Secure an agent for production

Walk the customer through ElevenLabs' layered safety model. The guiding principle: protections at every stage, before the agent goes live, while it is running, and after each conversation. This is the same lifecycle behind ElevenLabs' AIUC-1 certification (the first safety/security/reliability standard purpose-built for AI agents, which also underpins agent insurance eligibility). Do not quote certification percentages, coverage terms, or pricing from memory; point the customer to their account team or current docs for anything commercial.

Most of the settings below are configured in the agent's Security, Advanced, and Privacy config and can be inspected or set over the ConvAI REST API (host https://api.elevenlabs.io, header xi-api-key: $API_KEY) with GET/PATCH /v1/convai/agents/$AGENT_ID?branch_id=$BRANCH_ID. Read the current config before advising.

Stage 1: control who can reach the agent (authentication)

Restrict access first. Configure one method per agent:

• Signed URLs, recommended for client-side apps. Your server requests a temporary signed WebSocket URL using your API key, the client connects with it, and it expires after fifteen minutes. This authenticates sessions without exposing the API key client-side.
• Allowlists, to restrict connections to approved hostnames (up to ten, exact-match, so add subdomains separately). Best for hostname-based access control.

Do not configure both on one agent; pick the one matching the deployment model. The signed-URL mechanism confirms the request came from an authorized source; to restrict to specific users, authenticate them in your own app before requesting the signed URL. Never expose the API key in client code.

Stage 2: shape and constrain behavior (guardrails)

Guardrails protect at three levels: