Overview
DailyTransport provides real-time audio and video communication using Daily’s hosted WebRTC platform. It handles bidirectional media streams, participant management, transcription, recording, and telephony features without requiring your own WebRTC infrastructure. Daily manages all the complexity of WebRTC connections, NAT traversal, and global media routing.
DailyTransport API Reference
Transport methods and configuration options
Example Implementation
Complete Daily transport voice agent example
Daily API Documentation
Official Daily REST API and platform documentation
Daily Dashboard
Sign up for Daily API access and room management
Installation
To useDailyTransport, install the required dependencies:
Prerequisites
Daily Account Setup
Before using DailyTransport, you need:- Daily Account: Sign up at Daily Dashboard
- API Key: Generate a Daily API key from your dashboard
- Room Creation: Daily rooms must be created before connecting (see Usage section)
Required Environment Variables
DAILY_API_KEY: Your Daily API key for room creation and management
Key Features
- Hosted WebRTC: No infrastructure setup required - Daily handles all WebRTC complexity
- Multi-participant Support: Handle multiple participants with individual audio/video tracks
- Multi-track Audio/Video: Publish multiple custom audio and video tracks simultaneously with per-track configuration, including built-in support for Daily’s
screenAudioandscreenVideodestinations - Built-in Transcription: Real-time speech-to-text with Deepgram integration
- Telephony Integration: Dial-in/dial-out support for phone numbers via SIP/PSTN
- Recording & Streaming: Built-in call recording and live streaming capabilities
- Global Infrastructure: Daily’s edge network ensures low latency worldwide
- Advanced Controls: Participant management, permissions, and media routing
Configuration
DailyTransport
str
required
URL of the Daily room to connect to.
str | None
required
Authentication token for the room, or
None. Required for private rooms or
when specific permissions are needed.str
required
Display name for the bot in the call.
DailyParams
default:"DailyParams()"
Transport configuration parameters. See DailyParams below and
TransportParams
for inherited base parameters.
str
default:"None"
Optional name for the input transport processor.
str
default:"None"
Optional name for the output transport processor.
DailyParams
Inherits all parameters from TransportParams (audio and video settings) with these additional fields:str
default:"https://api.daily.co/v1"
Daily API base URL.
str
default:""
Daily API authentication key. Required when
dialin_settings is set.bool
default:"True"
Receive users’ audio in separate tracks rather than a mixed stream.
DailyDialinSettings
default:"None"
Settings for dial-in functionality. See
DailyDialinSettings below.
bool
default:"True"
Whether to enable the main camera output track.
Dict[str, Any]
default:"None"
Camera output track publishing settings. This dict is passed verbatim to the
Daily client’s camera publishing settings, allowing full control over
encoding, codec, bitrate, and framerate. See Daily
VideoPublishingSettings.
Mapping[str, DailyCustomAudioTrackParams]
default:"None"
Per-destination configuration for custom audio tracks. See
DailyCustomAudioTrackParams below.
Mapping[str, DailyCustomVideoTrackParams]
default:"None"
Per-destination configuration for custom video tracks. See
DailyCustomVideoTrackParams below.
int | None
default:"None"
Expected download bandwidth in bits per second. The SFU starts its estimate of
what it can send the bot from this value, so incoming video reaches full
quality sooner.
None keeps Daily’s default of 1 Mbps.bool
default:"True"
Whether to enable the main microphone track.
bool
default:"False"
Whether to enable Daily’s built-in speech transcription (powered by Deepgram).
Requires a
token: without one, transcription doesn’t start and on_error
fires.DailyTranscriptionSettings
default:"DailyTranscriptionSettings()"
Configuration for the transcription service. See
DailyTranscriptionSettings below.
DailyDialinSettings
Settings for Daily’s dial-in (SIP) functionality.str
default:""
Call ID (UUID) representing the session ID in the SIP network.
str
default:""
Call domain (UUID) representing your Daily domain on the SIP network.
