---
sidebar_position: 9
title: "Voice & TTS"
description: "Text-to-speech and voice message transcription across all platforms"
---

# Voice & TTS

Hermes Agent supports both text-to-speech output and voice message transcription across all messaging platforms.

:::tip Nous Subscribers
If you have a paid [Nous Portal](https://portal.nousresearch.com) subscription, OpenAI TTS is available through the **[Tool Gateway](tool-gateway.md)** without a separate OpenAI API key. New installs can run `hermes setup --portal` to log in and turn on every gateway tool at once; existing installs can pick **Nous Subscription** for just TTS via `hermes model` or `hermes tools`.
:::

## Text-to-Speech

Convert text to speech with ten providers:

| Provider | Quality | Cost | API Key |
|----------|---------|------|---------|
| **Edge TTS** (default) | Good | Free | None needed |
| **ElevenLabs** | Excellent | Paid | `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY` |
| **OpenAI TTS** | Good | Paid | `VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY` |
| **MiniMax TTS** | Excellent | Paid | `MINIMAX_API_KEY` |
| **Mistral (Voxtral TTS)** | Excellent | Paid | `MISTRAL_API_KEY` |
| **Google Gemini TTS** | Excellent | Free tier | `GEMINI_API_KEY` |
| **xAI TTS** | Excellent | Paid | `XAI_API_KEY` |
| **NeuTTS** | Good | Free (local) | None needed |
| **KittenTTS** | Good | Free (local) | None needed |
| **Piper** | Good | Free (local) | None needed |

### Platform Delivery

| Platform | Delivery | Format |
|----------|----------|--------|
| Telegram | Voice bubble (plays inline) | Opus `.ogg` |
| Discord | Voice bubble (Opus/OGG), falls back to file attachment | Opus/MP3 |
| WhatsApp | Audio file attachment | MP3 |
| CLI | Saved to `~/.hermes/audio_cache/` | MP3 |

### Configuration

```yaml
# In ~/.hermes/config.yaml
tts:
  provider: "edge"              # "edge" | "elevenlabs" | "openai" | "minimax" | "mistral" | "gemini" | "xai" | "neutts" | "kittentts" | "piper"
  speed: 1.0                    # Global speed multiplier (provider-specific settings override this)
  edge:
    voice: "en-US-AriaNeural"   # 322 voices, 74 languages
    speed: 1.0                  # Converted to rate percentage (+/-%)
  elevenlabs:
    voice_id: "pNInz6obpgDQGcFmaJgB"  # Adam
    model_id: "eleven_multilingual_v2"
  openai:
    model: "gpt-4o-mini-tts"
    voice: "alloy"              # alloy, echo, fable, onyx, nova, shimmer
    base_url: "https://api.openai.com/v1"  # Override for OpenAI-compatible TTS endpoints
    speed: 1.0                  # 0.25 - 4.0
  minimax:
    model: "speech-2.8-hd"     # speech-2.8-hd (default), speech-2.8-turbo
    voice_id: "English_Graceful_Lady"  # See https://platform.minimax.io/faq/system-voice-id
    speed: 1                    # 0.5 - 2.0
    vol: 1                      # 0 - 10
    pitch: 0                    # -12 - 12
  mistral:
    model: "voxtral-mini-tts-2603"
    voice_id: "c69964a6-ab8b-4f8a-9465-ec0925096ec8"  # Paul - Neutral (default)
  gemini:
    model: "gemini-2.5-flash-preview-tts"  # or gemini-2.5-pro-preview-tts
    voice: "Kore"               # 30 prebuilt voices: Zephyr, Puck, Kore, Enceladus, Gacrux, etc.
  xai:
    voice_id: "eve"             # or a custom voice ID — see docs below
    language: "en"              # ISO 639-1 code
    sample_rate: 24000          # 22050 / 24000 (default) / 44100 / 48000
    bit_rate: 128000            # MP3 bitrate; only applies when codec=mp3
    # base_url: "https://api.x.ai/v1"   # Override via XAI_BASE_URL env var
  neutts:
    ref_audio: ''
    ref_text: ''
    model: neuphonic/neutts-air-q4-gguf
    device: cpu
  kittentts:
    model: KittenML/kitten-tts-nano-0.8-int8   # 25MB int8; also: kitten-tts-micro-0.8 (41MB), kitten-tts-mini-0.8 (80MB)
    voice: Jasper                               # Jasper, Bella, Luna, Bruno, Rosie, Hugo, Kiki, Leo
    speed: 1.0                                  # 0.5 - 2.0
    clean_text: true                            # Expand numbers, currencies, units
  piper:
    voice: en_US-lessac-medium                  # voice name (auto-downloaded) OR absolute path to .onnx
    # voices_dir: ''                            # default: ~/.hermes/cache/piper-voices/
    # use_cuda: false                           # requires onnxruntime-gpu
    # length_scale: 1.0                         # 2.0 = twice as slow
    # noise_scale: 0.667
    # noise_w_scale: 0.8
    # volume: 1.0                               # 0.5 = half as loud
    # normalize_audio: true
```

