# Initiate a Transcription

In order to initiate a transcription for an existing recording, you must do a POST request to the following endpoint.

## Transcribe recording

> Create transcription for a recording

```json
{"openapi":"3.0.3","info":{"title":"Voice","version":"v1"},"tags":[],"servers":[{"url":"https://api.bird.com","description":"Production API"}],"security":[{"accessKey":[]}],"components":{"securitySchemes":{"accessKey":{"description":"Uses the Authorization header: 'AccessKey ' followed by your access key token (e.g., 'Authorization: AccessKey AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYzAbCdEfGhIj')","scheme":"AccessKey","type":"http"}},"schemas":{"CreateTranscription":{"type":"object","title":"CreateTranscription","additionalProperties":false,"properties":{"locale":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/SupportedLocales"},"messageId":{"type":"string","format":"uuid"},"conversationId":{"type":"string","format":"uuid"},"recordingId":{"type":"string","format":"uuid"}},"required":["locale"]},"SupportedLocales":{"type":"string","format":"locale-bcp47","default":"en-US","enum":["ar-AE","ar-SA","cmn-CN","cy-GB","da-DK","de-CH","de-DE","el-GR","en-AU","en-GB","en-GB-WLS","en-IE","en-IN","en-NZ","en-US","en-ZA","es-ES","es-MX","es-US","fr-CA","fr-FR","he-IL","hi-IN","id-ID","is-IS","it-IT","ja-JP","ko-KR","ms-MY","nb-NO","nl-NL","pl-PL","pt-BR","pt-PT","ro-RO","ru-RU","sv-SE","ta-IN","te-IN","th-TH","tr-TR","vi-VN","zh-CN","zh-HK","zh-TW","arb","af-ZA","bn-IN","ca-ES","cmn-TW","cs-CZ","fi-FI","fil-PH","gu-IN","hu-HU","kn-IN","lt-LT","lv-LV","ml-IN","mr-IN","pa-IN","sk-SK","sr-RS","uk-UA","yue-HK","no-NO"]},"Transcription":{"type":"object","additionalProperties":false,"properties":{"id":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/transcriptionId"},"recordingId":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/recordingId"},"status":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/TranscriptionStatus"},"stereo":{"type":"boolean"},"locale":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/SupportedLocales"},"url":{"type":"string"},"summary":{"type":"string"},"createdAt":{"type":"string","format":"date-time"},"updatedAt":{"type":"string","format":"date-time"}},"required":["id","recordingId","status","stereo","locale","createdAt","updatedAt"]},"transcriptionId":{"title":"Transcription ID","description":"The ID for the transcription.","type":"string","format":"uuid"},"recordingId":{"title":"Recording ID","description":"The ID for the recording.","type":"string","format":"uuid"},"TranscriptionStatus":{"type":"string","enum":["accepted","ongoing","available","absent","failed"]},"RequestError":{"type":"object","properties":{"code":{"type":"string"},"message":{"type":"string"}},"required":["code","message"]},"ValidationError":{"title":"A validation error description","additionalProperties":false,"properties":{"code":{"type":"string","pattern":"^([A-Z][a-z]*)+$"},"message":{"type":"string"},"details":{"type":"object","additionalProperties":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"string"}}}},"required":["code","message"]}},"responses":{"requestError":{"description":"The request did not pass validation","content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/RequestError"}}}},"validationError":{"description":"The request did not pass validation","content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/ValidationError"}}}}}},"paths":{"/workspaces/{workspaceId}/recordings/{recordingId}/transcriptions":{"post":{"summary":"Transcribe recording","description":"Create transcription for a recording","operationId":"createRecordingTranscription","tags":["voice-recordings"],"requestBody":{"content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/CreateTranscription"}}}},"responses":{"202":{"description":"Transcription was accepted for processing","content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"$ref":"#/components/schemas/Transcription"}}}},"400":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/requestError"},"404":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/requestError"},"422":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/validationError"}}}}}}
```

A transcription request is asynchronous. That means it will take some time before the result has been generated. This depends on the total duration of the recording.

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Request" %}

```
curl "/workspaces/{workspaceId}/recordings/{recordId}/transcriptions" \
     -H 'Authorization: AccessKey YOUR_SECRET_TOKEN'
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Response" %}

```
{
  "id": "85530fbe-6dc1-4884-a9e6-e62b0f4c6df1",
  "recordingId": "5b74ee9e-9d45-473a-82cd-f1f7feea6bbd",
  "status": "accepted",
  "stereo": false,
  "locale": "en-US",
  "createdAt": "2023-10-24T12:52:27.483Z",
  "updatedAt": "2023-10-24T12:52:27.483Z"
}
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.bird.com/api/voice-api/transcriptions-api/initiate-a-transcription.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.