/rtc-realtime/ui — Built-in Gradio UI

Connection flow¶

1. Browser creates RTCPeerConnection
2. Browser creates DataChannel named "text" (required)
3. Browser sends SDP offer to /rtc-realtime/webrtc/offer
4. FastRTC negotiates ICE, DTLS, SRTP
5. handler.start_up() → transport registers handler → fires on_client_connected
6. App calls channel.start_session(room, participant, connection=webrtc_id)
7. Audio flows bidirectionally via WebRTC media tracks
8. Transcriptions sent via DataChannel as JSON

Audio format¶

Both backends use mu-law (G.711) encoding for outbound audio sent to the browser:

PCM-16 LE → mu-law (4:1 compression ratio)
Encoded as base64, wrapped in JSON: {"event": "media", "media": {"payload": "..."}}
Pure-Python encoder (no audioop dependency, compatible with Python 3.13+)
Pre-computed 16384-entry lookup table for O(1) per-sample encoding

Inbound audio from the browser arrives as:

WebSocket mode: mu-law encoded, same JSON format
WebRTC mode: PCM via WebRTC media tracks (decoded by FastRTC to numpy arrays)

Browser client¶

WebSocket connection (JavaScript)¶

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:8000/voice/websocket/offer');
const wsId = crypto.randomUUID();

ws.onopen = () => {
  ws.send(JSON.stringify({ event: 'start', websocket_id: wsId }));

  // Capture mic and send mu-law audio
  navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({ audio: true }).then(stream => {
    const ctx = new AudioContext({ sampleRate: 48000 });
    const source = ctx.createMediaStreamSource(stream);
    const processor = ctx.createScriptProcessor(4096, 1, 1);

    processor.onaudioprocess = (e) => {
      const float32 = e.inputBuffer.getChannelData(0);
      const mulaw = encodeMulaw(float32);  // PCM float → mu-law bytes
      const b64 = btoa(String.fromCharCode(...mulaw));
      ws.send(JSON.stringify({ event: 'media', media: { payload: b64 } }));
    };

    source.connect(processor);
    processor.connect(ctx.destination);
  });
};

ws.onmessage = (event) => {
  const data = JSON.parse(event.data);

  // Play received audio
  if (data.event === 'media') {
    const mulaw = Uint8Array.from(atob(data.media.payload), c => c.charCodeAt(0));
    // Decode mu-law → PCM → play via AudioContext
  }

  // Display transcriptions
  if (data.type === 'transcription') {
    console.log(`${data.data.role}: ${data.data.text}`);
  }
};

WebRTC connection (JavaScript)¶

const pc = new RTCPeerConnection();
const webrtcId = crypto.randomUUID();

// Mic → peer connection
const stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({ audio: true });
stream.getTracks().forEach(track => pc.addTrack(track, stream));

// Data channel for transcriptions (must be created before offer)
const dc = pc.createDataChannel('text');
dc.onmessage = (event) => {
  const data = JSON.parse(event.data);
  if (data.type === 'transcription') {
    console.log(`${data.data.role}: ${data.data.text}`);
  }
  if (data.event === 'media') {
    // Decode mu-law audio and play
  }
};

// Remote audio
pc.ontrack = (event) => {
  const audio = new Audio();
  audio.srcObject = event.streams[0];
  audio.play();
};

// ICE candidates
pc.onicecandidate = ({ candidate }) => {
  if (candidate) {
    fetch('/rtc-realtime/webrtc/offer', {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        candidate: candidate.toJSON(),
        webrtc_id: webrtcId,
        type: 'ice-candidate',
      }),
    });
  }
};

// Create and send offer
const offer = await pc.createOffer();
await pc.setLocalDescription(offer);

const resp = await fetch('/rtc-realtime/webrtc/offer', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ sdp: offer.sdp, type: offer.type, webrtc_id: webrtcId }),
});
const answer = await resp.json();
await pc.setRemoteDescription(answer);

Ready-made client

See examples/fastrtc_client.html for a complete browser client that supports both WebSocket and WebRTC modes with mu-law encoding/decoding, VU meter, and transcription display.