**Speed control**: The global `tts.speed` value applies to all providers by default. Each provider can override it with its own `speed` setting (e.g., `tts.openai.speed: 1.5`). Provider-specific speed takes precedence over the global value. Default is `1.0` (normal speed).


### Input length limits

Each provider has a documented per-request input-character cap. Hermes truncates text before calling the provider so requests never fail with a length error:

| Provider | Default cap (chars) |
|----------|---------------------|
| Edge TTS | 5000 |
| OpenAI | 4096 |
| xAI | 15000 |
| MiniMax | 10000 |
| Mistral | 4000 |
| Google Gemini | 5000 |
| ElevenLabs | Model-aware (see below) |
| NeuTTS | 2000 |
| KittenTTS | 2000 |
| Piper | 5000 |

**ElevenLabs** picks a cap from the configured `model_id`:

| `model_id` | Cap (chars) |
|------------|-------------|
| `eleven_flash_v2_5` | 40000 |
| `eleven_flash_v2` | 30000 |
| `eleven_multilingual_v2` (default), `eleven_multilingual_v1`, `eleven_english_sts_v2`, `eleven_english_sts_v1` | 10000 |
| `eleven_v3`, `eleven_ttv_v3` | 5000 |
| Unknown model | Falls back to provider default (10000) |

**Override per provider** with `max_text_length:` under the provider section of your TTS config:

```yaml
tts:
  openai:
    max_text_length: 8192   # raise or lower the provider cap
```

Only positive integers are honored. Zero, negative, non-numeric, or boolean values fall through to the provider default, so a broken config can't accidentally disable truncation.

### Telegram Voice Bubbles & ffmpeg

Telegram voice bubbles require Opus/OGG audio format:

- **OpenAI, ElevenLabs, and Mistral** produce Opus natively — no extra setup
- **Edge TTS** (default) outputs MP3 and needs **ffmpeg** to convert:
- **MiniMax TTS** outputs MP3 and needs **ffmpeg** to convert for Telegram voice bubbles
- **Google Gemini TTS** outputs raw PCM and uses **ffmpeg** to encode Opus directly for Telegram voice bubbles
- **xAI TTS** outputs MP3 and needs **ffmpeg** to convert for Telegram voice bubbles
- **NeuTTS** outputs WAV and also needs **ffmpeg** to convert for Telegram voice bubbles
- **KittenTTS** outputs WAV and also needs **ffmpeg** to convert for Telegram voice bubbles
- **Piper** outputs WAV and also needs **ffmpeg** to convert for Telegram voice bubbles

```bash
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# macOS
brew install ffmpeg

# Fedora
sudo dnf install ffmpeg
```

Without ffmpeg, Edge TTS, MiniMax TTS, NeuTTS, KittenTTS, and Piper audio are sent as regular audio files (playable, but shown as a rectangular player instead of a voice bubble).

