> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.avaturn.live/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Real-time conversational video avatars for the web.

Avaturn.Live renders a photo-realistic avatar driven by a real-time conversation engine. Mint a session on your backend, pass a short-lived token to the frontend, and the [Web SDK](/web-sdk/integration-guide) streams the avatar over WebRTC.

## How it works

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a session">
    [`POST /api/v1/sessions`](/api-reference/create-session) with a conversation engine config. Returns `session_id` (backend) and `token` (frontend).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect">
    Pass `token` to the [Web SDK](/web-sdk/integration-guide). The avatar joins over WebRTC and starts conversing.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Terminate">
    [`DELETE /api/v1/sessions/{id}`](/api-reference/terminate-session), or let it expire on idle.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Conversation engines

| Engine                                             | When                                            | Configured                             |
| -------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| [**OpenAI Realtime**](/howtos/openai_realtime_api) | Low-latency voice-to-voice with inline prompts  | Per session, ephemeral client secret   |
| [**Cartesia**](/howtos/cartesia)                   | Voice-to-voice agents deployed on Cartesia Line | Per agent, in your Cartesia deployment |

<Tip>
  New integrations should use [OpenAI Realtime](/howtos/openai_realtime_api) — it's the fastest path to a working voice-to-voice avatar. Cartesia is the right pick if your agent already lives on Cartesia Line.
</Tip>

A legacy text-echo flow (backend pushes text, avatar speaks it) is preserved under [Legacy](/legacy/text-echo) for existing integrations.

## Start here

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="bolt" href="/quickstart">
    Voice-to-voice avatar in 5 minutes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Web SDK" icon="browser" href="/web-sdk/integration-guide">
    Render, devices, events, lifecycle.
  </Card>

  <Card title="REST API" icon="server" href="/rest/integration-guide">
    Session lifecycle from your backend.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API Reference" icon="code" href="/api-reference/introduction">
    Endpoints, schemas, errors.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>