Feedback: guides-gradio-frontend

Documentation Feedback

Original URL: https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/guides/gradio-frontend
Category: guides
Generated: 05/08/2025, 4:40:46 pm

---

Claude Sonnet 4 Feedback

Generated: 05/08/2025, 4:40:45 pm

Technical Documentation Analysis & Improvement Recommendations

Executive Summary

This documentation provides a basic tutorial for building a Gradio UI for transcription, but it has several critical issues that significantly impact user experience and functionality. The code is incomplete, lacks proper error handling, and missing essential implementation details.

Critical Issues Requiring Immediate Attention

1. Broken Code - Major Functionality Gap

Issue: The transcribe() function doesn’t return any value, breaking the entire UI workflow.

Current problematic code:

def transcribe(audio_path):
    transcriber = assemblyai.Transcriber()
    transcript = transcriber.transcribe(audio_path)

    if transcript.status == assemblyai.TranscriptStatus.error:
        print(f"Transcription failed: {transcript.error}")
    # Missing return statement!

Fix: Add proper return handling:

def transcribe(audio_path):
    if audio_path is None:
        return "Please upload an audio or video file first."

    try:
        transcriber = assemblyai.Transcriber()
        transcript = transcriber.transcribe(audio_path)

        if transcript.status == assemblyai.TranscriptStatus.error:
            return f"Transcription failed: {transcript.error}"
        else:
            return transcript.text
    except Exception as e:
        return f"An error occurred: {str(e)}"

2. Missing Security Best Practices

Issue: Hardcoded API key in source code is a major security vulnerability.

Current problematic approach:

assemblyai.settings.api_key = "API_KEY_HERE"

Fix: Add environment variable usage:

import os
import assemblyai

# Get API key from environment variable
api_key = os.getenv("ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY")
if not api_key:
    raise ValueError("Please set the ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY environment variable")

assemblyai.settings.api_key = api_key

Add to documentation:

## Setting Up Your API Key

For security, store your API key as an environment variable:

**On macOS/Linux:**
```bash
export ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

On Windows:

set ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

## Structure and Content Improvements

### 3. **Add Complete Working Example**
Create a "Complete Code" section with the full, working implementation:

```markdown
## Complete Working Example

Here's the complete, functional code:

```python
import os
import assemblyai
import gradio as gr

# Configure API key from environment variable
api_key = os.getenv("ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY")
if not api_key:
    raise ValueError("Please set the ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY environment variable")

assemblyai.settings.api_key = api_key

def transcribe(audio_file):
    """Transcribe audio/video file and return the transcript text."""
    if audio_file is None:
        return "Please upload an audio or video file first."

    try:
        transcriber = assemblyai.Transcriber()
        transcript = transcriber.transcribe(audio_file.name)

        if transcript.status == assemblyai.TranscriptStatus.error:
            return f"❌ Transcription failed: {transcript.error}"
        else:
            return transcript.text
    except Exception as e:
        return f"⚠️ An error occurred: {str(e)}"

# Create Gradio interface
with gr.Blocks(title="AssemblyAI Transcription") as demo:
    gr.Markdown("# 🎵 AssemblyAI Transcription with Gradio")
    gr.Markdown("Upload an audio or video file to get started with transcription.")

    with gr.Row():
        with gr.Column():
            audio_input = gr.File(
                label="Upload Audio/Video File",
                file_types=["audio", "video"]
            )
            transcribe_btn = gr.Button("🚀 Transcribe", variant="primary")

        with gr.Column():
            transcript_output = gr.Textbox(
                label="Transcript",
                placeholder="Your transcript will appear here...",
                lines=10
            )

    transcribe_btn.click(
        fn=transcribe,
        inputs=[audio_input],
        outputs=[transcript_output]
    )

if __name__ == "__main__":
    demo.launch(debug=True, show_error=True)

### 4. **Improve Section Organization**
Restructure with clearer progression:

```markdown
## Table of Contents
1. [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)
2. [Setup](#setup)
3. [Implementation](#implementation)
4. [Running the Application](#running-the-application)
5. [Customization Options](#customization-options)
6. [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
7. [Next Steps](#next-steps)

5. Add Missing Prerequisites Section

## Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:
- Python 3.7 or higher installed
- An AssemblyAI account ([sign up here](https://assemblyai.com/dashboard/signup))
- Your API key from the [AssemblyAI Dashboard](https://assemblyai.com/dashboard)
- Basic familiarity with Python

### Supported File Formats
AssemblyAI supports many audio and video formats including:
- **Audio**: MP3, WAV, FLAC, MP4 (audio), M4A, AAC
- **Video**: MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WebM
- **Maximum file size**: 2.2 GB

6. Add Troubleshooting Section

## Troubleshooting

### Common Issues

**"Please set the ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY environment variable"**
- Solution: Make sure you've set your API key as an environment variable (see Setup section)

**"Transcription failed: Invalid file format"**
- Solution: Ensure your file is in a supported format (see Prerequisites section)

**UI doesn't update after clicking Transcribe****
- Solution: Check the terminal for error messages and ensure your API key is valid

**"File not found" error**
- Solution: Try uploading the file again, or check file permissions

### Getting Help
- Check the [AssemblyAI Documentation](https://www.assemblyai.com/docs)
- Contact support at [support@assemblyai.com](mailto:support@assemblyai.com)
- View [Gradio Documentation](https://www.gradio.app/docs) for UI customization

7. Add Customization Examples

## Customization Options

### Enable Additional Features
You can enable advanced AssemblyAI features by modifying the transcriber configuration:

```python
def transcribe_with_features(audio_file):
    config = assemblyai.TranscriptionConfig(
        speaker_labels=True,  # Who spoke when
        auto_highlights=True,  # Key phrases
        sentiment_analysis=True,  # Sentiment detection
        entity_detection=True  # Named entity recognition
    )

    transcriber = assemblyai.Transcriber(config=config)
    transcript = transcriber.transcribe(audio_file.name)

    # Format output with additional insights
    result = f"Transcript:\n{transcript.text}\n\n"

    if transcript.sentiment_analysis_results:
        result += "Sentiment Analysis:\n"
        for sentiment in transcript.sentiment_analysis_results:
            result += f"- {sentiment.text}: {sentiment.sentiment}\n"

    return result

Customize UI Appearance

# Custom CSS styling
css = """
.gradio-container {
    font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif;
}
"""

demo = gr.Blocks(css=css, theme=gr.themes.Soft())

### 8. **Add Performance and Usage Notes**
```markdown
## Performance Notes

---