openclaw-whisper-voice

---

name: openclaw-whisper-voice description: Local Whisper speech-to-text for audio files and inbound voice notes on the OpenClaw Gateway host. Use when setting up local transcription for WhatsApp, Telegram, or other audio attachments; when configuring tools.media.audio with a CLI fallback instead of a cloud API; or when you need a reusable shell entrypoint that makes Whisper + ffmpeg work reliably on Linux. metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🎙️", "requires": { "bins": ["whisper", "ffmpeg"] }, "install": [ { "id": "local-whisper-user-install", "kind": "manual", "label": "Run scripts/install_local_whisper.sh on the Gateway host" } ] } }

---

OpenClaw Whisper Voice

Use this skill to make local Whisper transcription dependable on the OpenClaw Gateway host.

Install on the host

Run:

{baseDir}/scripts/install_local_whisper.sh

The installer:

installs Python packages into ~/.local

installs a CPU-safe PyTorch build

installs openai-whisper

installs imageio-ffmpeg

creates stable ~/.local/bin/whisper and ~/.local/bin/ffmpeg launchers

Transcribe a file manually

Use the wrapper instead of raw whisper when reliability matters:

{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh /path/to/audio.ogg
{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh /path/to/audio.m4a --model tiny --stdout-only
{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh /path/to/audio.mp3 --task translate --format srt

Configure inbound WhatsApp and Telegram voice notes

Patch OpenClaw config so inbound audio uses the wrapper:

{
  tools: {
    media: {
      audio: {
        enabled: true,
        maxBytes: 20971520,
        timeoutSeconds: 120,
        models: [
          {
            type: "cli",
            command: "{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh",
            args: ["{{MediaPath}}", "--model", "base", "--stdout-only"],
            timeoutSeconds: 120
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Model choices

tiny: fastest, weakest accuracy

base: best default for chat voice notes

small or larger: better accuracy, heavier CPU and RAM use

Output rules

Use --stdout-only for tools.media.audio so stdout is only transcript text.

Use --format txt|srt|vtt|json for standalone file transcription.

First model download goes into ~/.cache/whisper.