> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL. > For a complete documentation index, see https://developers.deepgram.com/llms.txt. > For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://developers.deepgram.com/_mcp/server. # Redaction * [Try Redaction in the Playground](https://playground.deepgram.com/?endpoint=listen\&redact=pci\&language=en\&model=nova-3) `redact` *string* Default: `False` Pre-recorded Streaming:Nova Streaming:Flux Specific languages only ## Redaction options Redaction has two kinds: * **Number redaction** (`numbers`, `true`, `aggressive_numbers`) — redacts numeric sequences such as account and card numbers. * **Entity redaction** (`pci`, `pii`, `phi`, and specific entity types) — redacts recognized entities such as names, addresses, and PHI. Available for English only. ### Redaction groups Deepgram provides the following options to redact common groups of entities: * `pci`: Redacts credit card information, including credit card number, expiration date, and CVV. * `pii`: Redacts a broad range of personally identifiable information, including names, locations, and identifying numbers. * `phi`: Redacts protected health information, including medical conditions, drugs, injuries, blood types, medical processes, and statistics. * `numbers` (or `true`): Redacts any sequence of three or more consecutive numerals, plus the entity types in the `numbers` redaction group (dates, account numbers, credit cards, SSNs, and more). * `aggressive_numbers`: Redacts every numeral (including single- and two-digit numbers), plus the entity types in the `numbers` redaction group. To see exactly which entity types are included in each group, refer to the Redaction Groups column in the [Supported Entity Types](/docs/supported-entity-types) table. ### Specific entity types You may select the types of entities you wish to redact from [over 50 supported entity types](/docs/supported-entity-types). Some options include `credit_card`, `credit_card_expiration`, `cvv`, and `email_address`. Specific entity types rely on entity recognition and are available for English only. ### Multichannel audio For pre-recorded audio sent with [`multichannel=true`](/docs/multichannel), entity redaction uses context from all channels. For example, a CVV read out by a customer on one channel can be recognized from the agent's question on another. Streaming entity redaction uses only the channel the value was spoken on. The entity types included in `numbers` and `aggressive_numbers` use the same labels. Their numeral rules (three or more consecutive numerals for `numbers`, every numeral for `aggressive_numbers`) do not depend on context. See [Entity Detection: Multichannel Audio](/docs/detect-entities#multichannel-audio) for an example. ## Enable redaction To enable redaction, add the `redact` parameter to the query string when you call Deepgram's `/listen` endpoint: `redact=OPTION` Send multiple redaction values by repeating the parameter: `redact=pci&redact=numbers`. ## Examples To transcribe pre-recorded audio and remove `PCI` data from a file, run: **`cURL`** ```bash cURL curl \ --request POST \ --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \ --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \ --data-binary @youraudio.wav \ --url 'https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?redact=pci' ``` To remove both `PCI` and `PII` data, repeat the parameter: **`cURL`** ```bash cURL curl \ --request POST \ --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \ --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \ --data-binary @youraudio.wav \ --url 'https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?redact=pci&redact=pii' ``` > **Warning** > > Replace `YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY` with your [Deepgram API Key](/docs/create-additional-api-keys). ## How redacted output looks Redaction replaces redacted content with a tag containing the entity type and an index. The index identifies a distinct detected value, not an occurrence count: within a transcript, each unique value of an entity type gets its own number, and repeat mentions of the same value reuse it. For example, with `redact=ssn`, the phrase "My social security number is five five five two two one one one one and his is six six six two two one three three three" appears in your transcript as "My social security number is \[SSN\_1] and his is \[SSN\_2]". Index assignment is best-effort, so don't rely on it to link mentions. With `redact=name`, repeated mentions of the same name share a tag: | Before redact | After redact | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Hi, this is John Miller. My colleague Bob Smith is helping me. Thanks, John Miller. I'll follow up with Bob Smith. | Hi, this is \[NAME\_1]. My colleague \[NAME\_2] is helping me. Thanks, \[NAME\_1]. I'll follow up with \[NAME\_2]. | Numerals that match an entity type in the `numbers` group are tagged with the specific entity (`[CREDIT_CARD_1]`, `[SSN_1]`, etc.). Sequences caught only by the digit-length rule — three or more numerals