:::tip
If you want voice bubbles without installing ffmpeg, switch to the OpenAI, ElevenLabs, or Mistral provider.
:::

### xAI Custom Voices (voice cloning)

xAI supports cloning your voice and using it with TTS. Create a custom voice in the [xAI Console](https://console.x.ai/team/default/voice/voice-library), then set the resulting `voice_id` in your config:

```yaml
tts:
  provider: xai
  xai:
    voice_id: "nlbqfwie"   # your custom voice ID
```

See the [xAI Custom Voices docs](https://docs.x.ai/developers/model-capabilities/audio/custom-voices) for details on recording, supported formats, and limits.

### Piper (local, 44 languages)

Piper is a fast, local neural TTS engine from the Open Home Foundation (the Home Assistant maintainers). It runs entirely on CPU, supports **44 languages** with pre-trained voices, and needs no API key.

**Install via `hermes tools`** → Voice & TTS → Piper — Hermes runs `pip install piper-tts` for you. Or install manually: `pip install piper-tts`.

**Switch to Piper:**

```yaml
tts:
  provider: piper
  piper:
    voice: en_US-lessac-medium
```

On the first TTS call for a voice that isn't cached locally, Hermes runs `python -m piper.download_voices <name>` and downloads the model (~20-90MB depending on quality tier) into `~/.hermes/cache/piper-voices/`. Subsequent calls reuse the cached model.

**Picking a voice.** The [full voice catalog](https://github.com/OHF-Voice/piper1-gpl/blob/main/docs/VOICES.md) covers English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and more — each with `x_low` / `low` / `medium` / `high` quality tiers. Sample voices at [rhasspy.github.io/piper-samples](https://rhasspy.github.io/piper-samples/).

**Using a pre-downloaded voice.** Set `tts.piper.voice` to an absolute path ending in `.onnx`:

```yaml
tts:
  piper:
    voice: /path/to/my-custom-voice.onnx
```

**Advanced knobs** (`tts.piper.length_scale` / `noise_scale` / `noise_w_scale` / `volume` / `normalize_audio`, `use_cuda`) correspond 1:1 to Piper's `SynthesisConfig`. They're ignored on older `piper-tts` versions.

### Custom command providers

If a TTS engine you want isn't natively supported (VoxCPM, MLX-Kokoro, XTTS CLI, a voice-cloning script, anything else that exposes a CLI), you can wire it in as a **command-type provider** without writing any Python. Hermes writes the input text to a temp UTF-8 file, runs your shell command, and reads the audio file the command produced.

Declare one or more providers under `tts.providers.<name>` and switch between them with `tts.provider: <name>` — the same way you switch between built-ins like `edge` and `openai`.

```yaml
tts:
  provider: voxcpm                 # pick any name under tts.providers
  providers:
    voxcpm:
      type: command
      command: "voxcpm --ref ~/voice.wav --text-file {input_path} --out {output_path}"
      output_format: mp3
      timeout: 180
      voice_compatible: true       # try to deliver as a Telegram voice bubble

    mlx-kokoro:
      type: command
      command: "python -m mlx_kokoro --in {input_path} --out {output_path} --voice {voice}"
      voice: af_sky
      output_format: wav

    piper-custom:                  # native Piper also supports custom .onnx via tts.piper.voice
      type: command
      command: "piper -m /path/to/custom.onnx -f {output_path} < {input_path}"
      output_format: wav
```

#### Example: Doubao (Chinese seed-tts-2.0)

For high-quality Chinese TTS via ByteDance's [seed-tts-2.0](https://www.volcengine.com/docs/6561/1257544) bidirectional-streaming API, install the [`doubao-speech`](https://pypi.org/project/doubao-speech/) PyPI package and wire it in as a command provider:

```bash
pip install doubao-speech
export VOLCENGINE_APP_ID="your-app-id"
export VOLCENGINE_ACCESS_TOKEN="your-access-token"
```

```yaml
tts:
  provider: doubao
  providers:
    doubao:
      type: command
      command: "doubao-speech say --text-file {input_path} --out {output_path}"
      output_format: mp3
      max_text_length: 1024
      timeout: 30
```

