Telegram Voice Transcribe

Transcribe Telegram voice messages and audio notes into text using the OpenAI Whisper API. Use when (1) a user sends a voice message or audio note via Telegr...

Transcribe Telegram voice notes into text via OpenAI Whisper (whisper-1).

Quick Workflow

1. Detect a voice message: look for voice.file_id or audio.file_id in the inbound message metadata.
2. Run the transcription script:

   python3 ~/openclaw/skills/telegram-voice-transcribe/scripts/transcribe.py \
     --file-id <file_id> --language es
   

3. Read the JSON output — transcript field contains the text.
4. Respond to the user based on the transcript content (treat it like typed text).

Script Modes

Mode	Flag	When to use
Telegram file_id	--file-id <id>	Standard case — voice message in Telegram
Local file	--file <path>	Testing, or file already downloaded
URL	--url <https://...>	Audio hosted externally

Always pass --language es for Spanish speakers to improve speed and accuracy.

Output

{"transcript": "Hola, necesito que hagas un cambio en el juego", "language": "es", "duration_s": 4.2}

If error key is present, surface it to the user and check setup.

Environment Requirements

• OPENAI_API_KEY — required (set via openclaw configure)
• TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN — required for --file-id mode

See references/setup.md for full setup, hooks integration, costs, and local Whisper alternative.

Error Handling

Error	Fix
OPENAI_API_KEY not set	Configure key via openclaw configure --section env
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN required	Add bot token to env
openai package not installed	pip install openai
Telegram 400 Bad Request	file_id expired — Telegram file_ids expire after ~48h
File too large	Whisper API limit is 25MB; split audio or use local Whisper