# ElevenLabs Speech to Text — model skill for captions & subtitles

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Transcribe audio and video with word timestamps, speaker labels and keyterms, ready for subtitles.

- **Type:** [Model](https://skills.varg.ai/models.md) · [Captions & subtitles](https://skills.varg.ai/browse/skills/captions.md)
- **Slug:** `elevenlabs-speech-to-text`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** ElevenLabs (vendor, verified)
- **License:** MIT
- **Source:** https://github.com/elevenlabs/skills/tree/main/speech-to-text
- **Works in:** Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw
- **Requires:** ElevenLabs API key (ELEVENLABS_API_KEY)
- **Cost:** Billed in ElevenLabs credits
- **Adoption:** 11,900 installs, 510 GitHub stars (skills.sh, 2026-10-26)

## What it does

Transcribes audio and video with ElevenLabs Scribe v2, with word-level timestamps, speaker diarization, multichannel audio, keyterm prompting and language detection. It also covers real-time streaming from a server or a React client, including commit strategies and event types.

## Use when

- Generating subtitles for a video
- Transcribing interviews or meetings
- Word timings for captions or lip-sync

## Install

- Claude Code: `npx skills add elevenlabs/skills --skill speech-to-text -a claude-code`
- Codex: `npx skills add elevenlabs/skills --skill speech-to-text -a codex`
- Cursor: `npx skills add elevenlabs/skills --skill speech-to-text -a cursor`
- Gemini CLI: `npx skills add elevenlabs/skills --skill speech-to-text -a gemini-cli`
- OpenClaw: `npx skills add elevenlabs/skills --skill speech-to-text -a openclaw`

**Models it drives:** scribe_v2

## Used for

- [Long video or podcast into shorts](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/podcast-to-shorts.md): Find the best moments in a long video, cut them, reframe to 9:16 and burn captions.
- [Animated captions on your video](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/captions.md): TikTok-style subtitles burned into an existing video: word highlight, pop words, or designed editorial captions.
- [Talking avatar or presenter](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/talking-avatar.md): A person (from a headshot, or generated) speaks your script to camera with lip-sync, in any language.
- [AI music video](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/music-video.md): A music video for your song: concept, a consistent lead character, shots cut on the beat, lip-sync on vocals.
- [Lyric video](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/lyric-video.md): Lyrics synced to the song: the sung line big and highlighted, karaoke-style, over art or a shader.
- [Edit your own footage](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/edit-footage.md): Cut silences and flubs, reframe 16:9 to 9:16, add captions and b-roll to footage you shot.
- [Voiceover and music for a video](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/voiceover-music.md): A professional voiceover and a fitting music bed added to your video or screen recording.
- [B-roll for your video](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/b-roll.md): Cutaway footage for every mention in a voiceover or interview: generated clips, collage or stock-style shots, cut in on time.

## More captions & subtitles skills

- [3D Camera Captions](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/hyperframes-camera-3d-captions.md): Captions that live in 3D around a talking head: the camera flies through the words, heroes pass behind the speaker.
- [Remotion Captions](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/remotion-captions.md): Transcribe speech and burn in animated captions with Remotion, or import an existing SRT file.
- [ElevenLabs Speech to Text (inference.sh)](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/inference-sh-elevenlabs-stt.md): Transcribe audio with ElevenLabs Scribe, speaker diarization and forced alignment, via inference.sh.
- [Speech to Text](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/inference-sh-speech-to-text.md): Transcribe audio with ElevenLabs Scribe v2 or Whisper V3 Large, with timestamps and speaker labels.
- [Pretext Text Metrics](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/pretext-yaniv-golan.md): Measure and fit text without the DOM using pretext: auto-fit sizes, know line breaks before render, canvas/WebGL text.
- [Chinese Font Selector](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/chinese-font-selector.md): Pick Chinese fonts by license tier first (OFL, vendor-free, avoid), then by scene and mood, with Latin pairings.

## Run the generation on varg

varg is one API key for the models these skills drive — Seedance 2.5, Kling 4, Veo 3.1, Wan 3, Nano Banana 2.1, GPT Image 2.5, ElevenLabs v4 and 200+ more — billed in credits, with a cost estimate before anything runs.

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg` (skill + hosted MCP)
- Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-ai -a <agent> -y`
- Claude.ai, ChatGPT, any MCP client: connect `https://mcp.varg.ai/mcp`
- API key: https://varg.ai/dashboard/api · Model specs: https://varg.ai/models/llms.txt