create

Create a new Pipecat project with guided setup for bot type, transport, AI services, and deployment options. Supports both an interactive wizard and a fully non-interactive mode for automation. Usage:

pipecat create [TARGET_DIR] [OPTIONS]

To make an existing project agent-ready (so an AI coding assistant follows Pipecat conventions and can drive pipecat create for you), see pipecat init.

Arguments:

string

The exact directory to scaffold into. pipecat create . scaffolds into the current directory and pipecat create my-bot into ./my-bot, with the project name derived from the directory. Omit it to instead create a <name> subfolder under --output (or the current directory). Pass either TARGET_DIR or --output, not both.

Options:

string

Output directory where files will be saved. Defaults to current directory.

string

Project name. Providing this flag triggers non-interactive mode.

string

Bot type: web or telephony. Optional — inferred from --transport when omitted (telephony if any transport is a telephony provider, otherwise web).

string

Transport provider. Repeatable for multiple transports (e.g. -t daily -t smallwebrtc). Valid values: daily, smallwebrtc, twilio, telnyx, plivo, exotel, daily_pstn, twilio_daily_sip.

string

Pipeline mode: cascade or realtime.

string

Speech-to-Text service (cascade mode). e.g. deepgram_stt, openai_stt.

string

Language model service (cascade mode). e.g. openai_llm, anthropic_llm.

string

Text-to-Speech service (cascade mode). e.g. cartesia_tts, elevenlabs_tts.

string

Realtime service (realtime mode). e.g. openai_realtime, gemini_live_realtime.

string

Video avatar service (web bots only). e.g. heygen_video, tavus_video, simli_video.

string

Client framework (web bots only): react, vanilla, or none.

string

Client dev server (when using --client-framework react): vite or nextjs.

string

Daily PSTN mode (required when transport is daily_pstn): dial-in or dial-out.

string

Twilio + Daily SIP mode (required when transport is twilio_daily_sip): dial-in or dial-out.

boolean

default:"false"

Enable audio recording.

boolean

default:"false"

Enable transcription logging.

boolean

default:"false"

Enable video input (web bots only).

boolean

default:"false"

Enable video output (web bots only).

boolean

default:"true"

Generate Pipecat Cloud deployment files (Dockerfile, pcc-deploy.toml).

boolean

default:"false"

Enable Krisp noise cancellation (requires cloud deployment).

boolean

default:"false"

Enable observability.

boolean

default:"false"

Make the generated bot eval-ready: add an eval transport entry and starter scenarios in server/evals/, plus the dependencies to run them. See the evals docs for the verification workflow.

string

Path to a JSON config file. Triggers non-interactive mode. CLI flags override file values.

boolean

default:"false"

Print the resolved configuration as JSON without generating any files.

boolean

default:"false"

Print all available service options as JSON and exit. Useful for CI scripts and coding agents that need to discover valid values at runtime.

Quickstart Project

To scaffold the canned quickstart project (sensible defaults, no prompts):

pipecat create quickstart

Interactive Setup

When run without --name or --config, the CLI guides you through selecting:

Bot type and client framework - Phone, web (Next.js, Vite, Vanilla JS), or mobile
Transport provider - Daily, Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo, Exotel
Pipeline mode - Cascade or Realtime
AI services - STT, LLM, and TTS providers
Optional features - Additional capabilities for your bot
Deployment target - Local development or Pipecat Cloud

Non-Interactive Mode

When --name or --config is provided, all configuration is taken from CLI flags or a JSON config file with no interactive prompts. This is useful for automation, scripting, and coding agents. (When you scaffold in place with a TARGET_DIR, supplying --bot-type or --config is enough to go non-interactive — the project name is derived from the directory.) All required fields must be specified or the command exits with a list of all missing/invalid fields. Bot type is not required — it’s inferred from --transport when omitted.

Examples

Interactive Wizard

pipecat create

In-Place (current directory)

pipecat create . --transport daily --mode cascade \
  --stt deepgram_stt --llm openai_llm --tts cartesia_tts

Scaffolds into the current directory, deriving the project name from it. Bot type is inferred from the transport (web here), so --bot-type is optional.

