VoiceClaw

Local-only voice I/O for OpenClaw agents.

STT: transcribe.sh — converts audio to text via local Whisper binary
TTS: speak.sh — converts text to speech via local Piper binary
Network calls: none — both scripts run fully offline
No cloud APIs, no API keys required

Prerequisites

The following must be installed on the system before using this skill:

Requirement	Purpose
`whisper` binary	Speech-to-text inference
`ggml-base.en.bin` model file	Whisper STT model
`piper` binary	Text-to-speech synthesis
`*.onnx` voice model files	Piper TTS voices
`ffmpeg`	Audio format conversion

See README.md for installation and setup instructions.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Purpose
`WHISPER_BIN`	auto-detected via `which`	Path to whisper binary
`WHISPER_MODEL`	`~/.cache/whisper/ggml-base.en.bin`	Path to Whisper model file
`PIPER_BIN`	auto-detected via `which`	Path to piper binary
`VOICECLAW_VOICES_DIR`	`~/.local/share/piper/voices`	Directory containing `.onnx` voice model files

Verify Setup

which whisper && echo "STT binary: OK"
which piper   && echo "TTS binary: OK"
which ffmpeg  && echo "ffmpeg: OK"
ls "${WHISPER_MODEL:-$HOME/.cache/whisper/ggml-base.en.bin}" && echo "STT model: OK"
ls "${VOICECLAW_VOICES_DIR:-$HOME/.local/share/piper/voices}"/*.onnx 2>/dev/null | head -1 && echo "TTS voices: OK"

Inbound Voice: Transcribe

# Transcribe audio → text (supports ogg, mp3, m4a, wav, flac)
TRANSCRIPT=$(bash scripts/transcribe.sh /path/to/audio.ogg)

Override model path:

WHISPER_MODEL=/path/to/ggml-base.en.bin bash scripts/transcribe.sh audio.ogg

Outbound Voice: Speak

# Step 1: Generate WAV (local Piper — no network)
WAV=$(bash scripts/speak.sh "Your response here." /tmp/reply.wav en_US-lessac-medium)

# Step 2: Convert to OGG Opus (Telegram voice requirement)
ffmpeg -i "$WAV" -c:a libopus -b:a 32k /tmp/reply.ogg -y -loglevel error

# Step 3: Send via message tool (filePath=/tmp/reply.ogg)

Override voice directory:

VOICECLAW_VOICES_DIR=/path/to/voices bash scripts/speak.sh "Hello." /tmp/reply.wav

Available Voices

Voice	Style
`en_US-lessac-medium`	Neutral American (default)
`en_US-amy-medium`	Warm American female
`en_US-joe-medium`	American male
`en_US-kusal-medium`	Expressive American male
`en_US-danny-low`	Deep American male (fast)
`en_GB-alba-medium`	British female
`en_GB-northern_english_male-medium`	Northern British male

Agent Behavior Rules

Voice in → Voice + Text out. Always respond with both a voice reply and a text reply when a voice message is received.
Include the transcript. Show "🎙️ I heard: [transcript]" at the top of every text reply to a voice message.
Keep voice responses concise. Piper TTS works best under ~200 words — summarize for audio, include full detail in text.
Local only. Never use a cloud TTS/STT API. Only the local whisper and piper binaries.
Send voice before text. Send the audio file first, then follow with the text reply.

Full Example

# 1. Transcribe inbound voice message
TRANSCRIPT=$(bash path/to/voiceclaw/scripts/transcribe.sh /path/to/voice.ogg)

# 2. Compose reply and generate audio
RESPONSE="Deployment complete. All checks passed."
WAV=$(bash path/to/voiceclaw/scripts/speak.sh "$RESPONSE" /tmp/reply_$$.wav)
ffmpeg -i "$WAV" -c:a libopus -b:a 32k /tmp/reply_$$.ogg -y -loglevel error

# 3. Send voice + text
# message(action=send, filePath=/tmp/reply_$$.ogg, ...)
# reply: "🎙️ I heard: $TRANSCRIPTnn$RESPONSE"

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
`whisper: command not found`	Ensure whisper binary is installed and in PATH
Whisper model not found	Set `WHISPER_MODEL=/path/to/ggml-base.en.bin`
`piper: command not found`	Ensure piper binary is installed and in PATH
Voice model missing	Set `VOICECLAW_VOICES_DIR=/path/to/voices/`
OGG won't play on Telegram	Ensure `-c:a libopus` flag in ffmpeg command