obs-assemblyai-captions

Live captions in OBS Studio, powered by AssemblyAI's streaming transcription.

Captures your microphone, streams audio to AssemblyAI's streaming models, and updates a Text source with live captions via an OBS script.

Requirements

• OBS Studio
• Python 3.10+
• An AssemblyAI API key (free tier available)
• A working microphone

Setup

Linux

1. Install system dependencies:

   sudo apt install python3-dev portaudio19-dev

2. Clone and install:

   git clone https://github.com/he-james/obs-assemblyai-captions.git
   cd obs-assemblyai-captions
   python3 -m venv .venv
   .venv/bin/pip install -e .

3. Launch OBS with the Python preload (required for C extensions like numpy/sounddevice):

   ./launch-obs.sh

   Or manually:

   LD_PRELOAD=$(python3 -c "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_config_var('LIBDIR'))")/libpython$(python3 -c "import sys; print(f'{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}')").so.1.0 obs

4. Add the script: OBS → Tools → Scripts → + → select aai_streamer.py

macOS

1. Install system dependencies:

   brew install portaudio python@3.12

   Use the Python version that matches your OBS build. Check with: OBS → Tools → Scripts → Python Settings.

2. Clone and install:

   git clone https://github.com/he-james/obs-assemblyai-captions.git
   cd obs-assemblyai-captions
   python3 -m venv .venv
   .venv/bin/pip install -e .

3. Configure OBS Python path: OBS → Tools → Scripts → Python Settings → set to your Python install path (e.g. /opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.12/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12).

4. Add the script: OBS → Tools → Scripts → + → select aai_streamer.py

Windows

1. Install Python from python.org. Use the version that matches your OBS build (check OBS → Tools → Scripts → Python Settings). Typically Python 3.11 or 3.12.

2. Clone and install (in PowerShell):

   git clone https://github.com/he-james/obs-assemblyai-captions.git
   cd obs-assemblyai-captions
   python -m venv .venv
   .venv\Scripts\pip install -e .

3. Configure OBS Python path: OBS → Tools → Scripts → Python Settings → Browse to your Python install folder (e.g. C:\Users\YOU\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312).

4. Add the script: OBS → Tools → Scripts → + → select aai_streamer.py