#
Building Your First AI App with Inference Providers

You’ve learned the basics and understand the provider ecosystem. Now let’s build something practical: an AI Meeting Notes app that transcribes audio files and generates summaries with action items.

This project demonstrates real-world AI orchestration using multiple specialized providers within a single application.

##
Project Overview

Our app will:

1. Accept audio as a microphone input through a web interface
2. Transcribe speech using a fast speech-to-text model
3. Generate summaries using a powerful language model
4. Deploy to the web for easy sharing

python
javascript

Tech Stack: Gradio (for the UI) + Inference Providers (for the AI)

##
Step 1: Set Up Authentication

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javascript

Before we start coding, authenticate with Hugging Face using the CLI:

    pip install huggingface_hub
    hf auth login

When prompted, paste your Hugging Face token. This handles authentication automatically for all your inference calls. You can generate one from your settings page.

##
Step 2: Build the User Interface

python
javascript

Now let’s create a simple web interface using Gradio:

    import gradio as gr
    from huggingface_hub import InferenceClient

    def process_meeting_audio(audio_file):
        """Process uploaded audio file and return transcript + summary"""
        if audio_file is None:
            return "Please upload an audio file.", ""

        # We'll implement the AI logic next
        return "Transcript will appear here...", "Summary will appear here..."

    # Create the Gradio interface
    app = gr.Interface(
        fn=process_meeting_audio,
        inputs=gr.Audio(label="Upload Meeting Audio", type="filepath"),
        outputs=[
            gr.Textbox(label="Transcript", lines=10),
            gr.Textbox(label="Summary & Action Items", lines=8)
        ],
        title="🎤 AI Meeting Notes",
        description="Upload an audio file to get an instant transcript and summary with action items."
    )

    if __name__ == "__main__":
        app.launch()

Here we’re using Gradio’s `gr.Audio` component to either upload an audio file or use the microphone input. We’re keeping things simple with two outputs: a transcript and a summary with action items.

##
Step 3: Add Speech Transcription

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javascript

Now let’s implement the transcription using OpenAI’s `whisper-large-v3` model for fast, reliable speech processing.

> We’ll use the `auto` provider to automatically select the first available provider for the model. You can define your own priority list of providers in the Inference Providers page.

    def transcribe_audio(audio_file_path):
        """Transcribe audio using fal.ai for speed"""
        client = InferenceClient(provider="auto")

        # Pass the file path directly - the client handles file reading
        transcript = client.automatic_speech_recognition(
            audio=audio_file_path,
            model="openai/whisper-large-v3"
        )

        return transcript.text

##
Step 4: Add AI Summarization

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javascript

Next, we’ll use a powerful language model like `deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-0528` from DeepSeek via an Inference Provider, and just like in the previous step, we’ll use the `auto` provider to automatically select the first available provider for the model. We will define a custom prompt to ensure the output is formatted as a summary with action items and decisions made:

    def generate_summary(transcript):
        """Generate summary using an Inference Provider"""
        client = InferenceClient(provider="auto")

        prompt = f"""
        Analyze this meeting transcript and provide:
        1. A concise summary of key points
        2. Action items with responsible parties
        3. Important decisions made

        Transcript: {transcript}

        Format with clear sections:
        ## Summary
        ## Action Items
        ## Decisions Made
        """

        response = client.chat.completions.create(
            model="deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-0528",
            messages=[{"role": "user", "content": prompt}],
            max_tokens=1000
        )

        return response.choices[0].message.content

##
Step 5: Deploy on Hugging Face Spaces

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javascript

To deploy, we’ll need to create an `app.py` file and upload it to Hugging Face Spaces.

📋 Click to view the complete app.py file

    import gradio as gr
    from huggingface_hub import InferenceClient

    def transcribe_audio(audio_file_path):
        """Transcribe audio using an Inference Provider"""
        client = InferenceClient(provider="auto")

        # Pass the file path directly - the client handles file reading
        transcript = client.automatic_speech_recognition(
            audio=audio_file_path, model="openai/whisper-large-v3"
        )

        return transcript.text

    def generate_summary(transcript):
        """Generate summary using an Inference Provider"""
        client = InferenceClient(provider="auto")

        prompt = f"""
        Analyze this meeting transcript and provide:
        1. A concise summary of key points
        2. Action items with responsible parties
        3. Important decisions made

        Transcript: {transcript}

        Format with clear sections:
        ## Summary
        ## Action Items
        ## Decisions Made
        """

        response = client.chat.completions.create(
            model="deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-0528",
            messages=[{"role": "user", "content": prompt}],
            max_tokens=1000,
        )

        return response.choices[0].message.content

    def process_meeting_audio(audio_file):
        """Main processing function"""
        if audio_file is None:
            return "Please upload an audio file.", ""

        try:
            # Step 1: Transcribe
            transcript = transcribe_audio(audio_file)

            # Step 2: Summarize
            summary = generate_summary(transcript)

            return transcript, summary

        except Exception as e:
            return f"Error processing audio: {str(e)}", ""

    # Create Gradio interface
    app = gr.Interface(
        fn=process_meeting_audio,
        inputs=gr.Audio(label="Upload Meeting Audio", type="filepath"),
        outputs=[
            gr.Textbox(label="Transcript", lines=10),
            gr.Textbox(label="Summary & Action Items", lines=8),
        ],
        title="🎤 AI Meeting Notes",
        description="Upload audio to get instant transcripts and summaries.",
    )

    if __name__ == "__main__":
        app.launch()

Our app will run on port 7860 and look like this:

To deploy, we’ll need to create a new Space and upload our files.

1. Create a new Space: Go to huggingface.co/new-space
2. Choose Gradio SDK and make it public
3. Upload your files: Upload `app.py`
4. Add your token: In Space settings, add `HF_TOKEN` as a secret (get it from your settings)
5. Launch: Your app will be live at `https://huggingface.co/spaces/your-username/your-space-name`

> Note: While we used CLI authentication locally, Spaces requires the token as a secret for the deployment environment.

##
Next Steps

Congratulations! You’ve created a production-ready AI application that: handles real-world tasks, provides a professional interface, scales automatically, and costs efficiently. If you want to explore more providers, you can check out the Inference Providers page. Or here are some ideas for next steps:

- Improve your prompt: Try different prompts to improve the quality for your use case
- Try different models: Experiment with various speech and text models
- Compare performance: Benchmark speed vs. accuracy across providers

Update on GitHub