AssemblyAI Upgrade & Migration

Overview

Guide for upgrading the assemblyai npm package and migrating between SDK versions, including the major v3 to v4 migration and speech model transitions.

Prerequisites

• Current assemblyai package installed
• Git for version control
• Test suite available

Instructions

Step 1: Check Current Version

# Check installed version
npm list assemblyai

# Check latest available version
npm view assemblyai version

# See what changed
npm view assemblyai --json | jq '.versions[-5:]'

Step 2: Review Changelog

# View release notes
open https://github.com/AssemblyAI/assemblyai-node-sdk/releases

# Or check from CLI
gh release list --repo AssemblyAI/assemblyai-node-sdk --limit 10

Step 3: Create Upgrade Branch

git checkout -b upgrade/assemblyai-sdk-v$(npm view assemblyai version)
npm install assemblyai@latest
npm test

Step 4: Major Migration — Old SDK to Current (v4.x)

If migrating from @assemblyai/sdk (old package) to assemblyai (current):

// BEFORE (old package — @assemblyai/sdk)
import { AssemblyAI as OldClient } from '@assemblyai/sdk';
const client = new OldClient({ apiKey: '...' });

// AFTER (current package — assemblyai)
import { AssemblyAI } from 'assemblyai';
const client = new AssemblyAI({ apiKey: '...' });

# Remove old package, install new
npm uninstall @assemblyai/sdk
npm install assemblyai

Key changes in the migration:

Old (@assemblyai/sdk)	New (assemblyai)