voicebox/README.md

<p align="center">
  <img src=".github/assets/icon-dark.webp" alt="Voicebox" width="120" height="120" />
</p>

<h1 align="center">Voicebox</h1>

<p align="center">
  <strong>The open-source AI voice studio.</strong><br/>
  Clone any voice. Generate speech. Dictate into any app. Talk to agents in voices you own.<br/>
  The full voice I/O stack, running locally on your machine.
</p>

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  <a href="https://github.com/jamiepine/voicebox/releases">
    <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/jamiepine/voicebox/total?style=flat&color=blue" alt="Downloads" />
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  <a href="https://github.com/jamiepine/voicebox/releases/latest">
    <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/jamiepine/voicebox?style=flat" alt="Release" />
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<p align="center">
  <a href="https://voicebox.sh">voicebox.sh</a> •
  <a href="https://docs.voicebox.sh">Docs</a> •
  <a href="#download">Download</a> •
  <a href="#features">Features</a> •
  <a href="#api">API</a> •
  <a href="docs/content/docs/overview/troubleshooting.mdx">Troubleshooting</a>
</p>

<br/>

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://voicebox.sh">
    <img src="landing/public/assets/app-screenshot-1.webp" alt="Voicebox App Screenshot" width="800" />
  </a>
</p>

<p align="center">
  <em>Click the image above to watch the demo video on <a href="https://voicebox.sh">voicebox.sh</a></em>
</p>

<br/>

<p align="center">
  <img src="landing/public/assets/app-screenshot-2.webp" alt="Voicebox Screenshot 2" width="800" />
</p>

<p align="center">
  <img src="landing/public/assets/app-screenshot-3.webp" alt="Voicebox Screenshot 3" width="800" />
</p>

<br/>

## What is Voicebox?

Voicebox is a **local-first AI voice studio** — a free and open-source alternative to **ElevenLabs** and **WisprFlow** in one app. Clone voices from a few seconds of audio, generate speech in 23 languages across 7 TTS engines, dictate into any text field with a global hotkey, and route captured speech through a local LLM into a cloned voice for end-to-end voice conversations with AI agents.

The two cloud incumbents sit on opposite halves of the voice I/O loop — ElevenLabs on output, WisprFlow on input. Voicebox does both, bridges them with a persona LLM, and runs the whole thing on your machine.

- **Complete privacy** — models, voice data, and captures never leave your machine
- **7 TTS engines** — Qwen3-TTS, Qwen CustomVoice, LuxTTS, Chatterbox Multilingual, Chatterbox Turbo, HumeAI TADA, and Kokoro
- **Voice cloning and preset voices** — zero-shot cloning from a reference sample, or 50+ curated preset voices via Kokoro and Qwen CustomVoice
- **23 languages** — from English to Arabic, Japanese, Hindi, Swahili, and more
- **Post-processing effects** — pitch shift, reverb, delay, chorus, compression, and filters
- **Expressive speech** — paralinguistic tags like `[laugh]`, `[sigh]`, `[gasp]` via Chatterbox Turbo; natural-language delivery control via Qwen CustomVoice
- **Unlimited length** — auto-chunking with crossfade for scripts, articles, and chapters
- **Stories editor** — multi-track timeline for conversations, podcasts, and narratives
- **Voice input** — global hotkey dictation, in-app mic on every text field, 4 STT engines (Whisper, Whisper Turbo, Parakeet v3, Qwen3-ASR)
- **Agent voice output** — one tool call (`voicebox.speak`) and any MCP-aware agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Cline) speaks to you in a voice you've cloned
- **Persona loop** — speak to a local LLM, hear the reply in any voice you've cloned, entirely offline
- **Pipeline routing** — configurable source → transform → sink chains, with a built-in MCP sink for Claude Code, Cursor, and Cline
- **API-first** — REST + WebSocket API for integrating voice I/O into your own apps and agents
- **Native performance** — built with Tauri (Rust), not Electron
- **Runs everywhere** — macOS (MLX/Metal), Windows (CUDA), Linux, AMD ROCm, Intel Arc, Docker

---

## Download

| Platform              | Download                                               |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | [Download DMG](https://voicebox.sh/download/mac-arm)   |
| macOS (Intel)         | [Download DMG](https://voicebox.sh/download/mac-intel) |
| Windows               | [Download MSI](https://voicebox.sh/download/windows)   |
| Docker                | `docker compose up`                                    |

> **[View all binaries →](https://github.com/jamiepine/voicebox/releases/latest)**

> **Linux** — Pre-built binaries are not yet available. See [voicebox.sh/linux-install](https://voicebox.sh/linux-install) for build-from-source instructions.

> **Having trouble?** See the [Troubleshooting Guide](docs/content/docs/overview/troubleshooting.mdx) for common install, generation, model-download, and GPU issues.