Authentication¶

Both backends support pluggable authentication via an auth callback.

WebSocket auth¶

async def authenticate(websocket) -> dict[str, object] | None:
    """Validate token from query string or headers."""
    token = websocket.query_params.get("token")
    if not token or not await verify_token(token):
        return None  # Reject connection
    return {"user_id": "...", "role": "agent"}  # Accept

mount_fastrtc_voice(app, backend, path="/voice", auth=authenticate,
                    session_factory=session_factory)

Auth metadata is available inside session_factory via the auth_context context variable:

from roomkit.voice.auth import auth_context

async def session_factory(websocket_id: str):
    meta = auth_context.get()  # {"user_id": "...", "role": "agent"}
    room = await kit.create_room()
    # ... use meta to customize session

WebRTC auth¶

async def authenticate(ctx) -> dict[str, object] | None:
    """Validate from FastRTC connection context."""
    # ctx has webrtc_id and connection metadata
    return {"authenticated": True}

mount_fastrtc_realtime(app, transport, path="/rtc-realtime", auth=authenticate)

Comparing the two backends¶

Aspect	FastRTCVoiceBackend	FastRTCRealtimeTransport
Transport	WebSocket	WebRTC (ICE, DTLS, SRTP)
Audio codec	mu-law (both directions)	PCM inbound, mu-law outbound
VAD	Pipeline-side (EnergyVAD, SherpaOnnx, etc.)	Provider-side (Gemini/OpenAI)
STT/TTS	Separate providers (Deepgram + ElevenLabs)	Built into the provider
Channel type	`VoiceChannel`	`RealtimeVoiceChannel`
Pipeline stages	Full (AEC, AGC, denoiser, VAD, diarization)	None (passthrough)
Latency	~100-200ms (STT + AI + TTS)	~50-150ms (speech-to-speech)
NAT traversal	N/A (WebSocket)	Full ICE with STUN/TURN
Use case	Custom STT/TTS stack, pipeline control	Low-latency speech-to-speech AI

Capabilities¶

FastRTCVoiceBackend declares VoiceCapability.NONE — all intelligence is delegated to the AudioPipeline.

FastRTCRealtimeTransport is a passthrough — the provider handles speech detection, so no pipeline capabilities are needed.

Pipeline integration¶

The FastRTCVoiceBackend integrates with the full AudioPipeline. You can add any combination of pipeline stages:

from roomkit.voice.pipeline import AudioPipelineConfig, WavFileRecorder, RecordingConfig
from roomkit.voice.pipeline.aec.webrtc import WebRTCAECProvider
from roomkit.voice.pipeline.denoiser.rnnoise import RNNoiseDenoiserProvider
from roomkit.voice.pipeline.vad.sherpa_onnx import SherpaOnnxVADProvider, SherpaOnnxVADConfig

pipeline = AudioPipelineConfig(
    vad=SherpaOnnxVADProvider(SherpaOnnxVADConfig(model="path/to/model.onnx")),
    aec=WebRTCAECProvider(sample_rate=16000),
    denoiser=RNNoiseDenoiserProvider(sample_rate=16000),
    recorder=WavFileRecorder(),
    recording_config=RecordingConfig(storage="./recordings"),
)

voice = VoiceChannel("voice", stt=stt, tts=tts, backend=backend, pipeline=pipeline)

The pipeline processes inbound audio in this order:

[Resampler] → [Recorder tap] → [AEC] → [AGC] → [Denoiser] → VAD → [Diarization] + [DTMF]

Examples¶

examples/voice_fastrtc.py — FastRTCVoiceBackend with Deepgram STT + Claude + ElevenLabs TTS (includes inline browser client)
examples/realtime_voice_fastrtc.py — FastRTCRealtimeTransport with Gemini Live
examples/fastrtc_client.html — Standalone browser client supporting both modes

API Reference¶

FastRTCVoiceBackend ¶
```
FastRTCVoiceBackend(*, input_sample_rate=48000, output_sample_rate=24000, audio_queue_maxsize=DEFAULT_QUEUE_MAXSIZE)
```
Bases: VoiceBackend

VoiceBackend implementation using FastRTC for WebSocket audio transport.

