text-to-speech

name: text-to-speech description: "Produce actual audio output from the computer's speakers using text-to-speech. Use this skill when the user asks to speak, say something out loud, talk, vocalize, read aloud, announce, play audio from text, or produce voice output. Can use OS-native commands (macOS say, Linux espeak) or high-quality API-based TTS (OpenAI). The key point: this MUST produce real sound, not just text." tags: [ audio, speech, voice, text-to-speech, tts, vocalization, say, speak, talk, read-aloud, announce, sound, auto-generated, ]

version: 0.2.0

Skill: text-to-speech

When to Use

Use this skill when the user asks to:

• Say something out loud / speak / talk
• Read text aloud or announce something
• Generate audio from text
• Create a voice message or spoken output
• Use text-to-speech / TTS
• Produce audible output from the computer speakers

CRITICAL: This skill produces REAL AUDIO from the speakers. NOT just text.

Input Parameters

Procedure

1. Extract the text content from the user's request
2. Try the simplest approach first — use the OS built-in TTS:
   • macOS: say "{{TEXT_CONTENT}}" (zero dependencies, instant)
   • Linux: espeak "{{TEXT_CONTENT}}" or spd-say "{{TEXT_CONTENT}}"
   • Verify it worked (exit code 0)
3. If higher quality is needed or the simple approach fails, escalate:
   • Check for an OpenAI API key: get_keys → search_computer → ask_user
   • Generate speech via API: curl the OpenAI TTS endpoint, save to MP3
   • Play the MP3: afplay (macOS) or mpv/aplay (Linux)
4. Confirm to the user that audio was played from the speakers

Reference Commands

# Simplest: macOS built-in (try this first)
say "hello I am P-H-P Bot"

# With voice selection
say -v Samantha "hello I am P-H-P Bot"

# Higher quality: OpenAI TTS API → play result
curl -s https://api.openai.com/v1/audio/speech \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${OPENAI_API_KEY}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"tts-1","input":"hello I am P-H-P Bot","voice":"alloy"}' \
  --output /tmp/speech.mp3 && afplay /tmp/speech.mp3

Example

talk out loud and say "hello I am P-H-P Bot"
say "good morning" out loud
speak the following text: welcome to PHP Bot
read this aloud: the quick brown fox