> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getbifrost.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sarvam AI

> Sarvam AI conversion guide - OpenAI-compatible chat plus Indic text-to-speech (Bulbul) and speech-to-text (Saaras/Saarika) with custom mapping

## Overview

Sarvam AI is a voice and LLM provider focused on Indian languages (10 Indic languages + English). Bifrost supports both its text and voice workloads:

* **OpenAI-compatible chat** - Chat completions delegate to the shared OpenAI implementation (base URL only differs)
* **Text-to-Speech (Bulbul)** - Custom mapping; Sarvam returns base64-encoded audio in a JSON `audios[]` array rather than raw binary
* **Speech-to-Text (Saaras/Saarika)** - Custom mapping; multipart upload with Sarvam-specific response fields (`transcript`, `timestamps`, `diarized_transcript`)
* **Dual authentication** - Chat uses `Authorization: Bearer`; voice endpoints use the `api-subscription-key` header

### Supported Operations

| Operation           | Non-Streaming | Streaming | Endpoint                                    |
| ------------------- | ------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| Chat Completions    | ✅             | ✅         | `/v1/chat/completions`                      |
| Responses API       | ✅             | ✅         | `/v1/chat/completions`                      |
| Speech (TTS)        | ✅             | ✅         | `/text-to-speech`, `/text-to-speech/stream` |
| Transcription (STT) | ✅             | ❌         | `/speech-to-text`                           |
| List Models         | ✅             | -         | `/v1/models`                                |
| Text Completions    | ❌             | ❌         | -                                           |
| Embeddings          | ❌             | ❌         | -                                           |

<Note>
  **Unsupported Operations** (❌): Text Completions, Embeddings, Images, Files, Batch, and streaming transcription are not offered by the upstream Sarvam API. These return `UnsupportedOperationError`.
</Note>

## Setup & Configuration

Configure Sarvam AI as a provider. The same API key works for both chat and voice.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Web UI">
    1. Navigate to **Models** > **Model Providers**. Look for **Sarvam AI** under **Configured Providers**. If it is missing, click on **Add New Provider** and select **Sarvam AI**.
    2. Click **Add Key** or edit an existing key.
    3. Set a name for your key.
    4. Paste your API key directly or use an environment variable (for example, `env.SARVAM_API_KEY`).
    5. Set **Allowed Models** to **All Models** (default) or the specific model allowlist you want this key to serve.
    6. Save the provider configuration.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="config.json">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "providers": {
        "sarvam": {
          "keys": [
            {
              "name": "sarvam-key-1",
              "value": "env.SARVAM_API_KEY",
              "models": [
                "*"
              ],
              "weight": 1.0
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="API">
    Refer to the API documentation for [Provider Keys Management](https://docs.getbifrost.ai/api-reference/providers/create-a-key-for-a-provider).
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Go SDK">
    ```go theme={null}
    case schemas.Sarvam:
        return []schemas.Key{{
            Name:   "sarvam-key-1",
            Value:  *schemas.NewSecretVar("env.SARVAM_API_KEY"),
            Models: []string{"*"},
            Weight: 1.0,
        }}, nil
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

# 1. Chat Completions

Sarvam's chat completions endpoint is OpenAI-compatible, so Bifrost delegates to the shared OpenAI implementation. For full parameter reference, message handling, tool conversion, and streaming behavior, see [OpenAI Chat Completions](/providers/supported-providers/openai#1-chat-completions).

Available chat models include `sarvam-30b` and `sarvam-105b`.

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "sarvam/sarvam-30b",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Namaste!"}]
  }'
```

***

# 2. Responses API

Bifrost converts the Responses API format to Chat Completions internally, then converts the response back:

```
BifrostResponsesRequest
  → ToChatRequest()
  → ChatCompletion
  → ToBifrostResponsesResponse()
```

Same parameter support as Chat Completions with response format differences (output items instead of message content).

***

# 3. Speech (Text-to-Speech, Bulbul)

Sarvam's TTS endpoint is **not** OpenAI-compatible: it returns JSON with base64-encoded audio in an `audios[]` array, which Bifrost decodes into raw audio bytes.

### Parameter Mapping

| Bifrost field   | Sarvam field           | Notes                                          |
| --------------- | ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| `input`         | `text`                 | Text to synthesize (required)                  |
| `voice`         | `speaker`              | e.g. `anushka` (v2), `shubh` (v3)              |
| `speed`         | `pace`                 | Playback speed                                 |
| `language_code` | `target_language_code` | BCP-47 Indic code, e.g. `hi-IN` (**required**) |

Sarvam-specific fields are read from `ExtraParams`: `pitch`, `loudness`, `temperature`, `speech_sample_rate`, `output_audio_codec`, `enable_preprocessing`, `dict_id`, `enable_cached_responses`.

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/audio/speech \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "sarvam/bulbul:v2",
    "input": "Namaste, aap kaise hain?",
    "voice": "anushka",
    "target_language_code": "hi-IN"
  }' --output speech.wav
```

<Note>
  `target_language_code` is required by Sarvam. Pass it as `language_code` or as an extra field; without it the request is rejected.
</Note>

***

# 4. Transcription (Speech-to-Text, Saaras/Saarika)

Sarvam's STT endpoint accepts a multipart audio upload and returns a custom response shape that Bifrost maps onto its standard transcription format.

### Response Mapping

| Sarvam field                   | Bifrost field     | Notes                                        |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| `transcript`                   | `text`            | Transcribed text                             |
| `language_code`                | `language`        | Detected BCP-47 language                     |
| `timestamps` (parallel arrays) | `words[]`         | Flattened into per-word `{word, start, end}` |
| `diarized_transcript.entries`  | diarized segments | Speaker-attributed segments                  |

Request fields `mode` and `input_audio_codec` are read from `ExtraParams`; `language` maps to Sarvam's `language_code`.

<Note>
  `timestamps` and `diarized_transcript` are only returned by Sarvam's **Batch** speech-to-text API; the synchronous `/speech-to-text` endpoint used here returns `transcript` and `language_code`. Bifrost maps `words`/diarized segments when present, so the standard path typically populates only `text` and `language`.
</Note>

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/audio/transcriptions \
  -F "model=sarvam/saaras:v3" \
  -F "file=@speech.wav"
```

***

## Authentication

Sarvam uses different authentication for chat and voice, but the **same API key** works for both:

* **Chat / Responses**: `Authorization: Bearer <key>`
* **Speech / Transcription**: `api-subscription-key: <key>`

Bifrost applies the correct header per operation automatically.

## Configuration

**HTTP Settings:**

* **Base URL**: `https://api.sarvam.ai` (default)
* **Chat endpoint**: `/v1/chat/completions`
* **Voice endpoints**: `/text-to-speech`, `/speech-to-text`

## Caveats

<Accordion title="Voice is not OpenAI-compatible">
  **Severity**: Low
  **Behavior**: TTS returns base64 JSON (not raw audio) and STT returns Indic-specific fields.
  **Impact**: Handled by Bifrost's custom mapping; no action needed by callers beyond passing `target_language_code` for TTS.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="No streaming for voice">
  **Severity**: Low
  **Behavior**: Speech and transcription streaming are not offered by Sarvam.
  **Impact**: `SpeechStream` / `TranscriptionStream` return `UnsupportedOperationError`.
</Accordion>