Configuring EVI

Navigate to the Configurations page

In the Platform, find the EVI Configurations page. Click the Create Configuration button to begin.

Select a template

Select a template to get started quickly, or create a configuration from scratch. This guide demonstrates creating a configuration from scratch.

Choose EVI version

To learn more about the differences between EVI versions 1 and 2, please see the feature comparison guide.

Choose voice

Select a voice from Hume’s 8 presets, or create your own custom voice. To learn more about voice customization options on the Hume Platform, please visit the Voices page. The system default voice will be used if no voice is selected.

Set up the LLM

Select a supported language model and specify a system prompt. The system prompt is crucial for defining your assistant’s personality, capabilities, and behavior. For guidance on writing effective prompts, visit our Prompting Guide. If no system prompt is provided, the system default prompt will be used.

Add tools

EVI comes with built-in tools (Web search and Hang up) that you can enable.

To add custom tools, click the + Add button, which allows you to either select from your existing custom tools or create a new one. For more information about tools and creating custom tools, visit the Tools page.

Name config

Name your EVI configuration and add an optional description.

Test the configuration

The newly created configuration can now be tested. From the Config edit page, click Run in playground to test your configuration in the EVI Playground. This allows you to interact with EVI using your custom settings and verify that the configuration works as expected.

Once in the EVI Playground, click Start call to begin testing your configuration. You can speak with EVI using your microphone or type messages in the chat interface.

Set additional configuration options

Additional configuration options can be set after the initial config creation flow:

• Event messages and timeouts can be configured through the Platform (either in the Playground or Config edit page)
• Webhooks can be configured through the API. They are not currently configurable through the Platform. For detailed instructions and code examples, see our webhooks guide.

Apply the configuration

After creating an EVI configuration, you can use it in your conversations with EVI by including the config_id in the query parameters of your connection request. Here’s how to locate your config_id:

1. Navigate to the Configurations page.
2. Click the More Options button next to your desired configuration.
3. Copy the Configuration ID.

See the code examples below for how to apply your configuration:

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import { Hume, HumeClient } from 'hume';
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// instantiate the HumeClient with credentials
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// avoid hard coding your API key, retrieve from environment variables
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const client = new HumeClient({
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  apiKey: <YOUR_API_KEY>,
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  secretKey: <YOUR_SECRET_KEY>,
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});
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// instantiate WebSocket connection with specified EVI config
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const socket = await client.empathicVoice.chat.connect({
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  configId: <YOUR_CONFIG_ID> // specify config ID here
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});