| name | smallest-ai |
| description | Ultra-fast text-to-speech and speech-to-text via Smallest AI's Lightning v3.1 and Pulse models. Use when the user wants to generate speech, convert text to voice, read text aloud, create voice notes, transcribe audio to text, or clone a voice. Sub-100ms latency TTS. 64ms TTFT STT. Supports 30+ languages including Hindi and Spanish. Voices include sophia, robert, advika, vivaan, camilla, and 80+ more.
|
| metadata | {"openclaw":{"emoji":"⚡","requires":{"bins":"[Truncated]","env":"[Truncated]"},"primaryEnv":"SMALLEST_API_KEY"}} |
Smallest AI — Ultra-Fast Voice Suite
Text-to-speech (sub-100ms) via Lightning v3.1 and speech-to-text (64ms TTFT) via Pulse.
Setup
- Get API key from https://waves.smallest.ai → click "API Key" in left panel
- Set
SMALLEST_API_KEY in your environment:
export SMALLEST_API_KEY="your_key_here"
Defaults
- Default female voice:
sophia (American English)
- Default male voice:
robert (American English)
- Default language:
en
- Default speed:
1.0
- Default sample rate:
24000
Voice Selection Rules
Follow these rules to select the voice:
- If user explicitly names a voice (e.g. "use advika"), use that voice.
- If user asks for a male voice, use the configured
defaultVoiceMale.
- If user asks for a female voice, use the configured
defaultVoiceFemale.
- If no gender preference, use
defaultVoiceFemale (sophia by default).
- For Hindi content: use
advika (female) or vivaan (male).
- For Spanish content: use
camilla (female) or carlos (male).
- For Tamil content: use
anitha (female) or raju (male).
Always pass the configured defaultLanguage, defaultSpeed, and defaultSampleRate as --lang, --speed, and --rate flags unless the user overrides them.
Text-to-Speech
Generate speech audio from text using Lightning v3.1 model.
Shell (preferred — zero dependencies)
{baseDir}/scripts/tts.sh "Text to speak" --voice sophia --rate 24000 --speed 1.0 --lang en
Python (requires pip install smallestai or just requests)
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/tts.py "Text to speak" --voice sophia --speed 1.0 --lang en --out speech.wav
Voices
| Voice | Gender | Accent | Best For |
|---|
| sophia | Female | American | General use (default) |
| robert | Male | American | Professional, reports (default) |
| advika | Female | Indian | Hindi content, code-switch |
| vivaan | Male | Indian | Bilingual English/Hindi |
| camilla | Female | Mexican/Latin | Spanish content |
| zara | Female | American | Conversational |
| melody | Female | American | Storytelling, greetings |
| arjun | Male | Indian | English/Hindi bilingual |
| stella | Female | American | Expressive, warm |
80+ more voices available. List all with: {baseDir}/scripts/voices.sh
Options
--voice <id>: Voice identifier (default: sophia)--rate <hz>: Sample rate — 8000 | 16000 | 24000 | 44100 (default: 24000)--speed <n>: Playback speed 0.5–2.0 (default: 1.0)--lang <code>: Language code (default: en). See {baseDir}/references/languages.md--out <path>: Output file (default: auto-named media/tts_<timestamp>.wav)
Output
Scripts print MEDIA: <filepath> on success. OpenClaw sends this as an audio attachment.
Multilingual
Supports 30+ languages. Pass --lang with ISO code:
{baseDir}/scripts/tts.sh "नमस्ते, कैसे हैं आप?" --voice advika --lang hi
{baseDir}/scripts/tts.sh "Bonjour le monde" --voice sophia --lang fr
{baseDir}/scripts/tts.sh "Hola, buenos días" --voice camilla --lang es
Code-switching (mixing languages) works automatically — no flag needed:
{baseDir}/scripts/tts.sh "Hey, मुझे meeting remind कर दो" --voice advika --lang hi
Speech-to-Text
Transcribe audio files using Pulse model. Supports WAV, MP3, OGG, FLAC.
Shell
{baseDir}/scripts/stt.sh /path/to/audio.wav
{baseDir}/scripts/stt.sh /path/to/audio.wav --diarize --timestamps --emotions
Python
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/stt.py /path/to/audio.wav --diarize --timestamps --lang en
Options
--lang <code>: Language (default: en)--diarize: Identify different speakers--timestamps: Word-level timing--emotions: Detect emotional tone
Output
Returns JSON with transcription field. With --diarize, includes speaker labels per word.
When to Use
Trigger this skill when the user:
- Asks to "say", "speak", "read aloud", or "generate speech/audio"
- Wants a "voice message", "voice note", or "audio file"
- Asks to "transcribe", "convert speech/audio to text"
- Mentions "Smallest AI", "Lightning TTS", or "Pulse STT"
- Needs fast or low-latency speech generation
- Wants Hindi, Spanish, multilingual, or code-switched voice output
- Asks to compare TTS providers or benchmark latency
Error Handling
- Missing API key → tell user to set
SMALLEST_API_KEY
- HTTP 401 → invalid or expired API key
- HTTP 429 → rate limited, wait and retry
- HTTP 400 → check text length (max ~5000 chars per request). Split long text into chunks.
- Empty audio → verify voice_id is valid
Limits
- Max text per request: ~5000 characters
- For longer text: split into sentences, synthesize each, concatenate with sox or ffmpeg
- Free tier: 30 minutes/month of TTS
- Basic ($5/mo): 3 hours of TTS + 1 voice clone
