ai-say

Original：🇺🇸 English
Translated
2 scripts

Local text-to-speech on Ubuntu using Kokoro TTS with fallbacks. Use when the user asks to speak text out loud, test audio output, switch Kokoro voices, or debug TTS playback issues. Triggers on "say this", "read aloud", "speak", "TTS", "voice test".

2installs
Sourceema93sh/ai-voice-stack
Added on

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add ema93sh/ai-voice-stack ai-say

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter
text-to-speechkokoro-ttsubuntu-voice-toolvoice-synthesisai-say

SKILL.md Content

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AI Say

Local text-to-speech via 
~/.local/bin/ai-say
. Kokoro-first with flite and speech-dispatcher fallbacks. Requires the voice stack to be installed first.

Prerequisites

The voice stack must be installed before using this skill:
bash
git clone https://github.com/Ema93sh/ai-voice-stack.git
cd ai-voice-stack
scripts/voice-up-setup.sh --with-system-deps
This installs 
ai-say
to 
~/.local/bin/
and sets up Kokoro TTS.

Usage

Speak text:
bash
~/.local/bin/ai-say "Hello world"
Pipe text:
bash
echo "Read this aloud" | ~/.local/bin/ai-say
Temporary voice override:
bash
AI_KOKORO_VOICE=am_michael ~/.local/bin/ai-say "Different voice"

Available Voices

English (American)

Female: 
af_alloy
, 
af_aoede
, 
af_bella
, 
af_heart
(default), 
af_jessica
, 
af_kore
, 
af_nicole
, 
af_nova
, 
af_river
, 
af_sarah
, 
af_sky
Male: 
am_adam
, 
am_echo
, 
am_eric
, 
am_fenrir
, 
am_liam
, 
am_michael
, 
am_onyx
, 
am_puck
, 
am_santa

English (British)

Female: 
bf_alice
, 
bf_emma
, 
bf_isabella
, 
bf_lily
Male: 
bm_daniel
, 
bm_fable
, 
bm_george
, 
bm_lewis

Other Languages

Spanish (
ef_dora
, 
em_alex
), French (
ff_siwis
), Hindi (
hf_alpha
, 
hf_beta
, 
hm_omega
, 
hm_psi
), Italian (
if_sara
, 
im_nicola
), Japanese (
jf_alpha
, 
jf_gongitsune
, 
jf_nezumi
, 
jf_tebukuro
, 
jm_kumo
), Portuguese (
pf_dora
, 
pm_alex
), Chinese (
zf_xiaobei
, 
zf_xiaoni
, 
zf_xiaoxiao
, 
zf_xiaoyi
, 
zm_yunjian
, 
zm_yunxi
, 
zm_yunxia
, 
zm_yunyang
)

Persistent Voice Change

Edit 
~/.config/ai-audio.env
:
bash
export AI_KOKORO_VOICE="${AI_KOKORO_VOICE:-af_bella}"

Volume / Gain

If speech is too quiet:
bash
export AI_KOKORO_GAIN_DB=18
~/.local/bin/ai-say "Volume test"

Diagnostics

Check stack health:
bash
~/.local/bin/voice-status
Check audio devices:
bash
pactl list short sinks
pactl list short sources
cat ~/.config/ai-audio.env
Test direct tone on a specific sink:
bash
ffmpeg -hide_banner -loglevel error -f lavfi -i 'sine=frequency=880:duration=3' -f wav - | paplay --device='<sink-name>'

Subcommands

Install

Run the full voice stack installer. Finds the repo automatically or clones it:
bash
bash scripts/install.sh --with-system-deps

Doctor

Check installation health — reports PASS/FAIL for every component:
bash
bash scripts/doctor.sh

Notes

  • ai-say
    is Kokoro-first, with flite and spd-say fallback paths.
  • Text is truncated at 1600 chars and chunked at 320 chars for reliable playback.
  • Keep messages respectful and follow user intent exactly for spoken content.