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docs: add comprehensive voice mode documentation

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Cover CLI voice mode, Telegram/Discord auto voice reply, and Discord
voice channel support. Include setup guide with bot permissions, OAuth2
invite URL, privileged intents, system dependencies, and Python packages.
Update discord.md voice messages section with correct STT key reference.
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---
sidebar_position: 10
title: "Voice Mode"
description: "Real-time voice conversations with Hermes Agent — CLI, Telegram, Discord text, and Discord voice channels"
---
# Voice Mode
Hermes Agent supports full voice interaction across CLI and messaging platforms. Talk to the agent using your microphone, hear spoken replies, and have live voice conversations in Discord voice channels.
## Overview
| Feature | Platform | Description |
|---------|----------|-------------|
| **Interactive Voice** | CLI | Press Ctrl+B to record, agent auto-detects silence and responds |
| **Auto Voice Reply** | Telegram, Discord | Agent sends spoken audio alongside text responses |
| **Voice Channel** | Discord | Bot joins VC, listens to users speaking, speaks replies back |
## Requirements
### Python Packages
```bash
# CLI voice mode (microphone + audio playback)
pip install hermes-agent[voice]
# Discord + Telegram messaging (includes discord.py[voice] for VC support)
pip install hermes-agent[messaging]
# Premium TTS (ElevenLabs)
pip install hermes-agent[tts-premium]
# Everything at once
pip install hermes-agent[all]
```
| Extra | Packages | Required For |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| `voice` | `sounddevice`, `numpy` | CLI voice mode |
| `messaging` | `discord.py[voice]`, `python-telegram-bot`, `aiohttp` | Discord & Telegram bots |
| `tts-premium` | `elevenlabs` | ElevenLabs TTS provider |
:::info
`discord.py[voice]` installs **PyNaCl** (for voice encryption) and **opus bindings** automatically. This is required for Discord voice channel support.
:::
### System Dependencies
```bash
# macOS
brew install portaudio ffmpeg opus
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install portaudio19-dev ffmpeg libopus0
```
| Dependency | Purpose | Required For |
|-----------|---------|-------------|
| **PortAudio** | Microphone input and audio playback | CLI voice mode |
| **ffmpeg** | Audio format conversion (MP3 → Opus, PCM → WAV) | All platforms |
| **Opus** | Discord voice codec | Discord voice channels |
### API Keys
Add to `~/.hermes/.env`:
```bash
# Speech-to-Text (at least one required)
GROQ_API_KEY=your-key # Groq Whisper — fast, free tier available (recommended)
VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY=your-key # OpenAI Whisper — alternative
# Text-to-Speech (optional — Edge TTS works without any key)
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-key # ElevenLabs — premium quality
```
---
## CLI Voice Mode
### Quick Start
```
/voice Toggle voice mode on/off
/voice on Enable voice mode
/voice off Disable voice mode
/voice tts Toggle TTS output
/voice status Show current state
```
### How It Works
1. Enable voice mode with `/voice on`
2. **Press Ctrl+B** — a beep plays (880Hz), recording starts
3. **Speak** — a live audio level bar shows your input: `● [▁▂▃▅▇▇▅▂] ❯`
4. **Stop speaking** — after 3 seconds of silence, recording auto-stops
5. **Two beeps** play (660Hz) confirming the recording ended
6. Audio is transcribed via Whisper and sent to the agent
7. If TTS is enabled, the agent's reply is spoken aloud
8. Recording **automatically restarts** — speak again without pressing any key
This loop continues until you press **Ctrl+B** during recording (exits continuous mode) or 3 consecutive recordings detect no speech.
:::tip
The record key is configurable via `voice.record_key` in `~/.hermes/config.yaml` (default: `ctrl+b`).
:::
### Silence Detection
Two-stage algorithm detects when you've finished speaking:
1. **Speech confirmation** — waits for audio above the RMS threshold (200) for at least 0.3s, tolerating brief dips between syllables
2. **End detection** — once speech is confirmed, triggers after 3.0 seconds of continuous silence
If no speech is detected at all for 15 seconds, recording stops automatically.
Both `silence_threshold` and `silence_duration` are configurable in `config.yaml`.
### Streaming TTS
When TTS is enabled, the agent speaks its reply **sentence-by-sentence** as it generates text — you don't wait for the full response:
1. Buffers text deltas into complete sentences (min 20 chars)
2. Strips markdown formatting and `<think>` blocks
3. Generates and plays audio per sentence in real-time
### Hallucination Filter
Whisper sometimes generates phantom text from silence or background noise ("Thank you for watching", "Subscribe", etc.). The agent filters these out using a database of 498+ known hallucination phrases across multiple languages.
---
## Gateway Voice Reply (Telegram & Discord)
### Commands
These work in both Telegram and Discord text channels:
```
/voice Toggle voice mode on/off
/voice on Voice replies only when you send a voice message
/voice tts Voice replies for ALL messages
/voice off Disable voice replies
/voice status Show current setting
```
### Modes
| Mode | Command | Behavior |
|------|---------|----------|
| `off` | `/voice off` | Text only (default) |
| `voice_only` | `/voice on` | Speaks reply only when you send a voice message |
| `all` | `/voice tts` | Speaks reply to every message |
Voice mode setting is persisted across gateway restarts.