---

## Features

### Multi-Engine Voice Cloning

Seven TTS engines with different strengths, switchable per-generation:

| Engine                      | Languages | Strengths                                                                                                                                |
| --------------------------- | --------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Qwen3-TTS** (0.6B / 1.7B) | 10        | High-quality multilingual cloning, delivery instructions ("speak slowly", "whisper")                                                     |
| **Qwen CustomVoice**        | 10        | 9 curated preset voices with natural-language delivery control — no reference audio required                                             |
| **LuxTTS**                  | English   | Lightweight (~1GB VRAM), 48kHz output, 150x realtime on CPU                                                                              |
| **Chatterbox Multilingual** | 23        | Broadest language coverage — Arabic, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish and more |
| **Chatterbox Turbo**        | English   | Fast 350M model with paralinguistic emotion/sound tags                                                                                   |
| **TADA** (1B / 3B)          | 10        | HumeAI speech-language model — 700s+ coherent audio, text-acoustic dual alignment                                                        |
| **Kokoro**                  | 8         | 50 curated preset voices, tiny 82M model, fast CPU inference                                                                             |

### Emotions & Paralinguistic Tags

Only **Chatterbox Turbo** interprets paralinguistic tags like `[laugh]` and
`[sigh]`. Qwen3-TTS, LuxTTS, Chatterbox Multilingual, and HumeAI TADA read them
literally as text.

With **Chatterbox Turbo** selected, type `/` in the text input to open the tag
inserter and add expressive tags inline with speech:

`[laugh]` `[chuckle]` `[gasp]` `[cough]` `[sigh]` `[groan]` `[sniff]` `[shush]` `[clear throat]`

### Post-Processing Effects

8 audio effects powered by Spotify's `pedalboard` library. Apply after generation, preview in real time, build reusable presets.

| Effect           | Description                                   |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Pitch Shift      | Up or down by up to 12 semitones              |
| Reverb           | Configurable room size, damping, wet/dry mix  |
| Delay            | Echo with adjustable time, feedback, and mix  |
| Chorus / Flanger | Modulated delay for metallic or lush textures |
| Compressor       | Dynamic range compression                     |
| Gain             | Volume adjustment (-40 to +40 dB)             |
| High-Pass Filter | Remove low frequencies                        |
| Low-Pass Filter  | Remove high frequencies                       |

Ships with 4 built-in presets (Robotic, Radio, Echo Chamber, Deep Voice) and supports custom presets. Effects can be assigned per-profile as defaults.

### Unlimited Generation Length

Text is automatically split at sentence boundaries and each chunk is generated independently, then crossfaded together. Works with all engines.

- Configurable auto-chunking limit (100–5,000 chars)
- Crossfade slider (0–200ms) for smooth transitions
- Max text length: 50,000 characters
- Smart splitting respects abbreviations, CJK punctuation, and `[tags]`

### Generation Versions

Every generation supports multiple versions with provenance tracking:

- **Original** — clean TTS output, always preserved
- **Effects versions** — apply different effects chains from any source version
- **Takes** — regenerate with a new seed for variation
- **Source tracking** — each version records its lineage
- **Favorites** — star generations for quick access

### Async Generation Queue

Generation is non-blocking. Submit and immediately start typing the next one.

- Serial execution queue prevents GPU contention
- Real-time SSE status streaming
- Failed generations can be retried
- Stale generations from crashes auto-recover on startup

### Voice Profile Management

- Create profiles from audio files or record directly in-app
- Import/export profiles to share or back up
- Multi-sample support for higher quality cloning
- Per-profile default effects chains
- Organize with descriptions and language tags

### Stories Editor

Multi-voice timeline editor for conversations, podcasts, and narratives.

- Multi-track composition with drag-and-drop
- Inline audio trimming and splitting
- Auto-playback with synchronized playhead
- Version pinning per track clip

### Global Dictation & Voice Input

The other half of the voice I/O loop. Hold a hotkey anywhere on your system, speak, release — the transcript pastes into the focused text field. Or hit the mic on any Voicebox text input and dictate directly into the app.

- **Global hotkey** — hold-to-speak or tap-to-toggle, configurable
- **Target-aware paste** — accessibility-verified injection into text fields, atomic clipboard save/restore so your clipboard isn't clobbered
- **In-app mic button** on every Voicebox text field — generation form, profile descriptions, story titles, anywhere you'd type
- **Streaming transcription** via `/transcribe/stream` WebSocket — partial transcripts land as you speak
- **LLM refinement** — optional cleanup of ums, stutters, and false starts before paste

### Multi-Engine STT

Four STT engines with different strengths, switchable per-capture:

| Engine             | Languages | Strengths                                                           |
| ------------------ | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Whisper**        | 99        | The default. Broad language support, mature, battle-tested          |
| **Whisper Turbo**  | 99        | ~8x faster than Whisper large, minimal quality loss                 |
| **Parakeet v3**    | 25        | Current quality leader for non-English local STT, very fast         |
| **Qwen3-ASR 0.6B** | 50+       | Highest multilingual quality, int8 quantized for cross-platform use |

### Captures

Every dictation, in-app recording, and uploaded audio file lands in the Captures tab — original audio paired with transcript, always preserved.

