readless

readless

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Claude Code plugin (MCP-based) that speaks status, summaries, and blocker questions out loud — so you can walk away from a long task and still know what's happening.

Three agent-callable tools:

Tool	When the agent calls it	Spoken length
speak_summary(headline, details="")	End of every turn, or when a user-visible task finishes	≤ 50 words
speak_status(message)	Mid-task heartbeat during work expected to run > 2 min (server throttles to 1/min)	≤ 10 words
speak_blocker(question)	Agent is stuck and needs your input. Bypasses quiet hours, interrupts current speech.	≤ 20 words

Default TTS backend is edge-tts — Microsoft's free online TTS endpoint. No API key, no signup, no model download, and the default voice zh-CN-XiaoxiaoNeural handles Chinese + English code-switching naturally. Falls back to your OS's built-in voice if the network is unreachable. Optional OpenAI / ElevenLabs backends are available if you want your own voice — keys are entered through a separate CLI so they never touch the Claude conversation.

Install

You need uv (Astral's Python launcher) on PATH — that's it. uv provisions Python automatically, so you do not need to install Python 3.10+ yourself or manage virtualenvs.

# 1. Install uv (skip if you already have it)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh        # macOS / Linux
# brew install uv                                       # macOS via Homebrew
# irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex            # Windows PowerShell

Then in Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add hwjustin/readless
/plugin install readless
/readless:setup

/readless:setup:

1. Verifies uv is on PATH (re-prompts if not) and pre-warms uvx --from readless-mcp readless so the first MCP startup is instant.
2. Asks whether you want the Chinese or English instruction block, then appends it to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (marker-bounded, idempotent) so the agent knows to call speak_summary at the end of every turn.

After setup, fully restart Claude Code (not just a new chat — close the CLI / IDE host so the new PATH is picked up). /mcp should show readless ✓ Connected.

Why uv? The MCP SDK requires Python ≥3.10. macOS ships 3.9 system-wide, and asking users to install Homebrew Python or manage a venv was the #1 source of "it doesn't work." uv downloads a suitable Python on demand into its own cache (~/.cache/uv/), runs readless-mcp from PyPI in isolation, and leaves the system Python untouched. This is the pattern recommended by the official MCP servers repo.

Switching to OpenAI / ElevenLabs (optional)

The default edge-tts backend is good enough for most people. If you want OpenAI or ElevenLabs voices, set the key in your own terminal — don't paste the key into Claude:

# OpenAI
uvx --from 'readless-mcp[openai]' readless-setkey openai     # prompts for key, input hidden

# ElevenLabs
uvx --from 'readless-mcp[elevenlabs]' readless-setkey elevenlabs

readless-setkey uses getpass to read the key without echoing it, writes it to ~/.readless/config.yaml (chmod 600), and flips tts_provider for you. Use readless-setkey clear openai (or elevenlabs) to wipe a saved key.

Env vars OPENAI_API_KEY / ELEVENLABS_API_KEY always override the config file if you prefer shell-rc-managed secrets.

Configure

~/.readless/config.yaml is auto-created from defaults on first run. Common edits:

• edge_voice: en-US-AriaNeural — pick a different edge-tts voice (edge-tts --list-voices to list)
• edge_rate: "+20%" — speed up the default voice
• tts_provider: system — force OS-native TTS (useful for fully offline machines)
• system_voice: Tingting — pick a macOS voice (say -v '?' to list)
• quiet_hours.start / end — opt-in night-silencing for speak_summary / speak_status (off by default; speak_blocker still plays even if enabled)
• tools.speak_status: false (etc.) — disable individual tools
• status_throttle_seconds: 60 — limit speak_status rate

See config.example.yaml.

Tune the agent

CLAUDE_EXAMPLE.md is the source of truth for "when should the agent call which tool." Edit your ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md block to make the agent more or less chatty — that's the lever, not the code.

Logs

All tool calls append to ~/.readless/log.jsonl:

{"ts": "2026-05-14T22:30:00+08:00", "kind": "summary", "headline": "Build passed, all 3 tests green", "details": ""}

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.

Structure