Credentials come from your shell environment (`VOLCENGINE_APP_ID` / `VOLCENGINE_ACCESS_TOKEN`) or `~/.doubao-speech/config.yaml`. Pick a voice by adding `--voice zh-female-warm` (or any other alias from `doubao-speech list-voices`) to the command. `doubao-speech` also bundles streaming ASR — see the [STT section below](#example-doubao--volcengine-asr) for Hermes integration. Source and full docs: [github.com/Hypnus-Yuan/doubao-speech](https://github.com/Hypnus-Yuan/doubao-speech).

#### Placeholders

Your command template can reference these placeholders. Hermes substitutes them at render time and shell-quotes each value for the surrounding context (bare / single-quoted / double-quoted), so paths with spaces and other shell-sensitive characters are safe.

| Placeholder      | Meaning                                              |
|------------------|------------------------------------------------------|
| `{input_path}`   | Path to the temp UTF-8 text file Hermes wrote        |
| `{text_path}`    | Alias for `{input_path}`                             |
| `{output_path}`  | Path the command must write audio to                 |
| `{format}`       | `mp3` / `wav` / `ogg` / `flac`                       |
| `{voice}`        | `tts.providers.<name>.voice`, empty when unset       |
| `{model}`        | `tts.providers.<name>.model`                         |
| `{speed}`        | Resolved speed multiplier (provider or global)       |

Use `{{` and `}}` for literal braces.

#### Optional keys

| Key                | Default | Meaning                                                                                                    |
|--------------------|---------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `timeout`          | `120`   | Seconds; the process tree is killed on expiry (Unix `killpg`, Windows `taskkill /T`).                       |
| `output_format`    | `mp3`   | One of `mp3` / `wav` / `ogg` / `flac`. Auto-inferred from the output extension if Hermes picks a path.      |
| `voice_compatible` | `false` | When `true`, Hermes converts MP3/WAV output to Opus/OGG via ffmpeg so Telegram renders a voice bubble.      |
| `max_text_length`  | `5000`  | Input is truncated to this length before rendering the command.                                             |
| `voice` / `model`  | empty   | Passed to the command as placeholder values only.                                                           |

#### Behavior notes

- **Built-in names always win.** A `tts.providers.openai` entry never shadows the native OpenAI provider, so no user config can silently replace a built-in.
- **Default delivery is a document.** Command providers deliver as regular audio attachments on every platform. Opt in to voice-bubble delivery per-provider with `voice_compatible: true`.
- **Command failures surface to the agent.** Non-zero exit, empty output, or timeout all return an error with the command's stderr/stdout included so you can debug the provider from the conversation.
- **`type: command` is the default when `command:` is set.** Writing `type: command` explicitly is good practice but not required; an entry with a non-empty `command` string is treated as a command provider.
- **`{input_path}` / `{text_path}` are interchangeable.** Use whichever reads better in your command.

#### Security

Command-type providers run whatever shell command you configure, with your user's permissions. Hermes quotes placeholder values and enforces the configured timeout, but the command template itself is trusted local input — treat it the same way you would a shell script on your PATH.

### Python plugin providers

For TTS engines that can't be expressed as a single shell command — Python SDKs without a CLI, streaming engines, voice-listing APIs, OAuth-refreshing auth — register a Python plugin via `ctx.register_tts_provider()`. The plugin **coexists with** (does not replace) the [Custom command providers](#custom-command-providers) registry; pick the surface that fits your engine.

#### When to pick which

| Your backend has… | Use |
|---|---|
| A single CLI reading text from a file/stdin and writing audio to a file/stdout | **Command provider** (no Python needed) |
| Two or three CLIs chained with shell pipes | **Command provider** |
| A Python SDK only — no CLI | **Plugin** |
| Streaming bytes you want to deliver chunked (mid-generation voice bubbles) | **Plugin** (override `stream()`) |
| A voice-listing API used by `hermes setup` | **Plugin** (override `list_voices()`) |
| OAuth refresh flow (not a static bearer token) | **Plugin** |

Built-ins always win, and command providers win over a same-name plugin — so plugins are safe to register against any non-built-in name without worrying about shadowing your existing config.

