Agora Chat SDK enables cross-platform messaging for real-time video applications

The Chat SDK addresses the fragmentation in real-time engagement by providing a unified messaging layer that sits alongside RTC video and audio. For developers, this reduces the technical overhead of managing separate signaling and data infrastructures for in-app chat. In a competitive landscape where conversion and retention are tied to community features, providing secure, translated, and moderated messaging out of the box is a tactical advantage. This move strengthens Agora's position as a multimodal infrastructure provider against platforms like Twilio and LiveKit. Watch for adoption rates in the social commerce and telehealth sectors where integrated messaging and secure data handling are critical for workflow continuity.

Additional context. Beyond its messaging SDK, Agora has moved aggressively into the hardware-AI intersection. In June 2026, Agora released v2.8 of its Conversational AI Engine, introducing support for xAI’s Grok and increasing session duration limits to 72 hours, per Agora developer documentation. This update coincided with an expanded integration of OpenAI's Realtime API into the Agora SDK, allowing developers to create low-latency AI voice agents that use Agora’s global Software-Defined Real-Time Network (SD-RTN) to process over 60 billion minutes of interaction monthly, according to reports from StreamingMeme in June 2026.

The hardware ecosystem has also seen recent expansion. Per common industry reporting from March 2025 and ongoing updates in 2026, Agora partnered with chip-maker Beken to launch the ConvoAI Device Kit. This turnkey solution integrates Beken’s high-performance BK7258 AIoT chips with Agora’s conversational technology, specifically targeting the smart toy and robotics markets. A notable implementation includes Robopoet’s 'Purr' AI companion robot, which uses this kit to process real-time emotional support and personalized voice interactions.

Simultaneously, Agora’s AI Noise Suppression extension has matured to remove over 100 types of background noise, including keyboard clicks and traffic. Per company releases from May 2026, the technology is now cross-platform on Linux and Electron, using deep-learning models to ensure audio clarity even in poor acoustic environments. This broader strategy indicates Agora is shifting from a pure software API provider to an integrated AI-hardware-signaling ecosystem, positioning itself to capture significant share in the projected growth of the AIoT and conversational AI markets.