OATDA Audio Transcription

Transcribe audio files to text through OATDA's unified audio API.

API Key Resolution

All commands need the OATDA API key. Resolve it inline for each exec call:

export OATDA_API_KEY="${OATDA_API_KEY:-$(cat ~/.oatda/credentials.json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.profiles[.defaultProfile].apiKey' 2>/dev/null)}"

If the key is empty or null, tell the user to get one at https://oatda.com and configure it.

Security: Never print the full API key. Only verify existence or show first 8 chars.

Model Mapping

User says	Provider	Model
whisper, whisper-1, openai whisper (default)	openai	whisper-1
transcription, speech to text, stt	openai	whisper-1

Default: openai / whisper-1 if no model specified.

If the user provides provider/model format directly (for example openai/whisper-1), split on /.

⚠️ Models change over time. If a model ID fails, query oatda-list-models with ?type=audio first.

Input Preparation

The transcription endpoint supports:

• multipart/form-data with a local file upload
• JSON with a base64 data URL in file
• JSON with file_base64 for providers that support direct base64 payloads

Maximum audio file size is 25MB.

For local files, prefer multipart upload because it is simpler and avoids large JSON bodies.

Discovering Audio Model Parameters

export OATDA_API_KEY="${OATDA_API_KEY:-$(cat ~/.oatda/credentials.json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.profiles[.defaultProfile].apiKey' 2>/dev/null)}" && \
curl -s -X GET "https://oatda.com/api/v1/llm/models?type=audio" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OATDA_API_KEY" | jq '.audio_models[] | {id, supported_params}'

Look for:

• audio_modes containing transcription
• supported response_format values
• optional timestamp, diarization, or streaming support

API Call (multipart)

export OATDA_API_KEY="${OATDA_API_KEY:-$(cat ~/.oatda/credentials.json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.profiles[.defaultProfile].apiKey' 2>/dev/null)}" && \
curl -s -X POST "https://oatda.com/api/v1/llm/transcriptions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OATDA_API_KEY" \
  -F "provider=<PROVIDER>" \
  -F "model=<MODEL>" \
  -F "file=@<AUDIO_FILE>" \
  -F "response_format=json"

Alternative API Call (base64 JSON)

AUDIO_DATA_URL="data:audio/mpeg;base64,$(base64 -w 0 audio.mp3)"

export OATDA_API_KEY="${OATDA_API_KEY:-$(cat ~/.oatda/credentials.json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.profiles[.defaultProfile].apiKey' 2>/dev/null)}" && \
curl -s -X POST "https://oatda.com/api/v1/llm/transcriptions" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OATDA_API_KEY" \
  -d "$(jq -n \
    --arg provider \"<PROVIDER>\" \
    --arg model \"<MODEL>\" \
    --arg file \"$AUDIO_DATA_URL\" \
    '{provider: $provider, model: $model, file: $file, response_format: \"json\"}')"

Common Parameters

• language: ISO-639-1 language code like en, de, fr
• prompt: Context for names, acronyms, or domain-specific terms
• response_format: json, text, srt, verbose_json, vtt, or diarized_json
• temperature: 0 to 1
• timestamp_granularities: word and/or segment
• chunking_strategy: auto
• hotwords: Provider-specific keyword hints
• stream: true if supported by the selected model

Response Format

The API returns JSON like:

{
  "text": "The transcribed text...",
  "language": "en",
  "duration": 42.5,
  "segments": [],
  "words": [],
  "costs": {
    "inputCost": 0,
    "outputCost": 0.0001,
    "totalCost": 0.0001,
    "currency": "USD"
  }
}

Present the text field to the user. Include subtitles, segments, or words if the requested format includes them.

Error Handling

HTTP Status	Meaning	Action
401	Invalid API key	Tell user to check their key
402	Insufficient credits	Tell user to check balance
400	Bad request / model not supported	Check model or file format and query oatda-list-models with type=audio
413	File too large	Keep audio under 25MB or split it
429	Rate limited or monthly cap	Wait briefly and retry once

Example

export OATDA_API_KEY="${OATDA_API_KEY:-$(cat ~/.oatda/credentials.json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.profiles[.defaultProfile].apiKey' 2>/dev/null)}" && \
curl -s -X POST "https://oatda.com/api/v1/llm/transcriptions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OATDA_API_KEY" \
  -F "provider=openai" \
  -F "model=whisper-1" \
  -F "file=@meeting.mp3" \
  -F "response_format=json"

Notes

• Endpoint: /api/v1/llm/transcriptions
• Prefer multipart upload for local files
• Use response_format=srt or vtt for subtitles
• Use language to improve recognition when source language is known
• Equivalent capability name: transcribe_audio
• Related skills: oatda-generate-speech, oatda-translate-audio, oatda-list-models