How to integrate your Tavus replica with Zoom

AI is transforming how we meet and collaborate online.

Remote work is here to stay, and video conferencing is more essential than ever. But let’s face it—virtual meetings can start to feel repetitive and one-dimensional. That’s where Tavus comes in. By integrating your Tavus replica with Zoom, you can automate presentations, scale customer support, and give every AI interaction a human touch. Here’s a straightforward guide to help you get started and make your meetings smarter and more engaging.

Understanding Tavus replicas and their use cases

Before you dive into the technical steps, it helps to know what Tavus replicas are and why they’re such an asset for your Zoom meetings.

What is a Tavus replica?

A Tavus replica is an AI-powered virtual presenter designed to look and sound like a real person. Think of it as your digital twin or a professional spokesperson that can join video calls, deliver scripted or improvised information, answer questions, and interact in real time. That makes it the perfect fit for Zoom and other platforms where an authentic, conversational presence matters.

Stock vs. custom replicas

When setting up your AI presenter, you can choose between stock and custom replicas:

• Stock replicas are pre-made digital presenters available in the Tavus Developer Portal. They’re ideal if you want to get started quickly or need a neutral, professional persona for general use cases.
• Custom replicas are tailored to you or your brand. By uploading your own training and consent footage, you create a replica that matches your appearance, voice, and style. This option is great for anyone who wants to bring a personal or branded presence to their Zoom meetings.

Custom replicas require a bit more setup, but they offer the advantage of a truly unique and recognizable AI presence.

Why integrate with Zoom?

Integrating Tavus with Zoom opens up new possibilities for how you run meetings and engage with participants. Here are just a few ways you can use your AI replica:

• Automate routine presentations, onboarding sessions, or training modules so your team can focus on high-value tasks.
• Add an always-available AI assistant to handle support questions or frequently asked questions, ensuring no one is left waiting.
• Scale your customer engagement by letting AI handle repetitive conversations—without sacrificing the human feel that builds trust.

In short, you can make every Zoom meeting more interactive, efficient, and scalable, all while freeing up your team’s time.

Preparing your Tavus replica for Zoom integration

Once you understand what Tavus replicas can do, it’s time to create and prepare yours for Zoom. This section walks you through the essentials, from recording training footage to setting up API access.

Creating and training your replica

If you’re building a custom replica, follow these steps:

1. Record your training footage. Capture at least one minute of yourself talking, followed by one minute of silence. Choose a quiet location with good lighting, and aim for a clean, uncluttered background.
2. Consent statement. Include a video clip—either at the start of your training footage or as a separate file—where you clearly state your consent to use your likeness for AI training.
3. Upload to S3. Save your videos to an S3 bucket (Amazon Simple Storage Service) and generate a public or pre-signed URL that will be valid for at least 24 hours.
4. Submit via API. Use your Tavus API key to send a POST request with the video URLs. By default, your replica will train on the latest phoenix-3 model, but you can specify phoenix-2 if needed.
5. Monitor status. Training usually takes four to six hours. You can check the progress live through a callback URL or by polling the Get Replica endpoint.

Ensuring high-quality conversational experience

For the best results, pay attention to a few key details:

• Use a neutral setting that’s similar to a Zoom environment—think plain walls, soft lighting, and minimal background noise.
• Try to limit excessive head movement or distracting gestures. This makes your AI output smoother and more natural.
• Include some frames of silence in your footage. This helps the AI handle natural pauses and transitions.
• Follow best practices for camera angle and lighting—your camera should be at eye level, and your face should be well-lit.

A little preparation goes a long way in creating a convincing and effective AI replica.

Getting API access and initial setup

You’ll need a few pieces in place before you can fully integrate your replica:

• Request your Tavus API key from the Developer Portal. This gives you the credentials to access all developer tools.
• Make sure you have access to the Tavus documentation, which walks you through every API and feature.
• Locate your replica_id—you’ll use this to reference your new digital presenter in future steps. You can find it in the Developer Portal or via the API after your replica is created.

With your footage recorded, API key secured, and replica_id in hand, you’re ready to set up the actual conversation for Zoom.

Setting up a Tavus conversation for Zoom

Now that your replica is trained and ready, it’s time to create a conversation room—this is where your AI presenter will be “live” and ready to join your Zoom meeting.

Creating a conversation with Tavus

You can start a new Tavus conversation room through the dashboard or directly via API. Here’s how it works:

• Specify which replica (replica_id) and which persona (persona_id) you want to use. Personas let you customize the tone and style of your AI presenter.
• If you want, include an initial script or prompt to guide the AI as it starts the conversation.
• With these details, your conversation room is created instantly—ready for real-time interaction.