Non-Interactive (Cascade)

pipecat create --name my-bot --bot-type web --transport daily \
  --mode cascade --stt deepgram_stt --llm openai_llm --tts cartesia_tts

Non-Interactive (Realtime)

pipecat create --name rt-bot --bot-type web --transport smallwebrtc \
  --mode realtime --realtime openai_realtime

Multiple Transports

pipecat create --name my-bot --bot-type web \
  --transport daily --transport smallwebrtc \
  --mode cascade --stt deepgram_stt --llm openai_llm --tts cartesia_tts

With React Client

pipecat create --name my-bot --bot-type web --transport daily \
  --mode cascade --stt deepgram_stt --llm openai_llm --tts cartesia_tts \
  --client-framework react --client-server vite

Telephony

pipecat create --name call-bot --bot-type telephony --transport twilio \
  --mode cascade --stt deepgram_stt --llm openai_llm --tts cartesia_tts

Eval-Ready Bot

pipecat create --name my-bot --bot-type web --transport daily \
  --mode cascade --stt deepgram_stt --llm openai_llm --tts cartesia_tts \
  --eval

Discover Available Options

# List all valid service values as JSON
pipecat create --list-options

Output:

{
  "bot_type": ["web", "telephony"],
  "transports": {
    "web": ["daily", "smallwebrtc"],
    "telephony": ["twilio", "twilio_daily_sip_dialin", "twilio_daily_sip_dialout", ...]
  },
  "stt": ["deepgram_stt", "mistral_stt", "openai_stt", "xai_stt", ...],
  "llm": ["openai_llm", "anthropic_llm", ...],
  "tts": ["cartesia_tts", "elevenlabs_tts", "soniox_tts", ...],
  "realtime": ["openai_realtime", "gemini_live_realtime", ...],
  "video": ["heygen_video", "tavus_video", "simli_video"]
}

This is useful for scripting — for example, to pick a random TTS provider:

options=$(pipecat create --list-options)
tts=$(echo "$options" | jq -r '.tts[0]')

Dry Run

# Preview resolved config as JSON without generating files
pipecat create --name my-bot --bot-type web --transport daily \
  --mode cascade --stt deepgram_stt --llm openai_llm --tts cartesia_tts \
  --dry-run

From Config File

pipecat create --config project-config.json

Sample project-config.json:

{
  "project_name": "my-bot",
  "bot_type": "web",
  "transports": ["daily"],
  "mode": "cascade",
  "stt_service": "deepgram_stt",
  "llm_service": "openai_llm",
  "tts_service": "cartesia_tts",
  "recording": false,
  "transcription": false,
  "deploy_to_cloud": true,
  "enable_krisp": false,
  "enable_observability": false
}

CLI flags override any values in the file, so you can use a base config and customize per-run:

pipecat create --config base-config.json --name custom-name --no-deploy-to-cloud

Specify Output Directory

pipecat create --output my-bot

Generated Project Structure

mybot/
├── server/                 # Python bot server
│   ├── bot.py              # Main bot implementation
│   ├── evals/              # Starter eval scenarios (with --eval)
│   ├── pyproject.toml      # Python dependencies
│   ├── .env.example        # Environment variables template
│   ├── Dockerfile          # Container image (if cloud enabled)
│   └── pcc-deploy.toml     # Deployment config (if cloud enabled)
├── client/                 # Web client (if generated)
│   ├── src/
│   ├── package.json
│   └── ...
├── .gitignore
└── README.md               # Project setup instructions

Pipecat Server

Client SDKs

Pipecat Flows

Pipecat Cloud

CLI

Quickstart Project

Interactive Setup

Non-Interactive Mode

Examples

Interactive Wizard

In-Place (current directory)

Non-Interactive (Cascade)

Non-Interactive (Realtime)

Multiple Transports

With React Client

Telephony

Eval-Ready Bot

Discover Available Options

Dry Run

From Config File

Specify Output Directory

Generated Project Structure

​Quickstart Project

​Interactive Setup

​Non-Interactive Mode

​Examples

​Interactive Wizard

​In-Place (current directory)

​Non-Interactive (Cascade)

​Non-Interactive (Realtime)

​Multiple Transports

​With React Client

​Telephony

​Eval-Ready Bot

​Discover Available Options

​Dry Run

​From Config File

​Specify Output Directory

​Generated Project Structure

Quickstart Project

Interactive Setup

Non-Interactive Mode

Examples

Interactive Wizard

In-Place (current directory)

Non-Interactive (Cascade)

Non-Interactive (Realtime)

Multiple Transports

With React Client

Telephony

Eval-Ready Bot

Discover Available Options

Dry Run

From Config File

Specify Output Directory

Generated Project Structure