add-skill-transcription

name	add-skill-transcription
description	Add voice message transcription to NanoTars using OpenAI's Whisper API. Automatically transcribes voice notes so the agent can read and respond to them. Triggers on "add transcription", "voice transcription", "whisper", "transcribe voice".

Add Voice Transcription

Automatic voice message transcription via OpenAI's Whisper API. When users send voice notes on any channel (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord), the transcription hook converts them to text before the agent sees the message.

Works with any channel plugin that sets mediaType='audio' and mediaHostPath on inbound messages.

Preflight

Before installing, verify NanoTars is set up:

[ -d node_modules ] && echo "DEPS: ok" || echo "DEPS: missing"
docker image inspect nanoclaw-agent:latest &>/dev/null && echo "IMAGE: ok" || echo "IMAGE: not built"
if grep -q "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY\|CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN" .env 2>/dev/null || [ -f "$HOME/.claude/.credentials.json" ]; then echo "AUTH: ok"; else echo "AUTH: missing"; fi

If any check fails, tell the user to run /nanotars-setup first and stop.

Prerequisites

• At least one channel plugin installed with voice/audio support

Step 1: Check Existing Configuration

grep "^OPENAI_API_KEY=" .env 2>/dev/null && echo "KEY_SET" || echo "KEY_MISSING"
[ -d plugins/transcription ] && echo "PLUGIN_EXISTS" || echo "PLUGIN_MISSING"

If already configured, ask the user if they want to reconfigure or just verify.

Step 2: Get OpenAI API Key

Use the AskUserQuestion tool to present this:

You'll need an OpenAI API key for Whisper transcription.

Get one at: https://platform.openai.com/api-keys

Cost: $0.006 per minute of audio ($0.003 per typical 30-second voice note)

Wait for user to provide their API key.

Step 3: Save to .env

# Remove existing line if present
sed -i '/^OPENAI_API_KEY=/d' .env

# Add the new key
echo "OPENAI_API_KEY=THE_KEY_HERE" >> .env

Step 4: Install Plugin

cp -r ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/files/ plugins/transcription/

The plugin has "dependencies": true in its manifest, so the plugin-loader will run npm install automatically on next startup. Installing now is faster and surfaces install errors immediately:

cd plugins/transcription && npm install && cd -

Step 5: Plugin Configuration

By default this plugin is available to all groups and channel types. To restrict access, edit plugins/transcription/plugin.json and set:

• "groups" to specific group folder names (e.g., ["main"]) instead of ["*"]
• "channels" to specific channel types (e.g., ["whatsapp"]) instead of ["*"]

Ask the user if they want to restrict access. Most users will keep the defaults.

Step 6: Build and Restart

npm run build
nanotars restart  # or launchctl on macOS

Verify

Tell the user:

Voice transcription is ready! Test it by sending a voice note in any registered chat.

Voice messages appear to the agent as: [Voice: <transcribed text>]

Watch for transcription in the logs:

tail -f logs/nanotars.log | grep -i "voice\|transcri"

Troubleshooting

• "transcription unavailable": Check OPENAI_API_KEY is set in .env and has credits
• Voice messages not detected: Ensure you're sending voice notes, not audio file attachments
• No transcription on a channel: That channel plugin may not set mediaType/mediaHostPath on audio messages

Per-group credential overrides: Not applicable. Transcription is a system-wide service that processes all inbound audio.

Remove

1. rm -rf plugins/transcription/
2. Remove env var: sed -i '/^OPENAI_API_KEY=/d' .env
3. Rebuild and restart