osay - AI Text-to-Speech

A CLI tool for AI-powered speech synthesis. Convert text to natural-sounding speech for various use cases.

Quick Reference

# Show all available options
osay --help

# Basic usage - speak text
osay "Hello, world!"

# Check pronunciation of unfamiliar words
osay "ephemeral"
osay "Nietzsche"
osay "queue"

# With specific voice
osay -v coral "Welcome to the presentation."

# Save as audio file
osay -o output.mp3 "This will be saved to a file."

# Replay last audio
osay -p

Use Cases

1. Pronunciation Queries

Quickly hear correct pronunciation of unfamiliar words:

# English words
osay "pronunciation"
osay "worcestershire"

# Names and proper nouns
osay "Dostoevsky"
osay "Nguyen"

# Technical terms
osay "asynchronous"
osay "kubernetes"

2. Content Reading

Read articles, documentation, or text content aloud:

# Read a paragraph
osay "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

# With neutral tone (no default cheerfulness)
osay --no-instructions "This is a factual news report."

# Slow and clear for comprehension
osay --instructions "Speak slowly and clearly" "Complex technical content here."

3. Audio Generation

Create audio files for various purposes:

# Podcast intro
osay -v onyx -o intro.mp3 "Welcome to the show."

# Notification sounds
osay -o alert.mp3 "Task completed successfully."

# Voice memo
osay -o memo.mp3 "Remember to review the pull request tomorrow."

4. Language Learning

Practice pronunciation and listening comprehension:

# Practice sentences
osay -v coral "I'd like a cup of coffee, please."

# Slow speed for beginners
osay --instructions "Speak slowly, pausing between phrases" \
  "Could you repeat that more slowly?"

# Natural native speed
osay --instructions "Speak at natural native speed" \
  "I'm gonna grab a coffee real quick."

See examples/english/SENTENCES.md for practice sentence collections.

Voices

List available voices with osay -v '?'

| Voice | Characteristics | |---------|-----------------------------------| | alloy | Neutral, balanced | | ash | Soft, gentle | | ballad | Melodic, smooth | | coral | Warm, conversational | | echo | Resonant, clear | | fable | Storytelling, narrative | | nova | Clear, standard | | onyx | Deeper, formal | | sage | Calm, wise | | shimmer | Expressive, emotional |

Speech Instructions

Control tone and delivery style:

# Natural conversation
osay --instructions "Speak naturally, like talking to a friend" "Hey, what's up?"

# Professional presentation
osay --instructions "Speak clearly and professionally" "Q4 results exceeded expectations."

# Emphatic
osay --instructions "Speak with enthusiasm" "This is amazing news!"

# Neutral (disable default tone)
osay --no-instructions "Objective statement."

Cache Management

Audio files are cached automatically in ~/.osay/audios/:

# List cached audio with metadata
osay --list-cached

# Replay most recent
osay -p
osay --prev

# Select from cache interactively (with fzf)
osay --play-cached

# Play specific cached audio by ID
osay --play-cached abc123

Output Formats

Use --format to specify audio format:

| Format | Use Case | |--------|-----------------------------------| | mp3 | Default, general purpose | | opus | Efficient storage, streaming | | aac | Apple ecosystem, good compression | | flac | Lossless, archival quality | | wav | Lossless, editing | | pcm | Raw audio, processing |

osay -o output.mp3 "Default format"
osay -o speech.wav --format wav "High quality audio"
osay -o compressed.opus --format opus "Small file size"

Input Methods

Multiple ways to provide text:

# Direct text argument
osay "Hello, world!"

# Read from file
osay -f mytext.txt
osay -f document.txt -v nova

# Pipe from stdin
echo "Hello from a pipe" | osay
cat article.txt | osay -v coral

# Combine with other commands
curl -s https://example.com/quote.txt | osay

Streaming Mode

Use --no-cache for lowest latency (live streaming, no cache):

# Quick response without caching
osay --no-cache "Instant playback!"

# Useful for real-time applications
osay --no-cache -v coral "This plays immediately"

Batch Processing

Process multiple texts:

# From file (one per line)
while IFS= read -r line; do
  osay "$line"
  sleep 0.5
done < texts.txt

# Generate multiple files
osay -o file1.mp3 "First message"
osay -o file2.mp3 "Second message"

Configuration

API Key Management

# Setup OpenAI API key interactively
osay --setup

# Check if key is configured
osay --show-key

# Remove stored key
osay --remove-key

Environment

Config file: ~/.config/osay/config
Audio cache: ~/.osay/audios/
Environment variable: OPENAI_API_KEY (overrides config file)

Falls back to macOS say command if no OpenAI key is available.