Customizing your conversation

Personalization is key to making your AI presence feel authentic. Here are a few ways you can tailor the experience:

• Set a custom greeting that feels welcoming and on-brand.
• Choose the language your replica will use, ensuring it matches your audience.
• Adjust the call duration or set timeouts to fit your meeting structure.
• Select or upload custom backgrounds to maintain a consistent, branded look.

These tweaks help create a seamless integration between your AI replica and your Zoom meeting flow.

Managing conversation context and personas

The real power of Tavus comes from its flexibility. You can:

• Add custom context to steer your AI’s responses—think specific topics, company policies, or product details.
• Switch between stock and custom personas as needed. This is handy if you want to shift the conversation’s tone or adapt to a different audience.
• Manage your list of available replicas through the Developer Portal or the API, making it easy to update or switch presenters as your needs evolve.

With these options, you have full control over how your AI replica behaves and interacts on Zoom.

Integrating Tavus replica streams into Zoom

The next step is to bring your Tavus conversation room into your Zoom meeting. There are a couple of ways to handle the technical side, depending on your goals and setup.

Server-to-server architecture for Zoom integration

If you want maximum flexibility—say, streaming one AI replica to many Zoom attendees or incorporating features like moderation and recording—you can route your Tavus video through your own server before sending it to Zoom. This server-to-server approach puts you in control and allows for advanced workflows.

For example, you might use a virtual camera setup or multi-stream broadcaster to share your AI presenter across multiple breakout rooms or meetings.

Direct WebRTC/Daily room connection vs. server routing

There are two main ways to connect:

• Direct connection (WebRTC or Daily room). This method is best for real-time conversations with low latency. You simply connect your Zoom session directly to the Tavus conversation room, making the experience feel immediate and interactive.
• Server routing. By routing the video stream through your own server, you gain the ability to add recording, moderation, or even broadcast the same AI stream to multiple Zoom meetings simultaneously. It’s a great choice for more complex needs.

Choosing the right approach depends on your goals—real-time interactivity, advanced controls, or large-scale broadcasting.

Embedding and automating with APIs

To make the most of your integration, you can embed your Tavus conversation room directly into custom apps or workflows. Tavus APIs and webhooks let you automate key actions:

• Automatically start Zoom recordings when the AI joins.
• Send follow-up emails after the meeting wraps up.
• Trigger other custom workflows based on events in the conversation room.

This level of automation can save you time and create a seamless, end-to-end meeting experience.

Advanced features and best practices

Once you have the basics down, there are several advanced features and best practices that can help you get even more from your AI Zoom replica.

Using custom TTS, LLM, and STT engines

If you want to push the boundaries of what your AI presenter can do, Tavus lets you bring your own Text-to-Speech (TTS), Language Model (LLM), or Speech-to-Text (STT) engines into the mix. This means you can:

• Fine-tune the voice, accent, and delivery for your audience.
• Integrate with frameworks like Pipecat to support multimodal or multi-agent conversations.

This is especially valuable if you need multi-language support or want to experiment with cutting-edge conversational AI.

Recording and sharing AI-powered Zoom meetings

Sometimes you’ll want to keep a record of your AI-powered calls for compliance, training, or simply to share with others. Here’s how:

• enable recording directly in Zoom, or use your server layer to capture the session.
• Store recordings in your S3 bucket and generate secure, shareable links.
• Use Tavus API callbacks to trigger post-meeting actions, like sending recordings to participants or kicking off follow-up workflows.

A streamlined recording and sharing process helps you squeeze even more value from your meetings.

Troubleshooting common issues

Even with the best setup, you might run into a few hiccups. Here are some common things to check:

• If you get API errors, double-check your API key, video URLs, and request formatting.
• Make sure your training videos meet all quality and consent requirements—length, clarity, and explicit consent are all important.
• If you’re not getting updates as expected, check your callback URLs and timeouts.
• When in doubt, refer to the Tavus documentation (opens in new window) or reach out to support for help with training or integration.

A little troubleshooting goes a long way in ensuring a smooth experience.

To summarize:

Integrating your Tavus AI replica with Zoom is a powerful way to automate, personalize, and scale your video meetings. With just a few setup steps, you can bring a smart, human-like AI presence to every call—freeing up your time while keeping every conversation engaging and on-brand.

Ready to converse?

Get started with a free Tavus account and begin exploring the endless possibilities of CVI.

Get started