DailyTranscriptionSettings
Configuration for Daily’s built-in transcription service (Deepgram).str
default:"en"
ISO language code for transcription.
str
default:"nova-2-general"
Deepgram transcription model to use.
bool
default:"True"
Whether to filter profanity from transcripts.
bool
default:"False"
Whether to redact sensitive information.
bool
default:"True"
Whether to use endpointing to determine speech segments.
bool
default:"True"
Whether to add punctuation to transcripts.
bool
default:"True"
Whether to include raw response data from Deepgram. Keep it
True: with
False, every transcript is pushed as an InterimTranscriptionFrame and no
TranscriptionFrame reaches the pipeline.Mapping[str, Any]
default:"{\"interim_results\": True}"
Additional parameters passed to the Deepgram transcription service.
DailyCustomAudioTrackParams
Configuration for a custom audio track. Ifsend_settings is not provided, the track will use the default audio publishing settings (bitrate, channel config, etc.). A destination with no entry in custom_audio_track_params gets a mono track at the transport’s output sample rate.
int
default:"None"
Audio sample rate in Hz. Defaults to transport’s output sample rate.
int
default:"1"
Number of audio channels.
Dict[str, Any]
default:"None"
Optional Daily sendSettings dict for this track. See Daily
AudioPublishingSettings.
DailyCustomVideoTrackParams
Configuration for a custom video track. Ifsend_settings is not provided, the track will use the default video publishing settings (framerate, bitrate, codec, etc.). A destination with no entry in custom_video_track_params uses the transport’s video_out_width, video_out_height, and video_out_color_format.
int
default:"1024"
Video width in pixels.
int
default:"768"
Video height in pixels.
str
default:"RGB"
Video color format (e.g., “RGB”, “RGBA”, “BGRA”).
Dict[str, Any]
default:"None"
Optional Daily sendSettings dict for this track. See Daily
VideoPublishingSettings.
Usage
DailyTransport connects your Pipecat bot to Daily rooms where it can communicate with participants through audio, video, and data channels. Rooms must be created using the Daily API before your bot can join. The transport integrates with Pipecat’s pipeline to process participant audio through your STT, LLM, and TTS services, then send responses back to participants. See the complete example for a full implementation including:- Daily room creation and token management
- Transport configuration with transcription and VAD
- Pipeline integration with participant event handling
- Advanced features like recording and dial-out
Frames
Sent to the transport:
When Daily rejects a transfer, REFER, or participant update, the transport pushes an
ErrorFrame. OutputDTMFFrame and OutputDTMFUrgentFrame also go over Daily’s DTMF channel rather than as audio tones, to the dial-out session, else the dial-in session.
Pushed by the transport:
Queue a goodbye and a transfer together, and the transfer waits for the goodbye to finish playing:
Methods
capture_participant_transcription()
transcription_enabled is set; see Using built-in transcription.
capture_participant_audio()
"microphone", "screenAudio", or a custom track name) and pushes it as UserAudioRawFrames with user_id set to the participant and transport_source set to audio_source. With audio_in_user_tracks=True, the default, each participant’s microphone is captured as they join, so call this for other sources. Requires audio_in_enabled=True and transport.input() in the pipeline.
capture_participant_video()
UserImageRawFrames in color_format. The other arguments work as in Capturing video on demand. Requires video_in_enabled=True and transport.input() in the pipeline.
start_dialout()
(session_id, error), where error is None on success. settings takes Daily’s dial-out settings, such as phoneNumber or sipUri. The room needs dial-out enabled; see Daily PSTN and Daily SIP.
stop_dialout()
None on success.
start_recording()
(stream_id, error), where error is None on success. Cloud recording must be enabled on the room or token via enable_recording; see DailyRESTHelper. The recording events are under Recording.
DailyRESTHelper:
stop_recording()
None on success.
update_publishing()
None on success.
participants()
"local".
Notes
Using built-in transcription
Daily can transcribe the call for you (powered by Deepgram) instead of you adding a dedicated STT service to the pipeline. Settranscription_enabled=True on DailyParams:
TranscriptionFrames into the pipeline. You do not add a separate STT service (no DeepgramSTTService, etc.) — the transport fills that role. Your bot receives the same transcriptions in-call participants see, and you can also handle them directly via the on_transcription_message event.
The transport requests transcription only for participants passed to capture_participant_transcription(), so call it for each participant you want transcribed:
- Built-in (
transcription_enabled=True): one less service to wire up. Billed by Daily per participant-minute, separate from your own Deepgram key. Less control over provider and tuning. - Dedicated STT service in the pipeline: full control over provider, model, and settings, billed on your own provider account. This is what most Pipecat examples use. See Speech to Text.
