[Amazon Nova Sonic](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/nova/latest/nova2-userguide/using-conversational-speech.html) provides real-time, conversational interactions through bidirectional audio streaming. Amazon Nova Sonic processes and responds to real-time speech as it occurs, enabling natural, human-like conversational experiences. Key capabilities and features include:

-   Adaptive speech response that dynamically adjusts delivery based on the prosody of the input speech.
-   Graceful handling of user interruptions without dropping conversational context.
-   Function calling and agentic workflow support for building complex AI applications.
-   Robustness to background noise for real-world deployment scenarios.
-   Multilingual support with expressive voices and speaking styles. Expressive voices are offered, including both masculine-sounding and feminine sounding, in seven languages: English (US, UK, AU, IN), French, Italian, German, Spanish (US), Portuguese (BR), and Hindi.
-   Recognition of varied speaking styles across all supported languages.

## Installation

Python 3.12+ Required

Nova Sonic requires Python 3.12 or higher due to its experimental AWS SDK dependency.

Nova Sonic is included in the base bidirectional streaming dependencies for Strands Agents.

To install it, run:

```bash
pip install 'strands-agents[bidi,bidi-io,bidi-pyaudio]'
```

Or to install all bidirectional streaming providers at once:

```bash
pip install 'strands-agents[bidi-all,bidi-pyaudio]'
```

## Usage

After installing the Bedrock Nova Sonic and local audio extras, create a voice agent:

```python
import asyncio

from strands.experimental.bidi.agent import BidiAgent
from strands.experimental.bidi.io import BidiAudioIO
from strands.experimental.bidi.models import BedrockNovaSonicModel
from strands.experimental.tools import stop
from strands.vended_tools import notebook


async def main() -> None:
    model = BedrockNovaSonicModel(
        model_id="amazon.nova-2-sonic-v1:0",
        region="us-east-1",
        voice="tiffany",
    )
    agent = BidiAgent(model=model, tools=[notebook, stop])
    audio_io = BidiAudioIO()
    await agent.run(inputs=[audio_io.input()], outputs=[audio_io.output()])


if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())
```

## Cross-Modal Input

Nova Sonic accepts text input at any point during an active voice session, without interrupting or waiting on the audio stream. Send a [text content block](/docs/user-guide/sdk/bidirectional-streaming/events/index.md#text) the same way you would outside of a live conversation:

```python
await agent.send({"text": "What's the weather in Seattle?"})
```

Text and audio input can be interleaved freely. Sending text does not require pausing the microphone or waiting for the model to finish speaking.

## Credentials

Nova Sonic is available in us-east-1, us-west-2, eu-north-1, and ap-northeast-1.

Nova Sonic requires AWS credentials for access. `BedrockNovaSonicModel` uses an experimental [Bedrock client](https://github.com/aws/aws-sdk-python/tree/develop/clients/aws-sdk-bedrock-runtime/src/aws_sdk_bedrock_runtime), which accepts credentials in the following ways:

**Option 1: Environment Variables**

```bash
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_access_key
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_secret_key
export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=your_session_token  # If using temporary credentials
export AWS_REGION=your_region_name
```

**Option 2: Boto3 Session**

```python
import boto3
from strands.experimental.bidi.models import BedrockNovaSonicModel


boto_session = boto3.Session(
    aws_access_key_id="your_access_key",
    aws_secret_access_key="your_secret_key",
    aws_session_token="your_session_token",  # If using temporary credentials
    region_name="your_region_name",
    profile_name="your_profile"  # Optional: Use a specific profile
)
model = BedrockNovaSonicModel(boto_session=boto_session)
```

For more details on this approach, please refer to the [boto3 session docs](https://boto3.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/reference/core/session.html).