#### Minimal plugin

Drop this in `~/.hermes/plugins/my-tts/`:

`plugin.yaml`:
```yaml
name: my-tts
version: 0.1.0
description: "My custom Python TTS backend"
```

`__init__.py`:
```python
from agent.tts_provider import TTSProvider


class MyTTSProvider(TTSProvider):
    @property
    def name(self) -> str:
        return "my-tts"  # what tts.provider matches against

    @property
    def display_name(self) -> str:
        return "My Custom TTS"

    def is_available(self) -> bool:
        # Return False when credentials/deps are missing — picker skips
        # this row but the dispatcher still routes here on explicit config.
        import os
        return bool(os.environ.get("MY_TTS_API_KEY"))

    def synthesize(self, text, output_path, *, voice=None, model=None,
                   speed=None, format="mp3", **extra) -> str:
        # Write audio bytes to output_path, return the path.
        # Raise on failure — the dispatcher converts exceptions to a
        # standard error envelope.
        import my_tts_sdk
        client = my_tts_sdk.Client()
        audio_bytes = client.synthesize(text=text, voice=voice or "default")
        with open(output_path, "wb") as f:
            f.write(audio_bytes)
        return output_path


def register(ctx):
    ctx.register_tts_provider(MyTTSProvider())
```

Enable it (`hermes plugins enable my-tts`), point `tts.provider` at it (`tts.provider: my-tts` in `config.yaml`), and the `text_to_speech` tool will route through your plugin.

#### Optional hooks

Override these on your provider class for richer integration:

- `list_voices()` → list of `{id, display, language, gender, preview_url}` dicts shown in `hermes tools`.
- `list_models()` → list of `{id, display, languages, max_text_length}` dicts.
- `get_setup_schema()` → return `{name, badge, tag, env_vars: [{key, prompt, url}]}` to power the picker row in `hermes tools` / `hermes setup`. Without this, the plugin still works but its row in the picker is minimal.
- `stream(text, *, voice, model, format, **extra)` → iterator yielding audio bytes for streaming delivery (default raises `NotImplementedError`).
- `voice_compatible` property → set `True` if your output is Opus-compatible and the gateway should deliver it as a voice bubble (default `False` = regular audio attachment).

See `agent/tts_provider.py` for the full ABC including docstrings.

## Voice Message Transcription (STT)

Voice messages sent on Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Slack, or Signal are automatically transcribed and injected as text into the conversation. The agent sees the transcript as normal text.

| Provider | Quality | Cost | API Key |
|----------|---------|------|---------| 
| **Local Whisper** (default) | Good | Free | None needed |
| **Groq Whisper API** | Good–Best | Free tier | `GROQ_API_KEY` |
| **OpenAI Whisper API** | Good–Best | Paid | `VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY` or `OPENAI_API_KEY` |

:::info Zero Config
Local transcription works out of the box when `faster-whisper` is installed. If that's unavailable, Hermes can also use a local `whisper` CLI from common install locations (like `/opt/homebrew/bin`) or a custom command via `HERMES_LOCAL_STT_COMMAND`.
:::

### Configuration

```yaml
# In ~/.hermes/config.yaml
stt:
  provider: "local"           # "local" | "groq" | "openai" | "mistral" | "xai"
  local:
    model: "base"             # tiny, base, small, medium, large-v3
  openai:
    model: "whisper-1"        # whisper-1, gpt-4o-mini-transcribe, gpt-4o-transcribe
  mistral:
    model: "voxtral-mini-latest"  # voxtral-mini-latest, voxtral-mini-2602
  xai:
    model: "grok-stt"         # xAI Grok STT
```

### Provider Details

**Local (faster-whisper)** — Runs Whisper locally via [faster-whisper](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper). Uses CPU by default, GPU if available. Model sizes:

| Model | Size | Speed | Quality |
|-------|------|-------|---------|
| `tiny` | ~75 MB | Fastest | Basic |
| `base` | ~150 MB | Fast | Good (default) |
| `small` | ~500 MB | Medium | Better |
| `medium` | ~1.5 GB | Slower | Great |
| `large-v3` | ~3 GB | Slowest | Best |

**Groq API** — Requires `GROQ_API_KEY`. Good cloud fallback when you want a free hosted STT option.

**OpenAI API** — Accepts `VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY` first and falls back to `OPENAI_API_KEY`. Supports `whisper-1`, `gpt-4o-mini-transcribe`, and `gpt-4o-transcribe`.

**Mistral API (Voxtral Transcribe)** — Requires `MISTRAL_API_KEY`. Uses Mistral's [Voxtral Transcribe](https://docs.mistral.ai/capabilities/audio/speech_to_text/) models. Supports 13 languages, speaker diarization, and word-level timestamps. Install with `pip install hermes-agent[mistral]`.

**xAI Grok STT** — Requires `XAI_API_KEY`. Posts to `https://api.x.ai/v1/stt` as multipart/form-data. Good choice if you're already using xAI for chat or TTS and want one API key for everything. Auto-detection order puts it after Groq — explicitly set `stt.provider: xai` to force it.

**Custom local CLI fallback** — Set `HERMES_LOCAL_STT_COMMAND` if you want Hermes to call a local transcription command directly. The command template supports `{input_path}`, `{output_dir}`, `{language}`, and `{model}` placeholders. Your command must write a `.txt` transcript somewhere under `{output_dir}`.

#### Example: Doubao / Volcengine ASR

If you use [`doubao-speech`](https://pypi.org/project/doubao-speech/) for Doubao TTS (see [above](#example-doubao-chinese-seed-tts-20)), the same package handles speech-to-text via the local-command STT surface:

```bash
pip install doubao-speech
export VOLCENGINE_APP_ID="your-app-id"
export VOLCENGINE_ACCESS_TOKEN="your-access-token"
export HERMES_LOCAL_STT_COMMAND='doubao-speech transcribe {input_path} --out {output_dir}/transcript.txt'
```

```yaml
stt:
  provider: local_command
```

Hermes writes the incoming voice message to `{input_path}`, runs the command, and reads the `.txt` file produced under `{output_dir}`. Language is auto-detected by the Volcengine bigmodel endpoint.

### Fallback Behavior

If your configured provider isn't available, Hermes automatically falls back:
- **Local faster-whisper unavailable** → Tries a local `whisper` CLI or `HERMES_LOCAL_STT_COMMAND` before cloud providers
- **Groq key not set** → Falls back to local transcription, then OpenAI
- **OpenAI key not set** → Falls back to local transcription, then Groq
- **Mistral key/SDK not set** → Skipped in auto-detect; falls through to next available provider
- **Nothing available** → Voice messages pass through with an accurate note to the user

### STT custom command providers

If the STT engine you want isn't natively supported (Doubao ASR, NVIDIA Parakeet, a whisper.cpp build, an open-source SenseVoice CLI, anything else that exposes a shell command), wire it in as a **command-type provider** without writing any Python. Hermes runs your shell command against the audio file and reads back the transcript.

Declare one or more providers under `stt.providers.<name>` and switch between them with `stt.provider: <name>` — same shape as the TTS [command-provider registry](#custom-command-providers), adapted for the input=audio → output=transcript direction.

```yaml
stt:
  provider: parakeet                # pick any name under stt.providers
  providers:
    parakeet:
      type: command
      command: "parakeet-asr --model nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2 --in {input_path} --out {output_path}"
      format: txt
      language: en
      timeout: 300

    whispercpp:
      type: command
      command: "whisper-cli -m ~/models/ggml-large-v3.bin -f {input_path} -otxt -of {output_dir}/transcript"
      format: txt

    sensevoice:
      type: command
      command: "sensevoice-cli {input_path} --json | tee {output_path}"
      format: json
```

This complements the legacy `HERMES_LOCAL_STT_COMMAND` escape hatch — that env var still works untouched via the built-in `local_command` path. Use `stt.providers.<name>` when you want **multiple** shell-driven STT engines, a name you can pick via `stt.provider`, or anything that needs per-provider `language` / `model` / `timeout`.

