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Live and voice agents

Supported in ADKPython v0.5.0Java v0.2.0Experimental

ADK is the framework for building live and voice agents. A live agent holds an open, two-way connection with the user: instead of sending a message and waiting for a reply, the user and the agent both speak, listen, and respond at the same time, and the user can interrupt the agent mid-sentence the way people interrupt each other in real conversation. Live agents accept text, audio, and video input and reply with text or speech.

A live agent is an ADK agent, built with the same agent, tool, and session abstractions you use everywhere else. You describe the agent's behavior; ADK manages the real-time connection, tool execution, and session state underneath. Today that connection runs on the Gemini Live API; ADK handles the wiring so your agent code stays the same as the platform evolves.

Build live agents

  • Get started

    Build your first live agent and talk to it in the browser.

  • Building

    The capability pages, roughly in the order you will need them.

    • Sessions — run_live(), resumption, scale
    • Events — what comes back and how to handle it
    • Tools — automatic execution and streaming tools
    • Workflows — multi-agent under a live connection
    • Audio and video — formats and streaming
    • Configuration — RunConfig, voice, transcription, turn detection

  • Production

    Take a live agent beyond adk web.

Which kind of streaming do you need?

"Streaming" covers three different things in ADK, and picking the wrong one is a common source of confusion.

What it does User can interrupt? Use it when Where
Server-side streaming One-way flow from server to client, like a live feed. No You push dashboard or feed updates, not a conversation. Outside ADK
Token-level streaming Text arrives word by word, but you wait for it to finish before sending more. No You want a responsive text chat. StreamingMode.SSE (Configuration)
Bidirectional streaming Both sides speak, listen, and respond at once over one open connection. Yes You are building voice or video conversation. runner.run_live() — these pages

These pages are about the third row.

sequenceDiagram
    participant Client as User
    participant Agent

    Client->>Agent: "Explain the history of Japan"
    Agent->>Client: "Sure! Japan's history is a..." (partial)
    Client->>Agent: "Ah, wait."
    Agent->>Client: "OK, how can I help?" [interrupted: true]

Why build live agents on ADK

The Live API gives you the streaming protocol. ADK gives you everything around it, so you write agent behavior instead of streaming infrastructure.

Raw Live API (google-genai) ADK
Tool execution Manual Automatic
Reconnection Manual Automatic session resumption
Events Custom structures Unified event model
Async coordination Manual LiveRequestQueue + run_live()
Session persistence Manual SQL, Agent Platform, in-memory
Multi-agent Not available Workflows, sub-agents, transfer

Demos and resources

  • LensMosaic: Visual Shopping with Live AI

    Merges live camera input, voice, and product discovery. Point your camera at any object to find similar products. Built with ADK live agents, Gemini Embedding, Vector Search, and FastAPI.

  • A Visual Guide to Bidi-streaming

    Diagrams and illustrations covering how streaming works and how to build interactive agents with ADK.

  • Google ADK + Gemini Live API

    Using live agents for real-time audio/video, with a Python server example built on LiveRequestQueue.