## Configuration

### Client Options

| Parameter | Description | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `boto_session` | A `boto3.Session` instance under which AWS credentials are configured. | `None` |
| `region` | Region under which credentials are configured. Cannot use if providing `boto_session`. | `us-east-1` |

### Model Config

| Parameter | Description | Example | Options |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `model_id` | Nova Sonic model identifier. | `"amazon.nova-2-sonic-v1:0"` | Nova Sonic model IDs |
| `audio` | Input and output stream options. | `{"output": {"sample_rate": 24000}}` | [reference](/docs/api/python/strands.experimental.bidi.models#BedrockNovaSonicAudioConfig) |
| `voice` | Output voice identifier. Defaults to `"matthew"`. | `"tiffany"` | Nova Sonic voices |
| `params` | Provider-specific session parameters, such as inference and turn detection configuration. | `{"inferenceConfiguration": {"temperature": 0.7}}` | [`sessionStart` fields](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/nova/latest/nova2-userguide/sonic-input-events.html) |
| `connection` | Reconnect timing overrides. | `{"auto_reconnect": false}` | [reference](/docs/api/python/strands.experimental.bidi.models#BidiConnectionConfig) |

Conversation History Limits

Nova Sonic caps conversation history passed via `messages` at 50KB per message and 200KB total. Messages exceeding the per-message limit are truncated; if the total exceeds 200KB, the oldest messages are dropped until it fits. This happens silently (only visible via debug-level logs) and only applies to history provided at connection start, not to turns generated during the live conversation.

## Connection Restart

Nova Sonic keeps a single connection open for about 8 minutes. Before the connection reaches that limit, `BidiAgent` restarts it and replays the conversation history into the new connection, so the conversation continues without a break. The agent emits a [`BidiConnectionRestartEvent`](/docs/user-guide/sdk/bidirectional-streaming/events/index.md#bidiconnectionrestartevent) when this happens; treat it as informational rather than an error.

See [Connection Restart](/docs/user-guide/sdk/bidirectional-streaming/agent/index.md#connection-restart) for the full lifecycle.

## Troubleshooting

### Module Not Found

If you encounter the error `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'aws_sdk_bedrock_runtime'`, this means the experimental Bedrock runtime dependency hasn’t been properly installed in your environment. To fix this, run `pip install 'strands-agents[bidi]'`.

Python Version Requirement

Nova Sonic requires Python 3.12+ due to the experimental AWS SDK dependency. If you’re using an older Python version, you’ll need to upgrade.

### Hanging

When credentials are misconfigured, the model provider does not throw an exception (a quirk of the underlying experimental Bedrock client). As a result, the provider allows the user to proceed forward with a call to `receive`, which emits no events and thus presents an indefinite hanging behavior.

As a reminder, Nova Sonic is only available in us-east-1, us-west-2, eu-north-1, and ap-northeast-1.

## References

-   [Nova Sonic](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/nova/latest/nova2-userguide/using-conversational-speech.html)
-   [Experimental Bedrock Client](https://github.com/aws/aws-sdk-python/tree/develop/clients/aws-sdk-bedrock-runtime)
-   [Python API Reference](/docs/api/python/strands.experimental.bidi.models#BedrockNovaSonicModel)

## Related pages

- [Guardrails](/docs/user-guide/sdk/safety-security/guardrails/index.md) (2 shared tags)
- [Amazon Nova](/docs/user-guide/sdk/model-providers/amazon-nova/index.md) (2 shared tags)
- [Bedrock Knowledge Base Store](/docs/user-guide/sdk/memory/bedrock-knowledge-base/index.md) (2 shared tags)
- [Deploying Strands Agents to Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Runtime](/docs/user-guide/sdk/deploy/deploy_to_bedrock_agentcore/index.md) (2 shared tags)
- [Python Deployment to Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Runtime](/docs/user-guide/sdk/deploy/deploy_to_bedrock_agentcore/python/index.md) (2 shared tags)
- [TypeScript Deployment to Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Runtime](/docs/user-guide/sdk/deploy/deploy_to_bedrock_agentcore/typescript/index.md) (2 shared tags)
- [AgentCore evaluations](/docs/user-guide/evals-sdk/how-to/agentcore_evaluation_dashboard/index.md) (2 shared tags)
- [BidiAgent](/docs/user-guide/sdk/bidirectional-streaming/agent/index.md) (1 shared tag)
- [Build a realtime voice agent](/docs/user-guide/sdk/bidirectional-streaming/index.md) (1 shared tag)
- [Events](/docs/user-guide/sdk/bidirectional-streaming/events/index.md) (1 shared tag)


## Implementation

### Python

- [harness-sdk/strands-py/src/strands/experimental/bidi/models/bedrock.py](https://github.com/strands-agents/harness-sdk/blob/main/strands-py/src/strands/experimental/bidi/models/bedrock.py)