Agent skill

claude-speak

Speak text aloud using high-quality AI voice synthesis (Kokoro TTS on Apple Silicon). Use when user asks to vocalize, narrate, or speak text out loud. Supports concurrent audio generation for multiple callers.

View SKILL.md on GitHub Repository
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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/leegonzales/AISkills/tree/main/ClaudeSpeak/claude-speak

SKILL.md

Claude Speak

Vocalize text using high-quality text-to-speech. British male voice (bm_george) by default. Supports concurrent audio generation via a process pool.

When to Use

Invoke when user:

  • Asks to "say this out loud" or "speak this"
  • Wants narration or audio feedback
  • Uses /speak command
  • Requests vocalization of content

Core Command

bash
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-client "Text to speak"

That's it. The daemon runs in background via launchd - instant response.

TIP: For longer text, append & to run fire-and-forget (see "Long Text" section below).

Options

bash
# Different voice
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-client -v af_heart "Warm female voice"

# Adjust speed (default 1.0)
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-client -s 1.2 "Speaking faster"

# Quiet mode (suppress errors)
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-client -q "Silent on success"

# Custom timeout (default: 300s / 5 min)
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-client -t 600 "Very long text..."

Concurrency

The daemon supports concurrent audio generation via a ProcessPoolExecutor. Multiple callers can generate audio simultaneously.

Two request paths:

  • speak (play aloud) — serialized through a single playback queue to prevent audio overlap
  • generate_file (return WAV bytes) — parallelized across worker processes, each with its own model copy

Daemon pool configuration:

bash
# Start with custom worker count (default: auto based on CPU count)
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-daemon start --workers 3

# Check pool status
python3 -c "from claude_speak_daemon import send_command; print(send_command({'command': 'ping'}))"
# Returns: {"success": true, "status": "ready", "num_workers": 3, "playback_queue_depth": 0}

Programmatic file generation (for concurrent use):

python
from claude_speak_daemon import send_command
result = send_command({
    "command": "generate_file",
    "text": "Generate audio without playing",
    "voice": "bm_george",
    "speed": 1.0
}, timeout=120.0)
# result: {"success": true, "audio_base64": "...", "duration": 2.7, "format": "wav"}

Long Text (3+ sentences)

For longer content, use fire-and-forget mode with shell backgrounding:

bash
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-client "Your longer text here..." &

The trailing & runs the command in the background at the shell level, so Claude Code doesn't track it as a task. The audio plays while the conversation continues—no timeout errors or false "failed" notifications.

Why this works: Claude Code's run_in_background still monitors the task and may report timeout failures even when audio completes successfully. Shell backgrounding (&) avoids this entirely.

Available Voices

Voice Description
bm_george British male, distinguished (DEFAULT)
af_heart American female, warm
am_adam American male, deep
bf_emma British female, elegant

Troubleshooting

If "Daemon not running" error:

bash
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-daemon start

After code updates, restart the daemon to pick up changes:

bash
~/Projects/claude-speak/.venv/bin/claude-speak-daemon restart

Best Practices

  • For short text (1-2 sentences): run normally
  • For longer text (paragraphs): use & fire-and-forget
  • For batch/concurrent generation: use generate_file command programmatically
  • Check daemon status if issues arise
  • Use --workers N to tune pool size for your workload

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