Screen Audio Destination
DailyTransport includes built-in support for Daily’sscreenAudio destination. When "screenAudio" is included in the audio_out_destinations parameter, a dedicated screen audio track is automatically created when the transport starts:
screenAudio track with custom parameters:
Screen Video Destination
DailyTransport includes built-in support for Daily’sscreenVideo destination. When "screenVideo" is included in the video_out_destinations parameter, a dedicated screen video track is automatically created when the transport starts:
Camera Publishing Settings
Thecamera_out_send_settings parameter provides full control over the camera track’s publishing configuration:
Event Handlers
DailyTransport provides event handlers for room lifecycle, participant management, messaging, telephony, and recording. Register handlers using the@event_handler decorator on the transport instance.
Events Summary
Room Lifecycle
on_joined
Fired when the bot successfully joins the Daily room.on_connected
Fired when the bot connects to the Daily room. This is an alias foron_joined that provides a consistent event name across all transport types.
on_left
Fired when the bot leaves the Daily room.on_before_leave
Fired synchronously just before the bot leaves the room. Use this for cleanup that must happen before disconnection, such as stopping transcription.This is a synchronous event — the bot will not leave the room until all
handlers complete. Keep handlers fast.
on_error
Fired when a transport-level error occurs. It also fires once when the call ends withoutleave() (the bot is ejected, or the room or meeting ends). The transport then drops app messages until it joins again.
on_call_state_updated
Fired when the call state changes (e.g., joining, joined, leaving, left).on_network_connection_status_updated
Fired when a network connection needed for the call is interrupted or connects. While the"signalling" connection is interrupted, the transport logs a warning and drops app messages until it reconnects. A failed app message is reported once as an error until a send succeeds.
Participants
on_first_participant_joined
Fired when the first participant (other than the bot) joins the room. This is commonly used to start the conversation.on_participant_joined
Fired when any participant joins the room.When a participant joins, both
on_participant_joined and
on_client_connected fire. Use on_first_participant_joined if you only need
to react to the first participant.on_participant_left
Fired when a participant leaves the room.on_participant_updated
Fired when a participant’s state changes (e.g., audio/video tracks enabled/disabled).on_client_connected / on_client_disconnected
Transport-agnostic aliases that fire alongsideon_participant_joined and on_participant_left respectively, for compatibility with other transports. Both receive (transport, participant): on_client_disconnected gets no reason.
on_active_speaker_changed
Fired when the active speaker in the room changes.Messaging
on_app_message
Fired when an app message is received from a participant.on_transcription_message
Fired when a transcription message is received from Daily’s built-in transcription service.on_transcription_stopped / on_transcription_error
Events for monitoring Daily’s built-in transcription.Recording
To start and stop a recording, see start_recording() and stop_recording().on_recording_started / on_recording_stopped / on_recording_error
Events for monitoring Daily’s built-in recording feature.Telephony: Dial-in
Events for monitoring incoming phone calls. See the telephony guides for setup details.on_dialin_ready
Fired when the dial-in SIP endpoint is ready to receive calls. Ifdialin_settings are configured, Pipecat automatically calls the Daily pinlessCallUpdate API.
on_dialin_connected / on_dialin_stopped / on_dialin_error / on_dialin_warning
Lifecycle events for dial-in calls. All receive(transport, data) where data is a dict with event details.
Telephony: Dial-out
Events for monitoring outgoing phone calls. All receive(transport, data) where data is a dict with event details.
Telephony: DTMF
on_dtmf_event
Fired when a DTMF (dual-tone multi-frequency) keypad tone is received from a phone caller. The transport automatically pushes anInputDTMFFrame into the pipeline, enabling your bot to react to keypad presses.
DTMF tones are automatically converted to
InputDTMFFrame and pushed into the
pipeline. You can handle these frames in your processors to implement IVR
menus or other telephony interactions.Additional Resources
- Events Overview - Overview of all events in Pipecat
- Daily REST Helper Utility
- Pipecat Development Runner’s Transport Utilities
- Client SDK Integration