This backend is a pure transport — it delivers raw audio frames via the on_audio_received callback. All audio intelligence (VAD, denoising, diarization) is handled by the AudioPipeline.
on_audio_received ¶

on_audio_received(callback)

Register callback for raw inbound audio frames.

FastRTCRealtimeTransport ¶

FastRTCRealtimeTransport(*, input_sample_rate=16000, output_sample_rate=24000)

Bases: VoiceBackend

WebRTC-based realtime audio transport using FastRTC.

Uses FastRTC in passthrough mode (no VAD) for speech-to-speech AI providers. Audio flows bidirectionally between the browser (via WebRTC) and the provider, which handles its own server-side VAD.

Connection flow

mount_fastrtc_realtime(app, transport) creates a Stream
Browser connects via WebRTC -> FastRTC calls handler.copy() -> start_up()
start_up() reads webrtc_id, registers handler with transport
Transport fires on_client_connected callback (if set)
App calls channel.start_session(room_id, participant_id, connection=webrtc_id)
start_session() -> transport.accept(session, webrtc_id) maps session to handler
receive()/emit() flow audio with session context

accept `async` ¶

accept(session, connection)

Accept a WebRTC connection for the given session.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`session`	`VoiceSession`	The realtime session to bind.	required
`connection`	`Any`	The webrtc_id string identifying the WebRTC connection.	required

send_audio `async` ¶

send_audio(session, audio)

Send audio data to the connected WebRTC client.

Sends directly on the WebSocket, bypassing FastRTC's emit queue for minimal latency.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`session`	`VoiceSession`	The session to send audio to.	required
`audio`	`bytes \| AsyncIterator[AudioChunk]`	Raw PCM16 LE audio bytes or an async iterator of AudioChunks.	required

send_message `async` ¶

send_message(session, message)

Send a JSON message via the WebRTC DataChannel.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`session`	`VoiceSession`	The session to send the message to.	required
`message`	`dict[str, Any]`	JSON-serializable message dict.	required

disconnect `async` ¶

disconnect(session)

Disconnect the client for the given session.

Removes all mappings and sends a None sentinel to the handler's audio queue to signal the end of the stream.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`session`	`VoiceSession`	The session to disconnect.	required

on_audio_received ¶

on_audio_received(callback)

Register callback for audio received from the client.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`callback`	`AudioReceivedCallback`	Called with (session, audio_bytes).	required

on_client_disconnected ¶

on_client_disconnected(callback)

Register callback for client disconnection.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`callback`	`TransportDisconnectCallback`	Called with (session) when the client disconnects.	required

on_client_connected ¶

on_client_connected(callback)

Register callback fired when a new WebRTC client connects.

Called with (webrtc_id: str). Use to auto-create sessions.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`callback`	`Callable[[str], Any]`	Called with the webrtc_id when a client connects.	required

close `async` ¶

close()

Close all connections and release resources.

See Voice Channel API and Realtime Voice API for channel-level documentation.

FastRTC Voice Backend¶

Installation¶

FastRTCVoiceBackend (WebSocket)¶

Architecture¶

Quick start¶

Constructor parameters¶

mount_fastrtc_voice parameters¶

Endpoints created¶

Session lifecycle¶

FastRTCRealtimeTransport (WebRTC)¶

Architecture¶

Quick start¶

Constructor parameters¶

mount_fastrtc_realtime parameters¶

Endpoints created¶

Connection flow¶

Audio format¶

Browser client¶

WebSocket connection (JavaScript)¶

WebRTC connection (JavaScript)¶

Authentication¶

WebSocket auth¶

WebRTC auth¶

Comparing the two backends¶

Capabilities¶

Pipeline integration¶

Examples¶

API Reference¶

FastRTCVoiceBackend ¶

on_audio_received ¶

FastRTCRealtimeTransport ¶

accept async ¶

send_audio async ¶

send_message async ¶

disconnect async ¶

on_audio_received ¶

on_client_disconnected ¶

on_client_connected ¶

close async ¶

accept `async` ¶

send_audio `async` ¶

send_message `async` ¶

disconnect `async` ¶

close `async` ¶