#### STT placeholders

Your command template can reference these placeholders. Hermes substitutes them at render time and shell-quotes each value for the surrounding context (bare / single-quoted / double-quoted), so paths with spaces are safe.

| Placeholder       | Meaning                                                              |
|-------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `{input_path}`    | Absolute path to the input audio file (original location, read-only) |
| `{output_path}`   | Absolute path the command should write the transcript to             |
| `{output_dir}`    | Parent directory of `{output_path}` (handy for whisper-style tools)  |
| `{format}`        | Configured output format: `txt` / `json` / `srt` / `vtt`             |
| `{language}`      | Configured language code (defaults to `en`)                          |
| `{model}`         | `stt.providers.<name>.model`, empty when unset                       |

Use `{{` and `}}` for literal braces (handy when embedding JSON snippets in the command).

#### How the transcript is read back

After your command exits successfully:

1. If `{output_path}` exists and is non-empty → Hermes reads it as UTF-8 text.
2. Otherwise, if the command wrote to stdout → Hermes uses that.
3. Otherwise → error: "Command STT provider wrote no output file and produced no stdout".

This lets you use the registry for both file-writing CLIs (`whisper-cli`, `parakeet-asr`) and curl-style one-liners that emit transcript to stdout (`curl … | jq -r .text`).

For `format: json` / `srt` / `vtt`, Hermes returns the raw file content as the `transcript` field. Extracting `.text` from JSON is out of scope for the runner — either configure `format: txt`, or post-process JSON downstream.

#### STT command-provider optional keys

| Key             | Default | Meaning                                                                                              |
|-----------------|---------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `timeout`       | `300`   | Seconds; the process tree is killed on expiry (Unix `start_new_session`, Windows `taskkill /T`).     |
| `format`        | `txt`   | One of `txt` / `json` / `srt` / `vtt`. Sets the extension of `{output_path}`.                       |
| `language`      | `en`    | Forwarded to `{language}`. Defaults to `stt.language` then `en`.                                     |
| `model`         | empty   | Forwarded to `{model}`. The `model=` argument to `transcribe_audio()` overrides this.                |

#### STT command-provider behavior notes

- **Built-ins always win.** Declaring `stt.providers.openai: type: command` does NOT override the real OpenAI Whisper handler. The built-in name is short-circuited before the command-provider resolver runs.
- **Process-tree cleanup.** A command running over `timeout` has its entire process tree killed, not just the shell wrapper. Long-running ASR pipelines that fork model-loading subprocesses are reaped reliably.
- **Shell-quoting is automatic.** Placeholders inside `'…'` get single-quote-safe escaping; inside `"…"` get `$`/`` ` ``/`"` escaping; outside quotes get `shlex.quote`. Don't pre-quote placeholder values.

#### STT command-provider security

The shell command runs under the same user as Hermes with full filesystem access — same trust model as `tts.providers.<name>: type: command` and `HERMES_LOCAL_STT_COMMAND`. Only declare command providers from sources you trust.

### Python plugin providers (STT)

For STT engines that aren't built-in AND can't be expressed as a shell command (need a Python SDK, OAuth-refreshing auth, streaming chunks, etc.), register a Python plugin via `ctx.register_transcription_provider()`. The plugin **coexists with** the 6 built-in providers (`local`, `local_command`, `groq`, `openai`, `mistral`, `xai`) and the `stt.providers.<name>: type: command` registry — built-ins keep their native implementations and always win on name collision; command providers win over plugins of the same name (config is more local than plugin install).

