Cloud Text-to-Speech is an API that is powered by Google's artificial intelligence
(AI) technology. You send your transcript data to Cloud Text-to-Speech in an API
call, then receive natural-sounding, synthetic human speech as playable audio in
response. For more information on how Cloud Text-to-Speech works, see the
[basics](https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/basics.md.txt) page.

This guide walks you through the steps necessary to start sending requests to
the Cloud Text-to-Speech API. See the [code samples](https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/samples.md.txt) section for
examples of how to make a request to the API and receive a response, or learn
how to use these samples by following the Cloud Text-to-Speech
[quickstarts](https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/quickstarts) and [how-to
guides](https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/how-to).

## Enable the Cloud Text-to-Speech API

Before you can begin using Cloud Text-to-Speech, you must enable the API in the
Google Cloud console:

1. Sign in to the [Google Cloud console](https://console.cloud.google.com/).

2. Open the [project selector page](https://console.cloud.google.com/projectselector2/home/dashboard)
   and either choose an existing project or create a new one. For details
   about creating a project, see the [Google Cloud
   documentation](https://docs.cloud.google.com/resource-manager/docs/creating-managing-projects).

3. If you create a new project, you will be prompted to link a billing account
   to this project. If you are using a pre-existing project, make sure that you
   have billing enabled.

   [Learn how to confirm that billing is enabled for your project](https://docs.cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/modify-project.md.txt)

   > [!NOTE]
   > **Note:** You must enable billing to use Cloud Text-to-Speech API; however, you won't be charged unless you exceed the free quota. See our [pricing](https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/pricing) page for more details.

4. Once you have selected a project and linked it to a billing account, you
   can enable the Cloud Text-to-Speech API. Go to the **Search products and
   resources** bar at the top of the page and type in **"speech"** . Select the
   **Cloud Text-to-Speech API** from the list of results.

5. To try Cloud Text-to-Speech without linking it to your project, choose
   the **Try this app** option. To enable the Cloud Text-to-Speech API for use
   with your project, click **Enable**.

6. Set up authentication for your development environment. For instructions, see
   [Set up authentication for Cloud Text-to-Speech](https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/authentication.md.txt#authn-how-to).

## Disable the Cloud Text-to-Speech API

To disable the Cloud Text-to-Speech API, navigate to your Google Cloud
dashboard and click the **Go to APIs overview** link in the **APIs** box.
Click **Cloud Text-to-Speech API** , then click the **Disable API** button at the top
of the page.

## What's next

Learn how to send a transcription request to the Cloud Text-to-Speech API using
[client libraries](https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/create-audio-text-client-libraries.md.txt) or the
[command line](https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/create-audio-text-command-line.md.txt).