- **Replay, re-transcribe** with a different model, or edit the transcript inline
- **Play as voice profile** — turn any capture into speech with a cloned voice, one click
- **Promote to voice sample** — use a capture's audio + transcript as a reference sample for voice cloning
- **Send to** — clipboard, file, webhook, MCP sink, or back into the generation pipeline
- **Configurable retention** — keep everything or auto-expire old captures

### Agent Voice Output

Every agent gets a voice. One tool call and any MCP-aware agent can speak to you in a voice you've cloned — task completions, questions, notifications. The same pill that surfaces during dictation surfaces during agent speech, so you always see what's coming out of your machine.

```ts
// In any MCP-aware agent:
await voicebox.speak({
  text: "Deploy complete.",
  profile: "Morgan",
});
```

Also exposed as `POST /speak` for anything that doesn't speak MCP — ACP, A2A, shell scripts, custom harnesses.

- **Bidirectional pill** — `recording`, `transcribing`, `refining`, `rest`, and `speaking` are all states of the same OS-level overlay
- **Per-agent voice binding** — Claude Code in Morgan, Cursor in Scarlett, so you can tell which agent is talking without looking
- **Always visible** — no silent background TTS; every agent-initiated speech surfaces the pill
- **Global mute + per-source rate limits** — a panic button for runaway agents

### Persona Loop

One flow on top of `speak()`: STT → persona LLM → `speak(reply)`. Voice profiles gain optional personality metadata and default LLM behavior. End-to-end voice-to-voice with a cloned identity transforming the content, not just reading it.

- **Local LLM** — Qwen 3.5 0.8B / 2B / 4B, same runtime as TTS (MLX on Apple Silicon, PyTorch elsewhere)
- **Voice profile personas** — optional personality description and default LLM behavior per profile
- **Pipeline-native** — STT → persona LLM → TTS is a preset, configurable like any other route
- **Voice-to-voice ready** — when end-to-end speech LLMs (Moshi, GLM-4-Voice, Qwen2.5 Omni) land, they slot in as a single transform and the pipeline shape stays the same

Use cases: agent dev loops (talk to Claude Code, hear it back in a cloned voice), interactive characters for games and narrative tools, speech assistance for people who can't speak in their original voice.

### Pipeline Routing

Every voice event in Voicebox flows through the same shape: **Source → Transforms → Sinks**. Build presets, share them, invoke them from shell scripts and agent harnesses.

| Sources              | Transforms          | Sinks                       |
| -------------------- | ------------------- | --------------------------- |
| Global hotkey        | STT model           | Paste into focused field    |
| In-app mic           | Refinement LLM      | Clipboard                   |
| Long-form recorder   | Persona LLM         | File on disk                |
| File drop            | Translation (later) | HTTP webhook                |
| API call (WS / HTTP) |                     | **MCP server** (agent sink) |
|                      |                     | TTS loopback (cloned voice) |

Presets are addressable by ID via `POST /pipelines/{id}/run`. The MCP sink means Claude Code, Cursor, and Cline get voice I/O one checkbox away — no custom integration.

### Model Management

- Per-model unload to free GPU memory without deleting downloads
- Custom models directory via `VOICEBOX_MODELS_DIR`
- Model folder migration with progress tracking
- Download cancel/clear UI

### GPU Support

| Platform                 | Backend        | Notes                                          |
| ------------------------ | -------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| macOS (Apple Silicon)    | MLX (Metal)    | 4-5x faster via Neural Engine                  |
| Windows / Linux (NVIDIA) | PyTorch (CUDA) | Auto-downloads CUDA binary from within the app |
| Linux (AMD)              | PyTorch (ROCm) | Auto-configures HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION       |
| Windows (any GPU)        | DirectML       | Universal Windows GPU support                  |
| Intel Arc                | IPEX/XPU       | Intel discrete GPU acceleration                |
| Any                      | CPU            | Works everywhere, just slower                  |

---

## API

Voicebox exposes a full REST + WebSocket API for integrating voice I/O into your own apps and agents.

```bash
# Generate speech
curl -X POST http://localhost:17493/generate \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Hello world", "profile_id": "abc123", "language": "en"}'

# Agent voice output — any app or script can speak in a cloned voice
curl -X POST http://localhost:17493/speak \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Deploy complete.", "profile_id": "morgan"}'

# Transcribe an audio file
curl -X POST http://localhost:17493/transcribe \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "model=whisper-turbo"

# Run a user-configured pipeline (STT → LLM → TTS, for example)
curl -X POST http://localhost:17493/pipelines/my-agent-reply/run \
  -F "[email protected]"

# List voice profiles
curl http://localhost:17493/profiles
```

Streaming dictation runs over WebSocket at `ws://localhost:17493/transcribe/stream` — audio frames in, partial transcripts out.

