Installation

Get Talk Box up and running in your Python environment with these simple installation steps.

Requirements

• Python 3.8 or higher
• pip or conda package manager

Basic Installation

Option 1: Install from PyPI (Recommended)

pip install talk-box

Option 2: Development Installation

For the latest features or to contribute to development:

git clone https://github.com/rich-iannone/talk-box.git
cd talk-box
pip install -e .

AI Provider Setup

Talk Box integrates with multiple AI providers. You’ll need to set up at least one provider to use real AI models.

TipUsing a .env file (Recommended)

For security and convenience, you can store all your API keys in a .env file in your project directory:

1. Create a file named .env in your project root

2. Add your API keys (one per line):

   OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-key-here
   ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-key-here
   GOOGLE_API_KEY=your-google-key-here

3. Install python-dotenv: pip install python-dotenv

4. Load in Python:

   from dotenv import load_dotenv
   load_dotenv()  # Loads variables from .env file

Important: Add .env to your .gitignore file to avoid committing API keys to version control!

OpenAI (Recommended for beginners)

1. Get an API key from OpenAI

2. Set your API key (choose one method):

   Environment Variable:

   export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

   In Python:

   import os
   os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = "your-api-key-here"

Anthropic (Claude)

1. Get an API key from Anthropic

2. Set your API key:

   export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Google (Gemini)

1. Get an API key from Google AI Studio

2. Set your API key:

   export GOOGLE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Verify Installation

Test your installation with this simple script:

import talk_box as tb

# Check if Talk Box is working
bot = tb.ChatBot()
print("✅ Talk Box installed successfully!")

# Check AI integration (requires API key)
try:
    response = bot.chat("Say hello!")
    print("LLM integration working!")
    print(f"Response: {response.get_last_message().content}")
except Exception as e:
    print("LLM integration needs setup:")
    print(f"   {e}")
    print("   See the AI Provider Setup section above")

Installation Troubleshooting

Common Issues

“ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘talk_box’”

• Make sure you installed with the correct Python environment
• Try: python -m pip install talk-box

“API key not found” errors

• Verify your API key is set correctly
• Check the environment variable name matches your provider
• Restart your Python session after setting environment variables

Permission errors on installation

• Try: pip install --user talk-box
• Or use a virtual environment (recommended)

Optional Dependencies

Development tools:

pip install talk-box[dev]

All optional dependencies:

pip install talk-box[all]