macOS Local Voice

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name: macos-local-voice description: "Local STT and TTS on macOS using native Apple capabilities. Speech-to-text via yap (Apple Speech.framework), text-to-speech via say + ffmpeg. Fully offline, no API keys required. Includes voice quality detection and smart voice selection." metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🎙️", "requires": { "bins": ["yap", "say", "osascript"], "os": ["darwin"] } } }

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macOS Local Voice

Fully local speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-speech (TTS) on macOS. No API keys, no network, no cloud. All processing happens on-device.

Requirements

macOS (Apple Silicon recommended, Intel works too)

yap CLI in PATH — install via brew install finnvoor/tools/yap

ffmpeg in PATH (optional, needed for ogg/opus output) — brew install ffmpeg

say and osascript are macOS built-in

Speech-to-Text (STT)

Transcribe an audio file to text using Apple's on-device speech recognition.

node {baseDir}/scripts/stt.mjs  [locale]

audio_file: path to audio (ogg, m4a, mp3, wav, etc.)

locale: optional, e.g. zh_CN, en_US, ja_JP. If omitted, uses system default.

Outputs transcribed text to stdout.

Supported STT locales

Use node {baseDir}/scripts/stt.mjs --locales to list all supported locales.

Key locales: en_US, en_GB, zh_CN, zh_TW, zh_HK, ja_JP, ko_KR, fr_FR, de_DE, es_ES, pt_BR, ru_RU, vi_VN, th_TH.

Language detection tips

If the user's recent messages are in Chinese → use zh_CN

If in English → use en_US

If mixed or unclear → try without locale (system default)

Text-to-Speech (TTS)

Convert text to an audio file using macOS native TTS.

node {baseDir}/scripts/tts.mjs "" [voice_name] [output_path]

text: the text to speak

voice_name: optional, e.g. Yue (Premium), Tingting, Ava (Premium). If omitted, auto-selects the best available voice based on text language.

output_path: optional, defaults to a timestamped file in ~/.openclaw/media/outbound/

Outputs the generated audio file path to stdout.

If ffmpeg is available, output is ogg/opus (ideal for messaging platforms). Otherwise aiff.

Sending as voice note

After generating the audio file, send it using the message tool:

message action=send media= asVoice=true

Voice Management

List available voices, check readiness, or find the best voice for a language:

node {baseDir}/scripts/voices.mjs list [locale]     # List voices, optionally filter by locale
node {baseDir}/scripts/voices.mjs check ""     # Check if a specific voice is downloaded and ready
node {baseDir}/scripts/voices.mjs best        # Get the highest quality voice for a locale

Quality levels

1 = compact (low quality, always available)

2 = enhanced (mid quality, may need download)

3 = premium (highest quality, needs download from System Settings)

If a voice is not available

Tell the user: "Voice X is not downloaded. Go to System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System Voice → Manage Voices to download it."

Notes

The say command silently falls back to a default voice if the requested voice is not available (exit code 0, no error). Always use voices.mjs check before calling tts.mjs with a specific voice name.

Premium voices (e.g. Yue (Premium), Ava (Premium)) sound significantly better but must be manually downloaded by the user.

Siri voices are not accessible via the speech synthesis API.

The say command silently falls back to a default voice if the requested voice is not available (exit code 0, no error). Always use voices.mjs check before calling tts.mjs with a specific voice name.

Premium voices (e.g. Yue (Premium), Ava (Premium)) sound significantly better but must be manually downloaded by the user.

Siri voices are not accessible via the speech synthesis API.