CLI

Transcribe audio from your terminal with one install and one command.

The Gladia CLI wraps the speech-to-text API for terminals and shell scripts.

Get your API key from the Gladia dashboard before your first transcription.

Why use the CLI ?

• One command: install, set your key, run gladia transcribe audio.mp3
• Flexible output: plain text, JSON, SRT, or VTT to stdout
• Set up features: diarization, languages, and model selection (solaria-1, solaria-3)
• Files or URLs: local recordings or remote links
• Pipe-friendly: machine-readable output for scripts and CI

Install

# macOS & Linux
curl -fsSL https://github.com/gladiaio/gladia-cli/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

# Windows (PowerShell)
powershell -c "irm https://github.com/gladiaio/gladia-cli/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex"

Other platforms and binaries: GitHub releases.

API key setup

export GLADIA_API_KEY=your_key              # 1. environment variable
gladia auth set your_key                    # 2. saved to ~/.gladia (mode 0600)
gladia transcribe meeting.wav --gladia-key your_key   # 3. per-command flag

Quick start

gladia transcribe meeting.wav               # transcript to stdout
gladia transcribe podcast.mp3 -o srt        # subtitles
gladia transcribe call.wav --diarize        # who spoke when
gladia languages                            # supported language codes

Common workflows

# Local file or remote URL
gladia transcribe meeting.wav
gladia transcribe https://example.com/audio.mp3 -o json

# Narrow language detection
gladia transcribe podcast.mp3 --language en,fr,de

# Mixed-language audio
gladia transcribe mixed.mp3 --code-switching --language en,fr

# Diarization as subtitles
gladia transcribe call.wav --diarize -o srt

# Pick a model
gladia transcribe podcast.mp3 --model solaria-3 --language en

# Pipe into a script
gladia transcribe interview.mp3 -o json | jq '.transcription'

Commands

Command	Description
transcribe <file-or-url>	Transcribe an audio file or URL
auth set <key>	Save API key to ~/.gladia
languages	List supported ISO 639-1 codes
completion <shell>	Generate shell tab completion (bash, zsh, fish, powershell)

Output formats

Use -o or --output:

Format	Description
text	Plain transcript (default)
json	Structured JSON transcript
json-full	Full API response as JSON
srt	SubRip subtitles
vtt	WebVTT subtitles

Transcription options

Flag	Default	Description
-o, --output	text	text, json, json-full, srt, vtt
--language		Expected language(s), comma-separated (en or en,fr,de)
--cs, --code-switching	off	Re-detect language per utterance (solaria-1 only)
--diarize	off	Identify speakers
--model		solaria-1 or solaria-3. Solaria-3 accepts one --language (en, fr, de, es, or it) and no code switching.
-v, --verbose	off	Show progress while polling

Global flag: --gladia-key (if not set via env or ~/.gladia).

Language

Goal	Command
Auto-detect	gladia transcribe <file>
Constrain detection	--language en,fr,de
Code switching	--code-switching (optional --language hints)

• --language: limits which languages Gladia considers (hint list, not per-utterance switching).
• --code-switching: detects language per utterance. Not available with solaria-3.

Diarization

Use --diarize for who spoke when (e.g. Speaker 0: …).

gladia transcribe meeting.wav --diarize
gladia transcribe panel.mp3 --diarize -o srt

Shell completion

The installer can set up tab completion. To skip the prompt in CI, set GLADIA_NO_COMPLETION_PROMPT=1.

# bash
source <(gladia completion bash)

# zsh
mkdir -p ~/.zsh/completions
gladia completion zsh > ~/.zsh/completions/_gladia

# fish
mkdir -p ~/.config/fish/completions
gladia completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/gladia.fish

See gladia completion --help for full instructions.

Next steps

Get your API key

Create an API key on the Gladia dashboard

Gladia CLI on GitHub

Source code, issues, and releases

Pre-recorded STT quickstart

Transcription features reference

What to use when

SDK

Build transcription into your product (JavaScript or Python)

Playground

Try models and features in the browser before you integrate

GladiaFlow

Dictate into any desktop app with a hotkey

CLI

Transcribe files or URLs from a terminal or CI