Retell AI Install Auth

Overview

Install the Retell AI SDK and configure API key authentication for building voice agents.

Prerequisites

• Retell AI account at retellai.com
• API key from the Retell AI dashboard
• Node.js 18+ or Python 3.9+

Instructions

Step 1: Install SDK

set -euo pipefail
# Node.js
npm install retell-sdk

# Python
pip install retell-sdk

Step 2: Configure Environment

# .env
RETELL_API_KEY=key_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Step 3: Initialize Client (Node.js)

import Retell from 'retell-sdk';

const retell = new Retell({ apiKey: process.env.RETELL_API_KEY! });

// Verify connection — list agents
const agents = await retell.agent.list();
console.log(`Connected! ${agents.length} agent(s) configured.`);

Step 4: Initialize Client (Python)

from retell import Retell
import os

retell = Retell(api_key=os.environ["RETELL_API_KEY"])
agents = retell.agent.list()
print(f"Connected! {len(agents)} agent(s) configured.")

Output

• retell-sdk installed
• API key configured
• Connection verified with agent listing

Error Handling

Resources

• Retell AI SDKs
• retell-sdk npm

Next Steps

Create your first agent: retellai-hello-world