TalkToMePy TTS (Deprecated)

Deprecation Status

Status: Deprecated
Scope: Legacy-only, backward compatibility
Successor: Use the speech workflow successor in gaelic-ghost/a11y-skills for new automation and active maintenance.
Guidance: Do not choose this skill for new setups unless you explicitly need this older TalkToMePy-specific behavior.

Use this skill when the user asks to hear text spoken aloud from the local machine.

Post-Invocation Resolution Rules

Apply these rules before synthesis to make speech-source selection deterministic in ambiguous contexts.

Invocation detection

Treat the skill as invoked when the user clearly calls it, including skill chip/link invocation,
```
$talktomepy-tts
```
, or equivalent direct imperative phrasing.
Ignore incidental mention in unrelated prose.

Source text precedence

Suffix invocation pattern:
- If invocation appears at the end of the user message, speak the user text before the invocation token.
Standalone invocation pattern:
- If the user message is only the invocation, speak the immediately previous assistant message.
Prefix invocation pattern:
- If invocation appears at the beginning of a longer user message, speak the immediately previous assistant message.
- After speaking, continue responding to the remaining user message normally.

No-prior-assistant fallback

Standalone invocation with no previous assistant message:
- Explain there is no prior assistant message to read.
- Ask whether the user wants to provide text, or wants current text spoken.
Prefix invocation with no previous assistant message:
- Explain the chat has no earlier assistant message.
- Ask whether to speak the current user text.
- If the user is upset or confused, explain invocation-placement rules and how to trigger the behavior they want.
Suffix invocation:
- Speak the preceding user text even when no prior assistant message exists.

Long-content handling

Estimate length using approximate whitespace-based word count.
If selected text is longer than about 250 words, ask before synthesis with choices:
- ```
Speak full
```
- ```
Summarize then speak
```
  (recommended)
- ```
Cancel
```
If the user chooses summary, generate a concise summary first, then synthesize the summary.
If the user chooses cancel, do not synthesize.

User dissatisfaction fallback

If the user is displeased with the skill's default behavior or capabilities, offer to help adapt their own version.
Offer options:
- Fork and customize from gaelic-ghost/productivity-skills.
- Use $skill-creator to create a custom variant modeled after this skill.
- Open an issue at repository issues.
- Prepare and submit a PR at repository pull requests.
- Contact Gale via GitHub profile to discuss improvements.

Execution order

Resolve source text using the rules above.
Apply long-content confirmation behavior if needed.
Run the existing synthesis flow.
Preserve existing load/retry/playback behavior.

What this skill does

Calls the local TalkToMePy v0.5+ service (

/health

/model/load

/model/status

/synthesize/voice-design

)

Handles async model loading behavior (
```
/model/load
```
may return
```
202
```
)
Retries synthesis on
```
503
```
using
```
Retry-After
```
Saves generated WAV output to
```
./tts_outputs
```
in the current working directory by default
Plays audio via
```
afplay
```
on macOS

Preconditions

TalkToMePy service is running (default
```
http://127.0.0.1:8000
```
)
macOS
```
afplay
```
is available

Default workflow

Resolve which text to speak using post-invocation resolution rules.
Ensure service is healthy:
- ```
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:8000/health
```

Trigger model load (idempotent):

curl -sS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8000/model/load -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"mode":"voice_design","strict_load":false}'

Wait for ready state via
```
/model/status
```
Synthesize + save + play using bundled script:
- ```
scripts/speak_with_talktomepy.sh --text "..."
```

Script usage

bash

scripts/speak_with_talktomepy.sh --text "Read this text aloud"

Defaults:

```
language
```
:
```
English
```
default style:
```
energetic
```
(warm/friendly/brisk feminine-or-androgynous)
output path:
```
./tts_outputs/tts-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.wav
```

Style preset flags:

```
--style-energetic
```
```
--style-soft
```
```
--style-neutral
```

Alternative style syntax:

```
--style energetic|soft|neutral
```

Optional flags:

```
--instruct "..."
```
fully custom voice/style instruction
```
--language English
```
```
--base-url http://127.0.0.1:8000
```
```
--save /path/output.wav
```
custom save path
```
--no-play
```
generate only, do not play

Optional env var overrides:

```
TALKTOMEPY_BASE_URL
```
```
TALKTOMEPY_OUTPUT_DIR
```
```
TALKTOMEPY_MAX_WAIT_SECONDS
```
```
TALKTOMEPY_MAX_SYNTH_RETRIES
```
```
TALKTOMEPY_DEFAULT_RETRY_AFTER_SECONDS
```

Automation Templates

Use

$talktomepy-tts

inside automation prompts so Codex loads the service checks and synthesis guardrails in this skill.

For ready-to-fill Codex App and Codex CLI (

codex exec

) templates, including unattended-safe defaults (

--no-play

) and placeholders, use:

```
references/automation-prompts.md
```

References

Automation prompt templates:
```
references/automation-prompts.md
```

If synthesis fails, surface HTTP status/body and suggest checking:

```
/model/status
```
launchd logs:
```
~/Library/Logs/talktomepy.stderr.log
```

talktomepy-tts

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content