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BytesAgain β€Ί Skills β€Ί Voice Assistant
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

Voice Assistant

by @kurtivy

Windows voice companion for OpenClaw. Custom wake word via Porcupine, local STT via faster-whisper, streamed responses over the gateway WebSocket, and ElevenLabs TTS with natural chime/thinking sounds. Supports multi-turn conversation with automatic follow-up listening, mic suppression to prevent feedback, and a system tray with pause/resume. Recommended voices: Matilda (XrExE9yKIg1WjnnlVkGX, free tier) or Ivy (MClEFoImJXBTgLwdLI5n, paid tier). Fully customizable wake word, voice, hotkey, and si

Versionv1.0.4
Downloads1,138
Installs1
#audio#legal#hr#automation
TERMINAL
clawhub install openclaw-voice-assistant

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: voice-assistant description: > Windows voice companion for OpenClaw. Custom wake word via Porcupine, local STT via faster-whisper, streamed responses over the gateway WebSocket, and ElevenLabs TTS with natural chime/thinking sounds. Supports multi-turn conversation with automatic follow-up listening, mic suppression to prevent feedback, and a system tray with pause/resume. Recommended voices: Matilda (XrExE9yKIg1WjnnlVkGX, free tier) or Ivy (MClEFoImJXBTgLwdLI5n, paid tier). Fully customizable wake word, voice, hotkey, and silence thresholds. metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "πŸŽ™οΈ", "os": ["win32"], "requires": { "bins": ["python"], "env": [ "GATEWAY_TOKEN", "GATEWAY_URL", "ELEVENLABS_API_KEY", "PORCUPINE_ACCESS_KEY", ], }, "primaryEnv": "ELEVENLABS_API_KEY", }, }

Voice Assistant for OpenClaw

A Python companion app that gives OpenClaw a voice. Say a wake word (or press a hotkey), speak naturally, and hear the AI respond β€” then keep talking for multi-turn conversation.

Mic β†’ Porcupine wake word β†’ faster-whisper STT β†’ OpenClaw Gateway β†’ ElevenLabs TTS β†’ Speaker

Quick Start

# 1. Navigate to the skill scripts
cd {baseDir}/scripts
2. Create a virtual environment and install dependencies

python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\pip install -r requirements.txt
3. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your keys

copy .env.example .env
4. Run the assistant

venv\Scripts\python src\assistant.py

Requirements

| Service | What you need | Cost | |---------|--------------|------| | OpenClaw gateway | Running locally on ws://127.0.0.1:18789 with a gateway token | β€” | | ElevenLabs | API key + voice ID (free tier works with default voices) | Free+ | | Picovoice | Access key from picovoice.ai (free tier works) | Free | | Python | 3.10+ (tested on 3.14) | β€” | | Microphone | Any input device | β€” |

Configuration (.env)

# OpenClaw Gateway
GATEWAY_URL=ws://127.0.0.1:18789
GATEWAY_TOKEN=your-gateway-token
ElevenLabs TTS

ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-api-key
ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID=XrExE9yKIg1WjnnlVkGX  # Matilda (free tier) β€” or MClEFoImJXBTgLwdLI5n for Ivy (paid)
ELEVENLABS_MODEL_ID=eleven_v3
Porcupine Wake Word

PORCUPINE_ACCESS_KEY=your-access-key
PORCUPINE_MODEL_PATH=              # path to custom .ppn file (optional)
Whisper STT

WHISPER_MODEL=base                  # tiny, base, small, medium, large
Tuning

WAKE_SENSITIVITY=0.7               # 0.0–1.0 (higher = more sensitive)
SILENCE_TIMEOUT=1.5                # seconds of silence to stop recording
HOTKEY=ctrl+shift+k                # global keyboard shortcut

Custom Wake Word

1. Go to Picovoice Console 2. Create a custom wake word (e.g. "Hey Claudia", "Hey OpenClaw") 3. Download the .ppn file for your platform 4. Set PORCUPINE_MODEL_PATH in .env to the file path 5. Without a custom model, falls back to built-in "hey google"

Personalized Voice Sounds

The assistant plays short audio clips when activated ("Yep!", "Hi!") and while thinking ("Hmm...", "Let me think..."). Generate these in your chosen ElevenLabs voice:

cd {baseDir}/scripts
venv\Scripts\python generate_chime_sounds.py
venv\Scripts\python generate_thinking_sounds.py

Re-run these after changing ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID.

Running in Background

Use start.bat to launch without a console window (runs via pythonw.exe). The assistant appears as a system tray icon with Pause/Resume/Quit controls.

For auto-start on Windows, create a shortcut to start.bat in shell:startup.

How It Works

1. Wake β€” Porcupine detects the wake word (or user presses hotkey) 2. Chime β€” Plays a random activation sound ("Yep!", "Hi!") 3. Record β€” Records speech until 1.5s of silence (2s grace period for initial silence) 4. Thinking β€” Plays a filler sound ("Hmm...", "Let me think...") 5. Transcribe β€” faster-whisper converts audio to text locally (CPU, int8) 6. Gateway β€” Sends text to OpenClaw gateway via WebSocket, streams response 7. Speak β€” ElevenLabs converts response to speech, plays through speakers 8. Follow-up β€” Automatically listens for 5s after speaking for conversation continuity 9. Idle β€” Returns to wake word listening after 5s of silence

Mic suppression keeps the microphone muted during all speaker output to prevent feedback loops.

Detailed Architecture

See references/architecture.md for source file breakdown, WebSocket protocol details, and audio pipeline internals.

Troubleshooting

See references/troubleshooting.md for common issues with mic detection, gateway connection, TTS errors, and wake word tuning.

πŸ’‘ Examples

# 1. Navigate to the skill scripts
cd {baseDir}/scripts
2. Create a virtual environment and install dependencies

python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\pip install -r requirements.txt
3. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your keys

copy .env.example .env
4. Run the assistant

venv\Scripts\python src\assistant.py

πŸ“‹ Tips & Best Practices

See references/troubleshooting.md for common issues with mic detection, gateway connection, TTS errors, and wake word tuning.