Diagnose and fix common Deepgram errors and issues. Use when troubleshooting Deepgram API errors, debugging transcription failures, or resolving integration issues. Trigger: "deepgram error", "deepgram not working", "fix deepgram", "deepgram troubleshoot", "transcription failed", "deepgram 401".
Comprehensive error reference for Deepgram API integration. Covers HTTP error codes, WebSocket errors, transcription quality issues, SDK-specific problems, and audio format debugging with real diagnostic commands.
curl available for API testing# Test API key validity
curl -s -w "\nHTTP %{http_code}\n" \
'https://api.deepgram.com/v1/projects' \
-H "Authorization: Token $DEEPGRAM_API_KEY"
# Test transcription endpoint
curl -s -w "\nHTTP %{http_code}\n" \
-X POST 'https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?model=nova-3&smart_format=true' \
-H "Authorization: Token $DEEPGRAM_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"url":"https://static.deepgram.com/examples/Bueller-Life-moves-702702706.wav"}'
| Code | Error | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 | Bad Request | Invalid audio format, bad params | Check audio headers, validate query params |
| 401 | Unauthorized | Invalid/expired API key | Regenerate in Console > API Keys |
| 403 | Forbidden | Key lacks scope | Create key with listen scope for STT |
| 404 | Not Found | Wrong endpoint URL | Use api.deepgram.com/v1/listen |
| 408 | Timeout | Audio too long for sync | Use callback param for async |
| 413 | Payload Too Large | File exceeds 2GB | Split with ffmpeg -f segment -segment_time 3600 |
| 429 | Too Many Requests | Concurrency limit hit | Implement backoff, check plan limits |
| 500 | Internal Error | Deepgram server error | Retry with backoff, check status.deepgram.com |
| 502 | Bad Gateway | Upstream failure | Retry after 5-10 seconds |
| 503 | Service Unavailable | Maintenance/overload | Check status.deepgram.com, retry later |
import { LiveTranscriptionEvents } from '@deepgram/sdk';
connection.on(LiveTranscriptionEvents.Error, (error) => {
console.error('WebSocket error:', {
message: error.message,
type: error.type,
});
});
// Common WebSocket issues:
// 1. Connection closes after ~10s of silence
// Fix: Send keepAlive() every 8 seconds
connection.keepAlive();
// 2. "Could not process audio" errors
// Fix: Verify encoding matches what you send
// Must match: encoding, sample_rate, channels in listen.live() options
// 3. Connection refused / ECONNREFUSED
// Fix: Check firewall allows wss://api.deepgram.com:443
// 4. Immediate disconnect with 1008 (Policy Violation)
// Fix: API key invalid or lacks live streaming scope
# Check audio properties with ffprobe
ffprobe -v quiet -print_format json -show_format -show_streams input.wav
# Optimal audio for Deepgram:
# - Sample rate: 8000-48000 Hz (16000 recommended)
# - Channels: 1 (mono) or 2 (stereo for multichannel)
# - Bit depth: 16-bit
# - Format: WAV, MP3, FLAC, OGG, M4A, WebM
# Fix audio quality
ffmpeg -i noisy.wav \
-af "highpass=f=200,lowpass=f=3000,volume=2" \
-ar 16000 -ac 1 -acodec pcm_s16le \
clean.wav
| Quality Issue | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Empty transcript | No speech / too quiet | Boost volume: -af "volume=3" |
| Garbled output | Wrong encoding parameter | Match encoding to actual audio format |
| Missing words | Background noise | Apply noise filter before transcription |
| Wrong language | Language not specified | Set language: 'en' (or correct ISO code) |
| Low confidence | Poor audio quality | Preprocess to 16kHz mono, noise-reduce |
| Speaker mismatch | Diarization off | Enable diarize: true |
// TypeError: createClient is not a function
// You have SDK v5 installed. Use:
import { DeepgramClient } from '@deepgram/sdk';
const dg = new DeepgramClient({ apiKey: process.env.DEEPGRAM_API_KEY });
// TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'prerecorded')
// v5 uses versioned namespaces:
await dg.listen.v1.media.transcribeUrl(source, options);
// "error": { "message": "..." } in result
// Always check the error field:
const { result, error } = await dg.listen.prerecorded.transcribeUrl(source, opts);
if (error) {
console.error('Deepgram error:', error.message);
// Don't try to access result — it may be undefined
}
// Python: deepgram.errors.DeepgramApiError
// Catch with try/except: