Deep dive into migrating to Deepgram from other transcription providers. Use when migrating from AWS Transcribe, Google Cloud STT, Azure Speech, OpenAI Whisper, AssemblyAI, or Rev.ai to Deepgram. Trigger: "deepgram migration", "switch to deepgram", "migrate transcription", "deepgram from AWS", "deepgram from Google", "replace whisper with deepgram".
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tessl review fix ./plugins/saas-packs/deepgram-pack/skills/deepgram-migration-deep-dive/SKILL.md!npm list @deepgram/sdk 2>/dev/null | grep deepgram || echo 'Not installed'
!npm list @aws-sdk/client-transcribe 2>/dev/null | grep transcribe || echo 'AWS Transcribe SDK not found'
!pip show google-cloud-speech 2>/dev/null | grep Version || echo 'Google STT not found'
Migrate to Deepgram from AWS Transcribe, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, Azure Cognitive Services, or OpenAI Whisper. Uses an adapter pattern with a unified interface, parallel running for quality validation, percentage-based traffic shifting, and automated rollback.
| AWS Transcribe | Deepgram | Notes |
|---|---|---|
LanguageCode: 'en-US' | language: 'en' | ISO 639-1 (2-letter) |
ShowSpeakerLabels: true | diarize: true | Same feature, different param |
VocabularyName: 'custom' | keywords: ['term:1.5'] | Inline boosting, no pre-upload |
ContentRedactionType: 'PII' | redact: ['pci', 'ssn'] | Granular PII categories |
OutputBucketName | callback: 'https://...' | Callback URL, not S3 |
| Job polling model | Sync response or callback | No polling needed |
| Google STT | Deepgram | Notes |
|---|---|---|
RecognitionConfig.encoding | Auto-detected | Deepgram auto-detects format |
RecognitionConfig.sampleRateHertz | sample_rate (live only) | REST auto-detects |
RecognitionConfig.model: 'latest_long' | model: 'nova-3' | Direct mapping |
SpeakerDiarizationConfig | diarize: true | Simpler configuration |
StreamingRecognize | listen.live() | WebSocket vs gRPC |
| Whisper | Deepgram | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Local GPU processing | API call | No GPU needed |
whisper.transcribe(audio) | listen.prerecorded.transcribeFile() | Similar interface |
model='large-v3' | model: 'nova-3' | 10-100x faster |
language='en' | language: 'en' | Same format |
| No diarization | diarize: true | Deepgram advantage |
| No streaming | listen.live() | Deepgram advantage |
interface TranscriptionResult {
transcript: string;
confidence: number;
words: Array<{ word: string; start: number; end: number; speaker?: number }>;
duration: number;
provider: string;
}
interface TranscriptionAdapter {
transcribeUrl(url: string, options: any): Promise<TranscriptionResult>;
transcribeFile(path: string, options: any): Promise<TranscriptionResult>;
name: string;
}import { createClient } from '@deepgram/sdk';
import { readFileSync } from 'fs';
class DeepgramAdapter implements TranscriptionAdapter {
name = 'deepgram';
private client: ReturnType<typeof createClient>;
constructor(apiKey: string) {
this.client = createClient(apiKey);
}
async transcribeUrl(url: string, options: any = {}): Promise<TranscriptionResult> {
const { result, error } = await this.client.listen.prerecorded.transcribeUrl(
{ url },
{
model: options.model ?? 'nova-3',
smart_format: true,
diarize: options.diarize ?? false,
language: options.language ?? 'en',
keywords: options.keywords,
redact: options.redact,
}
);
if (error) throw new Error(`Deepgram: ${error.message}`);
return this.normalize(result);
}
async transcribeFile(path: string, options: any = {}): Promise<TranscriptionResult> {
const audio = readFileSync(path);
const { result, error } = await this.client.listen.prerecorded.transcribeFile(
audio,
{
model: options.model ?? 'nova-3',
smart_format: true,
diarize: options.diarize ?? false,
}
);
if (error) throw new Error(`Deepgram: ${error.message}`);
return this.normalize(result);
}
private normalize(result: any): TranscriptionResult {
const alt = result.results.channels[0].alternatives[0];
return {
transcript: alt.transcript,
confidence: alt.confidence,
words: (alt.words ?? []).map((w: any) => ({
word: w.punctuated_word ?? w.word,
start: w.start,
end: w.end,
speaker: w.speaker,
})),
duration: result.metadata.duration,
provider: 'deepgram',
};
}
}// Legacy adapter — wraps existing AWS Transcribe code for parallel running
import { TranscribeClient, StartTranscriptionJobCommand, GetTranscriptionJobCommand }
from '@aws-sdk/client-transcribe';
class AWSTranscribeAdapter implements TranscriptionAdapter {
name = 'aws-transcribe';
private client: TranscribeClient;
constructor() {
this.client = new TranscribeClient({});
}
async transcribeUrl(url: string, options: any = {}): Promise<TranscriptionResult> {
const jobName = `migration-${Date.now()}`;
await this.client.send(new StartTranscriptionJobCommand({
TranscriptionJobName: jobName,
LanguageCode: options.language ?? 'en-US',
Media: { MediaFileUri: url },
Settings: {
ShowSpeakerLabels: options.diarize ?? false,
MaxSpeakerLabels: options.diarize ? 10 : undefined,
},
}));
// Poll for completion (AWS is async-only)
let job;
do {
await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 5000));
const result = await this.client.send(new GetTranscriptionJobCommand({
TranscriptionJobName: jobName,
}));
job = result.TranscriptionJob;
} while (job?.TranscriptionJobStatus === 'IN_PROGRESS');
if (job?.TranscriptionJobStatus !== 'COMPLETED') {
throw new Error(`AWS Transcribe failed: ${job?.FailureReason}`);
}
// Fetch and normalize result
const response = await fetch(job.Transcript!.TranscriptFileUri!);
const data = await response.json();
return {
transcript: data.results.transcripts[0].transcript,
confidence: 0, // AWS doesn't provide overall confidence
words: data.results.items
.filter((i: any) => i.type === 'pronunciation')
.map((i: any) => ({
word: i.alternatives[0].content,
start: parseFloat(i.start_time),
end: parseFloat(i.end_time),
speaker: i.speaker_label ? parseInt(i.speaker_label.replace('spk_', '')) : undefined,
})),
duration: 0,
provider: 'aws-transcribe',
};
}
async transcribeFile(path: string): Promise<TranscriptionResult> {
throw new Error('Upload to S3 first, then use transcribeUrl');
}
}class MigrationRouter {
private adapters: Map<string, TranscriptionAdapter> = new Map();
private deepgramPercent: number;
constructor(deepgramPercent = 0) {
this.deepgramPercent = deepgramPercent;
}
register(adapter: TranscriptionAdapter) {
this.adapters.set(adapter.name, adapter);
}
setDeepgramPercent(percent: number) {
this.deepgramPercent = Math.max(0, Math.min(100, percent));
console.log(`Traffic split: ${this.deepgramPercent}% Deepgram, ${100 - this.deepgramPercent}% legacy`);
}
async transcribe(url: string, options: any = {}): Promise<TranscriptionResult> {
const useDeepgram = Math.random() * 100 < this.deepgramPercent;
const primary = useDeepgram ? 'deepgram' : this.getLegacyName();
const adapter = this.adapters.get(primary);
if (!adapter) throw new Error(`Adapter not found: ${primary}`);
const start = Date.now();
const result = await adapter.transcribeUrl(url, options);
const elapsed = Date.now() - start;
console.log(`[${primary}] ${elapsed}ms, confidence: ${result.confidence.toFixed(3)}`);
return result;
}
private getLegacyName(): string {
for (const [name] of this.adapters) {
if (name !== 'deepgram') return name;
}
throw new Error('No legacy adapter registered');
}
}
// Migration rollout:
const router = new MigrationRouter(0);
router.register(new AWSTranscribeAdapter());
router.register(new DeepgramAdapter(process.env.DEEPGRAM_API_KEY!));
// Week 1: 5% to Deepgram
router.setDeepgramPercent(5);
// Week 2: 25%
router.setDeepgramPercent(25);
// Week 3: 50%
router.setDeepgramPercent(50);
// Week 4: 100% — migration complete
router.setDeepgramPercent(100);async function validateMigration(
testAudioUrls: string[],
legacyAdapter: TranscriptionAdapter,
deepgramAdapter: TranscriptionAdapter,
minSimilarity = 0.85
) {
console.log(`Validating ${testAudioUrls.length} files (min similarity: ${minSimilarity})`);
const results: Array<{
url: string;
similarity: number;
legacyConfidence: number;
deepgramConfidence: number;
legacyTime: number;
deepgramTime: number;
pass: boolean;
}> = [];
for (const url of testAudioUrls) {
const legacyStart = Date.now();
const legacy = await legacyAdapter.transcribeUrl(url);
const legacyTime = Date.now() - legacyStart;
const dgStart = Date.now();
const dg = await deepgramAdapter.transcribeUrl(url);
const dgTime = Date.now() - dgStart;
// Jaccard similarity
const words1 = new Set(legacy.transcript.toLowerCase().split(/\s+/));
const words2 = new Set(dg.transcript.toLowerCase().split(/\s+/));
const intersection = new Set([...words1].filter(w => words2.has(w)));
const union = new Set([...words1, ...words2]);
const similarity = intersection.size / union.size;
results.push({
url: url.substring(url.lastIndexOf('/') + 1),
similarity,
legacyConfidence: legacy.confidence,
deepgramConfidence: dg.confidence,
legacyTime,
deepgramTime,
pass: similarity >= minSimilarity,
});
}
// Report
const passCount = results.filter(r => r.pass).length;
console.log(`\n=== Validation Results ===`);
for (const r of results) {
console.log(`${r.pass ? 'PASS' : 'FAIL'} ${r.url}: similarity=${(r.similarity * 100).toFixed(1)}% ` +
`(legacy: ${r.legacyTime}ms, deepgram: ${r.deepgramTime}ms)`);
}
console.log(`\n${passCount}/${results.length} passed (${(passCount / results.length * 100).toFixed(0)}%)`);
return { results, allPassed: passCount === results.length };
}| Phase | Actions | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment | Audit current usage, map features, estimate costs | 1 week |
| Setup | Install SDK, implement adapter pattern, create test suite | 1 week |
| Validation | Parallel run on test corpus, measure similarity | 1 week |
| Rollout 5% | Enable for 5% of traffic, monitor closely | 1 week |
| Rollout 25% | Increase if no issues, monitor error rate | 1 week |
| Rollout 50% | Continue monitoring, compare costs | 1 week |
| Rollout 100% | Full cutover, decommission legacy | 1 week |
| Cleanup | Remove legacy adapter, update docs | 1 week |
| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Low similarity | Feature mapping incomplete | Check options mapping (language, diarize) |
| Deepgram slower than expected | First request cold start | Pre-warm with test request |
| Missing features | No direct equivalent | Use keywords for custom vocab |
| Rollback needed | Quality regression | router.setDeepgramPercent(0) immediately |
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