Tts

Convert any text into speech audio. Supports two backends (Kokoro local, Noiz cloud), two modes (simple or timeline-accurate), and per-segment voice control.

Triggers

1. text to speech / tts / speak / say
2. voice clone / dubbing
3. epub to audio / srt to audio / convert to audio
4. 语音 / 说 / 讲 / 说话

Simple Mode — text to audio

speak is the default — the subcommand can be omitted:

# Basic usage (speak is implicit)
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py -t "Hello world"          # add -o path to save
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py -f article.txt -o out.mp3

# Voice cloning — local file path or URL
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py -t "Hello" --ref-audio ./ref.wav
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py -t "Hello" --ref-audio https://example.com/my_voice.wav -o clone.wav

# Voice message format
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py -t "Hello" --format opus -o voice.opus
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py -t "Hello" --format ogg -o voice.ogg

Third-party integration (Feishu/Telegram/Discord) is documented in [ref_3rd_party.md](ref_3rd_party.md).

Timeline Mode — SRT to time-aligned audio

For precise per-segment timing (dubbing, subtitles, video narration).

Step 1: Get or create an SRT

If the user doesn't have one, generate from text:

python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py to-srt -i article.txt -o article.srt
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py to-srt -i article.txt -o article.srt --cps 15 --gap 500

--cps = characters per second (default 4, good for Chinese; ~15 for English). The agent can also write SRT manually.

Step 2: Create a voice map

JSON file controlling default + per-segment voice settings. segments keys support single index "3" or range "5-8".

Kokoro voice map:

{
  "default": { "voice": "zf_xiaoni", "lang": "cmn" },
  "segments": {
    "1": { "voice": "zm_yunxi" },
    "5-8": { "voice": "af_sarah", "lang": "en-us", "speed": 0.9 }
  }
}

Noiz voice map (adds emo, reference_audio support). reference_audio can be a local path or a URL (user’s own audio; Noiz only):

{
  "default": { "voice_id": "voice_123", "target_lang": "zh" },
  "segments": {
    "1": { "voice_id": "voice_host", "emo": { "Joy": 0.6 } },
    "2-4": { "reference_audio": "./refs/guest.wav" }
  }
}

Dynamic Reference Audio Slicing: If you are translating or dubbing a video and want each sentence to automatically use the audio from the original video at the exact same timestamp as its reference audio, use the --ref-audio-track argument instead of setting reference_audio in the map:

python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py render --srt input.srt --voice-map vm.json --ref-audio-track original_video.mp4 -o output.wav

See examples/ for full samples.

Step 3: Render

python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py render --srt input.srt --voice-map vm.json -o output.wav
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py render --srt input.srt --voice-map vm.json --backend noiz --auto-emotion -o output.wav

When to Choose Which

| Need | Recommended | |------|-------------| | Just read text aloud, no fuss | Kokoro (default) | | EPUB/PDF audiobook with chapters | Kokoro (native support) | | Voice blending ("v1:60,v2:40") | Kokoro | | Voice cloning from reference audio | Noiz | | Emotion control (emo param) | Noiz | | Exact server-side duration per segment | Noiz |

> When the user needs emotion control + voice cloning + precise duration together, Noiz is the only backend that supports all three.

Guest Mode (no API key)

When no API key is configured, tts.py automatically falls back to guest mode — a limited Noiz endpoint that requires no authentication. Guest mode only supports --voice-id, --speed, and --format; voice cloning, emotion, duration, and timeline rendering are not available.

# Guest mode (auto-detected when no API key is set)
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py -t "Hello" --voice-id 883b6b7c -o hello.wav

# Explicit backend override to use kokoro instead
python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py -t "Hello" --backend kokoro

Available guest voices (15 built-in):

| voice_id | name | lang | gender | tone | |---|---|---|---|---| | 063a4491 | 販売員（なおみ） | ja | F | 喜び | | 4252b9c8 | 落ち着いた女性 | ja | F | 穏やか | | 578b4be2 | 熱血漢（たける） | ja | M | 怒り | | a9249ce7 | 安らぎ（みなと） | ja | M | 穏やか | | f00e45a1 | 旅人（かいと） | ja | M | 穏やか | | b4775100 | 悦悦｜社交分享 | zh | F | Joyful | | 77e15f2c | 婉青｜情绪抚慰 | zh | F | Calm | | ac09aeb4 | 阿豪｜磁性主持 | zh | M | Calm | | 87cb2405 | 建国｜知识科普 | zh | M | Calm | | 3b9f1e27 | 小明｜科技达人 | zh | M | Joyful | | 95814add | Science Narration | en | M | Calm | | 883b6b7c | The Mentor (Alex) | en | M | Joyful | | a845c7de | The Naturalist (Silas) | en | M | Calm | | 5a68d66b | The Healer (Serena) | en | F | Calm | | 0e4ab6ec | The Mentor (Maya) | en | F | Calm |

Security & data disclosure

This skill performs the following file and network operations at runtime:

1. Credential storage: When you run config --set-api-key, the key is saved to ~/.config/noiz/api_key (permissions 0600). The NOIZ_API_KEY environment variable is also supported as an alternative.
2. Legacy key migration: If ~/.noiz_api_key exists and ~/.config/noiz/api_key does not, the key is copied (not deleted) to the new location. A message is printed; the old file is left untouched for you to remove manually.
3. Network calls (Noiz backend): Text and optional reference audio are uploaded to https://noiz.ai/v1/ for synthesis. No data is sent unless you invoke a Noiz command.
4. Reference audio download: When --ref-audio is a URL, the file is downloaded to a temp file, used for the API call, then deleted. If no voice-id or ref-audio is provided, a default reference audio is downloaded from storage.googleapis.com or noiz.ai.
5. Temp files: Temporary audio/text files may be created during synthesis and are cleaned up after use.
6. ffmpeg: Invoked only in timeline render mode to assemble the final audio.

No files outside the output path and ~/.config/noiz/ are modified. The Kokoro backend runs entirely offline with no network access.

Requirements

1. ffmpeg in PATH (timeline mode only)
2. requests package: uv pip install requests (required for Noiz backend)
3. Get your API key at [Noiz Developer](https://developers.noiz.ai/api-keys), then run python3 skills/tts/scripts/tts.py config --set-api-key YOUR_KEY (guest mode works without a key but has limited features)
4. Kokoro: if already installed, pass --backend kokoro to use the local backend

Noiz API authentication

Use only the base64-encoded API key as Authorization—no prefix (e.g. no APIKEY or Bearer ). Any prefix causes 401.

For backend details and full argument reference, see [reference.md](reference.md).