callout

Callout — Text-to-Speech for Claude Code

Speak Claude Code responses aloud using Kokoro TTS (local, 82M params, #1 on TTS Arena) with macOS say as fallback.

Features

• /callout — speak the last response on demand
• /callout Hello world — speak custom text
• /callout --auto-on — automatically speak every response
• 54 voices (American, British, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin)
• Configurable voice, speed, and engine
• Audio ducking (lowers Apple Music while speaking)
• Smart interruption — stops playback when you start typing
• Silent operation — no output noise, just audio
• Multi-session isolation — each Claude Code session gets its own cache
• Markdown stripping for clean speech output
• File reading — /callout path/to/file.txt reads a file aloud

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/xicv/callout.git
cd callout
./install.sh

The installer handles everything:

1. Installs kokoro-tts via uv
2. Downloads model files (~335MB) to ~/.local/share/kokoro-tts/
3. Registers the plugin hooks with Claude Code
4. Creates the /callout skill in ~/.claude/skills/
5. Lets you pick your default voice

Then restart Claude Code and use /callout.

Usage

Command	Description
/callout	Speak the last response
/callout Hello world	Speak custom text
/callout --voice=bf_emma	Use a specific voice
/callout --speed=1.5	Faster speech
/callout --voice=am_adam --speed=0.8 Hello	Combine flags with text
/callout --auto-on	Auto-speak every response
/callout --auto-off	Disable auto-speak
/callout --list-voices	Show all 54 voices
/callout --config	Show current settings
/callout --stop	Stop playback mid-speech
/callout path/to/file.txt	Read a file aloud

Stopping Playback

Two ways to cancel TTS mid-speech:

• Start typing your next message — the interrupt hook kills playback automatically
• /callout --stop — manual stop command

Configuration

Set environment variables in ~/.claude/settings.json under env:

Variable	Default	Description
CALLOUT_VOICE	af_heart	Voice name (see --list-voices)
CALLOUT_SPEED	1.0	Speed multiplier (0.5–2.0)
CALLOUT_ENGINE	auto	kokoro, say, or auto
CALLOUT_MAX_CHARS	5000	Max characters to speak
CALLOUT_AUDIO_DUCK	true	Lower Apple Music during speech
CALLOUT_DUCK_LEVEL	5	Duck volume (% of original)

Available Voices

American English — Female: af_alloy, af_aoede, af_bella, af_heart, af_jessica, af_kore, af_nicole, af_nova, af_river, af_sarah, af_sky | Male: am_adam, am_echo, am_eric, am_fenrir, am_liam, am_michael, am_onyx, am_puck

British English — Female: bf_alice, bf_emma, bf_isabella, bf_lily | Male: bm_daniel, bm_fable, bm_george, bm_lewis

Other — French: ff_siwis | Italian: if_sara, im_nicola | Japanese: jf_alpha, jf_gongitsune, jf_nezumi, jf_tebukuro, jm_kumo | Mandarin: zf_xiaobei, zf_xiaoni, zf_xiaoxiao, zf_xiaoyi, zm_yunjian, zm_yunxi, zm_yunxia, zm_yunyang

Architecture

callout/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   ├── plugin.json           # Plugin manifest + hooks
│   └── marketplace.json      # Local marketplace config
├── scripts/
│   ├── speak.sh              # Main TTS engine (kokoro → say fallback)
│   ├── cache-response.sh     # Stop hook: caches last response
│   ├── interrupt.sh          # Kills playback on new prompt
│   ├── cleanup.sh            # SessionEnd cleanup
│   ├── strip_markdown.py     # Markdown → plain text (mistune)
│   └── audio-duck.sh         # macOS Apple Music ducking
├── settings.json             # Default env config
├── install.sh                # One-command setup
├── uninstall.sh              # Clean removal
├── pyproject.toml            # Python deps
└── LICENSE                   # Apache 2.0

How it works:

1. Stop hook caches every Claude response to /tmp/callout-{session_id}-response.txt
2. /callout reads the session-scoped cache, strips markdown, pipes to Kokoro TTS streaming
3. UserPromptSubmit hook kills only the current session's TTS process (via PID tracking)
4. SessionEnd hook cleans up only the current session's temp files

Each session is isolated — running multiple Claude Code instances won't cross-talk. The /callout skill is a minimal SKILL.md that delegates all logic to speak.sh via ${CLAUDE_SESSION_ID}, keeping Claude's processing fast.

Prerequisites

• Claude Code
• uv (for kokoro-tts and Python deps)
• jq (usually pre-installed on macOS)
• macOS (for say fallback and audio ducking)

Uninstall

./uninstall.sh