for `numbers`/`true`, one or more for `aggressive_numbers` — are replaced with a generic `[REDACTED]` placeholder. On Nova streaming (`/v1/listen`), Deepgram follows a two-phase approach. During interim results, the system returns a generic `[REDACTED]` placeholder while it continues evaluating the spoken content. Once a segment is complete and Deepgram has high confidence in the detected entity, the placeholder is replaced with a specific entity tag. This replacement may occur in a later interim result or in the final result. Indexes persist for the whole stream: a value tagged `[NAME_1]` early in the stream keeps that tag in later segments, and new values continue the count. > **Info** > > For the highest streaming redaction accuracy, set `no_delay=false` or omit `no_delay` entirely. Setting `no_delay=true` opts for low latency at the risk of redaction performance. Flux (`/v2/listen`) uses a different output format — see [Redaction on Flux](#redaction-on-flux). Example with `redact=pci&redact=pii`: | Source | Before redact | After redact | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | my credit card number is four four four four nine nine nine nine three three three three two two two two with an expiration date of one twenty three and the cvv code is one one one i live at one two three main street dallas texas seven five two zero one my phone number is five five five two one two nine three three three my date of birth is july twelfth nineteen seventy six | my credit card number is four four four four nine nine nine nine three three three three two two two two with an expiration date of one twenty three and the cvv code is one one one i live at one two three main street dallas texas seven five two zero one my phone number is five five five two one two nine three three three my date of birth is july twelfth nineteen seventy six | my credit card number is \[CREDIT\_CARD\_1] with an expiration date of \[CREDIT\_CARD\_EXPIRATION\_1] and the cvv code is \[CVV\_1] i live at \[LOCATION\_ADDRESS\_1] my phone number is \[PHONE\_NUMBER\_1] my date of birth is \[DOB\_1] | ## Language support Redaction language coverage differs by kind and deployment: | Environment | Number redaction | Entity redaction | | ------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | | Hosted API — pre-recorded | All available languages | English only | | Hosted API — Nova streaming (`/v1/listen`) | 12 languages (see below) | English only | | Hosted API — Flux streaming (`/v2/listen`) | `numbers`, `aggressive_numbers` only | Not supported | | Self-hosted — pre-recorded | Bulgarian, Cantonese, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, German (Swiss), Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish | English only | | Self-hosted — streaming | All loaded Nova-3 languages (see note below) | English only | On the hosted API, pre-recorded (batch) number redaction is available for all supported languages. In hosted streaming, it is limited to: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, German (Swiss), Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. On multilingual models (`language=multi`), each word is redacted using its detected language's number rules, so a single transcript can mix languages. In hosted streaming, detected languages outside the set above fall back to English number rules. Self-hosted number redaction requires release 260430 or later; Bulgarian, Chinese, and Cantonese require 260611 or later, Malay 260714, Korean 260728, and Japanese 261001 (`language=multi` requires 260611 or later). Pre-recorded requests support the languages listed in the table; a pre-recorded request in any other language returns an error. Streaming requests accept every loaded Nova-3 language; outside the pre-recorded list, spelled-out numbers use English number rules, and digits are redacted in every language. > **Info** > > For non-English audio, only numbers are redacted. Entity redaction — names, addresses, PHI, and other `pii`/`phi` entities — is applied for English only, even when you request `true`. ## Redaction on Flux Flux (`/v2/listen`) supports **number redaction only**. `redact` accepts `numbers` and `aggressive_numbers`; any other value — including `true`, `pci`, `pii`, `phi`, and specific entity types such as `ssn` or `credit_card` — is rejected: the WebSocket connection fails to open with an HTTP `400` at connection time rather than being silently ignored. Use Nova streaming or pre-recorded for entity redaction. Number redaction works on both `flux-general-en` and `flux-general-multi`. Because Flux does not produce word-level language tags, number redaction is applied across every language detected in the transcript. Currently, Flux replaces each redacted span with a single `*` (for example, `my phone number is *`) rather than the `[REDACTED]` placeholder or specific entity tags (such as `[CREDIT_CARD_1]`) used by Nova — Flux performs digit redaction only, without entity recognition. Treat the redacted text as removed rather than depending on this exact placeholder format, which may change.