#### When to pick which (STT)

| Backend has…                                                 | Use                                                              |
|--------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| A single shell command that takes an audio file and emits text | `stt.providers.<name>: type: command` (no Python needed)        |
| Only the legacy single-command escape hatch is wanted        | `HERMES_LOCAL_STT_COMMAND` env var (preserved for back-compat)  |
| A Python SDK with no CLI                                     | `register_transcription_provider()` plugin                      |
| OAuth-refreshing auth, streaming chunks, voice-list metadata | `register_transcription_provider()` plugin                      |
| A built-in already covers it (`local`, `groq`, `openai`, …)  | Set `stt.provider: <name>` — built-ins are inline               |

#### Resolution order

1. **`stt.provider` is a built-in name** → built-in dispatch. **Always wins.**
2. **`stt.provider` matches `stt.providers.<name>` with `command:` set** → command-provider runner (see [STT custom command providers](#stt-custom-command-providers)). Wins over a same-name plugin.
3. **`stt.provider` matches a plugin-registered `TranscriptionProvider`** → plugin dispatch:
   - if the plugin's `is_available()` returns `False` (missing creds or SDK), the call surfaces an unavailability error envelope identifying the plugin — **not** the generic "No STT provider available" message.
   - otherwise the plugin's `transcribe()` is called with `model` (from the public `model=` arg, falling back to `stt.<provider>.model`) and `language` (from `stt.<provider>.language`).
4. **No match** → "No STT provider available" error.

#### Per-provider config namespace

Plugins read their per-provider configuration from `stt.<provider>` in `config.yaml`, mirroring how built-ins read `stt.openai.model` / `stt.mistral.model`:

```yaml
stt:
  provider: my-stt
  my-stt:
    model: whisper-large-v3
    language: ja          # forwarded as language= to transcribe()
    # any other plugin-specific keys go here; read them via your
    # own config.yaml access in __init__/is_available/transcribe
```

The dispatcher forwards `model` and `language` from this section; everything else, the plugin can read itself.

#### Minimal plugin

Drop this in `~/.hermes/plugins/my-stt/`:

`plugin.yaml`:
```yaml
name: my-stt
version: 0.1.0
description: "My custom Python STT backend"
```

`__init__.py`:
```python
from agent.transcription_provider import TranscriptionProvider


class MySTTProvider(TranscriptionProvider):
    @property
    def name(self) -> str:
        return "my-stt"  # what stt.provider matches against

    @property
    def display_name(self) -> str:
        return "My Custom STT"

    def is_available(self) -> bool:
        # Return False when credentials/deps are missing — picker skips
        # this row but the dispatcher still routes here on explicit config.
        import os
        return bool(os.environ.get("MY_STT_API_KEY"))

    def transcribe(self, file_path, *, model=None, language=None, **extra):
        # Return the standard transcribe envelope:
        #   {"success": bool, "transcript": str, "provider": str, "error": str}
        # Do NOT raise — convert exceptions to the error envelope so the
        # gateway/CLI caller sees a consistent shape on failure.
        try:
            import my_stt_sdk
            client = my_stt_sdk.Client()
            text = client.transcribe(open(file_path, "rb"))
            return {
                "success": True,
                "transcript": text,
                "provider": "my-stt",
            }
        except Exception as exc:
            return {
                "success": False,
                "transcript": "",
                "error": f"my-stt failed: {exc}",
                "provider": "my-stt",
            }


def register(ctx):
    ctx.register_transcription_provider(MySTTProvider())
```

Enable it (`hermes plugins enable my-stt`), set `stt.provider: my-stt` in `config.yaml`, and voice-message transcription will route through your plugin.

#### Optional hooks

Override these on your provider class for richer integration:

- `list_models()` → list of `{id, display, languages, max_audio_seconds}` dicts.
- `default_model()` → string returned when the user doesn't override the model.
- `get_setup_schema()` → return `{name, badge, tag, env_vars: [{key, prompt, url}]}` to power picker rows in `hermes tools` / `hermes setup` (the picker category for STT is not yet shipped — this metadata is available to plugins for forward compatibility).

See `agent/transcription_provider.py` for the full ABC including docstrings.