### MCP server

Voicebox ships an MCP server so any MCP-aware agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, etc.) can speak in any voice you've cloned with a single tool call. Add one entry to your MCP config:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "voicebox": {
      "command": "voicebox",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

The `voicebox.speak` tool is then available in the agent:

```ts
await voicebox.speak({
  text: "Tests passing. Ready to merge.",
  profile: "Morgan",
});
```

**Use cases:** agent dev loops (voice in, voice out), game dialogue, podcast production, accessibility tools, voice assistants, content automation.

Full API documentation available at `http://localhost:17493/docs`.

---

## Tech Stack

| Layer         | Technology                                                                      |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Desktop App   | Tauri (Rust)                                                                    |
| Frontend      | React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS                                                 |
| State         | Zustand, React Query                                                            |
| Backend       | FastAPI (Python)                                                                |
| TTS Engines   | Qwen3-TTS, Qwen CustomVoice, LuxTTS, Chatterbox, Chatterbox Turbo, TADA, Kokoro |
| STT Engines   | Whisper, Whisper Turbo, Parakeet v3, Qwen3-ASR                                  |
| LLM           | Qwen 3.5 (0.8B / 2B / 4B), shared runtime with TTS/STT                          |
| Native Shim   | Rust crate for global hotkey, paste injection, focus introspection              |
| Effects       | Pedalboard (Spotify)                                                            |
| Inference     | MLX (Apple Silicon) / PyTorch (CUDA/ROCm/XPU/CPU)                               |
| Database      | SQLite                                                                          |
| Audio         | WaveSurfer.js, librosa                                                          |

---

## Roadmap

| Feature                            | Description                                                           |
| ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **End-to-end speech LLMs**         | Moshi, GLM-4-Voice, Qwen2.5 Omni — real voice-to-voice, no text between |
| **Voice Design**                   | Create new voices from text descriptions                              |
| **Long-form capture**              | Dual-stream recorder (mic + system audio) with summary LLM transform  |
| **Platform sinks**                 | Apple Notes, Obsidian, and other opt-in integrations                  |
| **Plugin architecture**            | Extend with custom models, transforms, and sinks                      |
| **Mobile companion**               | Control Voicebox from your phone                                      |

For the **full engineering status, open-issue triage, and prioritized work queue**, see [`docs/PROJECT_STATUS.md`](docs/PROJECT_STATUS.md) — a living document that tracks what's shipped, what's in-flight, candidate TTS engines under evaluation, and why we've accepted or backlogged specific integrations.

---

## Development

See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for detailed setup and contribution guidelines.

### Quick Start

```bash
git clone https://github.com/jamiepine/voicebox.git
cd voicebox

just setup   # creates Python venv, installs all deps
just dev     # starts backend + desktop app
```

Install [just](https://github.com/casey/just): `brew install just` or `cargo install just`. Run `just --list` to see all commands.

**Prerequisites:** [Bun](https://bun.sh), [Rust](https://rustup.rs), [Python 3.11+](https://python.org), [Tauri Prerequisites](https://v2.tauri.app/start/prerequisites/), and [Xcode](https://developer.apple.com/xcode/) on macOS.

### Building Locally

```bash
just build          # Build CPU server binary + Tauri app
just build-local    # (Windows) Build CPU + CUDA server binaries + Tauri app
```

### Adding New Voice Models

The multi-engine architecture makes adding new TTS engines straightforward. A [step-by-step guide](docs/content/docs/developer/tts-engines.mdx) covers the full process: dependency research, backend protocol implementation, frontend wiring, and PyInstaller bundling.

The guide is optimized for AI coding agents. An [agent skill](.agents/skills/add-tts-engine/SKILL.md) can pick up a model name and handle the entire integration autonomously — you just test the build locally.

### Project Structure

```
voicebox/
├── app/              # Shared React frontend
├── tauri/            # Desktop app (Tauri + Rust)
├── web/              # Web deployment
├── backend/          # Python FastAPI server
├── landing/          # Marketing website
└── scripts/          # Build & release scripts
```

---

## Contributing

Contributions welcome! See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for guidelines.

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Submit a PR

## Security

Found a security vulnerability? Please report it responsibly. See [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) for details.

---

## License

MIT License — see [LICENSE](LICENSE) for details.

---

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://voicebox.sh">voicebox.sh</a>
</p>