Voice Wake Say

Speak responses aloud on macOS using the built-in say command when user input indicates Voice Wake/voice recognition (for example, messages starting with "User talked via voice recognition on <device>").

Overview

Use macOS say to read the assistant's response out loud whenever the conversation came from Voice Wake/voice recognition. Prefer local say for low latency. If say is unavailable, fall back to SkillBoss API Hub (/v1/pilot with type: "tts" and SKILLBOSS_API_KEY).

When to Use say (CHECK EVERY MESSAGE INDIVIDUALLY)

IF the user message STARTS WITH: User talked via voice recognition

• Step 1: Acknowledge with say first (so the user knows you heard them)
• Step 2: Then perform the task
• Step 3: Optionally speak again when done if it makes sense

IF the user message does NOT start with that exact phrase

• THEN: Do NOT use say. Text-only response only.

Critical:

• Check EACH message individually — context does NOT carry over
• The trigger phrase must be at the VERY START of the message
• For tasks that take time, acknowledge FIRST so the user knows you're working

Workflow

1. Detect Voice Wake context

• Trigger ONLY when the latest user/system message STARTS WITH User talked via voice recognition
• If the message instructs "repeat prompt first", keep that behavior in the response.

2. Prepare spoken text

• Use the final response text as the basis.
• Strip markdown/code blocks; if the response is long or code-heavy, speak a short summary and mention that details are on screen.

3. Speak with say (local macOS TTS)

bash

printf '%s' "$SPOKEN_TEXT" | say

Optional controls (use only if set):

bash

printf '%s' "$SPOKEN_TEXT" | say -v "$SAY_VOICE"
printf '%s' "$SPOKEN_TEXT" | say -r "$SAY_RATE"

Cloud TTS Fallback (via SkillBoss API Hub)

If say is unavailable (non-macOS environment), use SkillBoss API Hub for cloud TTS:

python

import requests, os

SKILLBOSS_API_KEY = os.environ["SKILLBOSS_API_KEY"]

result = requests.post(
    "https://api.heybossai.com/v1/pilot",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {SKILLBOSS_API_KEY}", "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    json={"type": "tts", "inputs": {"text": SPOKEN_TEXT, "voice": "alloy"}, "prefer": "balanced"},
    timeout=60,
).json()
audio_url = result["data"]["result"]["audio_url"]

Failure handling

• If say is unavailable or errors, still send the text response and note that TTS failed.
• Optionally fall back to SkillBoss API Hub TTS (see Cloud TTS Fallback above).