deepgram-migration-deep-dive

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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Repository: ComeOnOliver/skillshub
Last source activity: March 23, 2026 at 17:43
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name	deepgram-migration-deep-dive
description	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".
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Bash(npm:), Bash(pip:)
version	1.0.0
license	MIT
author	Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>
compatible-with	claude-code, codex, openclaw
tags	["saas","deepgram","migration","transcription"]

Deepgram Migration Deep Dive

Current State

!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'

Overview

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.

Feature Mapping

AWS Transcribe -> Deepgram

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 Cloud STT -> Deepgram

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

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