CLI

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

Introduction

How to use Gladia

Speech-to-Text

Language

Audio Intelligence

Integrations

Developer tools

Limits & Specifications

Migrations

Why use the CLI ?

Install

API key setup

Quick start

Common workflows

Commands

Output formats

Transcription options

Language

Diarization

Shell completion

Next steps

Get your API key

Gladia CLI on GitHub

Pre-recorded STT quickstart

​Why use the CLI ?

​Install

​API key setup

​Quick start

​Common workflows

​Commands

​Output formats

​Transcription options

​Language

​Diarization

​Shell completion

​Next steps

Get your API key

Gladia CLI on GitHub

Pre-recorded STT quickstart

Why use the CLI ?

Install

API key setup

Quick start

Common workflows

Commands

Output formats

Transcription options

Language

Diarization

Shell completion

Next steps