### Platform Delivery
| Platform | Format | Notes |
|----------|--------|-------|
| **Telegram** | Voice bubble (Opus/OGG) | Plays inline in chat. ffmpeg converts MP3 → Opus if needed |
| **Discord** | Audio file attachment (MP3) | Sent alongside text response |
---
## Discord Voice Channels
The most immersive voice feature: the bot joins a Discord voice channel, listens to users speaking, transcribes their speech, processes through the agent, and speaks the reply back in the voice channel.
### Setup
#### 1. Discord Bot Permissions
If you already have a Discord bot set up for text (see [Discord Setup Guide](../messaging/discord.md)), you need to add voice permissions.
Go to the [Discord Developer Portal](https://discord.com/developers/applications) → your application → **Installation** → **Default Install Settings** → **Guild Install**:
**Add these permissions to the existing text permissions:**
| Permission | Purpose | Required |
|-----------|---------|----------|
| **Connect** | Join voice channels | Yes |
| **Speak** | Play TTS audio in voice channels | Yes |
| **Use Voice Activity** | Detect when users are speaking | Recommended |
**Updated Permissions Integer:**
| Level | Integer | What's Included |
|-------|---------|----------------|
| Text only | `274878286912` | View Channels, Send Messages, Read History, Embeds, Attachments, Threads, Reactions |
| Text + Voice | `274881432640` | All above + Connect, Speak |
**Re-invite the bot** with the updated permissions URL:
```
https://discord.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=YOUR_APP_ID&scope=bot+applications.commands&permissions=274881432640
```
Replace `YOUR_APP_ID` with your Application ID from the Developer Portal.
:::warning
Re-inviting the bot to a server it's already in will update its permissions without removing it. You won't lose any data or configuration.
:::
#### 2. Privileged Gateway Intents
In the [Developer Portal](https://discord.com/developers/applications) → your application → **Bot** → **Privileged Gateway Intents**, enable all three:
| Intent | Purpose |
|--------|---------|
| **Presence Intent** | Detect user online/offline status |
| **Server Members Intent** | Map voice SSRC identifiers to Discord user IDs |
| **Message Content Intent** | Read text message content in channels |
All three are required for full voice channel functionality. **Server Members Intent** is especially critical — without it, the bot cannot identify who is speaking in the voice channel.
#### 3. Opus Codec
The Opus codec library must be installed on the machine running the gateway:
```bash
# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install opus
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libopus0
```
The bot auto-loads the codec from:
- **macOS:** `/opt/homebrew/lib/libopus.dylib`
- **Linux:** `libopus.so.0`
#### 4. Environment Variables
```bash
# ~/.hermes/.env
# Discord bot (already configured for text)
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=your-bot-token
DISCORD_ALLOWED_USERS=your-user-id
# STT — at least one required for voice channel listening
GROQ_API_KEY=your-key # Recommended (fast, free tier)
# TTS — optional, Edge TTS (free) is the default
# ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-key # Premium quality
```
### Commands
```
/voice join Bot joins your current voice channel
/voice channel Alias for /voice join
/voice leave Bot disconnects from voice channel
/voice status Show voice mode and connected channel
```
:::info
You must be in a voice channel before running `/voice join`. The bot joins the same VC you're in.
:::
### How It Works
When the bot joins a voice channel, it:
1. **Captures audio** via Discord's UDP socket (RTP packets)
2. **Decrypts** using NaCl transport encryption (aead_xchacha20_poly1305_rtpsize)
3. **Decrypts** DAVE end-to-end encryption (Discord Audio/Video Encryption)
4. **Decodes** Opus audio to raw PCM (48kHz stereo, per-user decoder)
5. **Detects silence** — 1.5s of silence after at least 0.5s of speech triggers processing
6. **Converts** PCM to 16kHz mono WAV via ffmpeg
7. **Transcribes** via Whisper STT (Groq or OpenAI)
8. **Processes** through the full agent pipeline (session, tools, memory)
9. **Generates TTS** reply audio
10. **Plays** the reply in the voice channel
### Text Channel Integration
When the bot is in a voice channel:
- Transcripts appear in the text channel: `[Voice] @user: what you said`
- Agent responses are sent as text in the channel AND spoken in the VC
- The text channel is the one where `/voice join` was issued
### Echo Prevention
The bot automatically pauses its audio listener while playing TTS replies, preventing it from hearing and re-processing its own output.
### Access Control
Only users listed in `DISCORD_ALLOWED_USERS` can interact via voice. Other users' audio is silently ignored.
```bash
# ~/.hermes/.env
DISCORD_ALLOWED_USERS=284102345871466496
```
---
## Configuration Reference
### config.yaml
```yaml
# Voice recording (CLI)
voice:
record_key: "ctrl+b" # Key to start/stop recording
max_recording_seconds: 120 # Maximum recording length
auto_tts: false # Auto-enable TTS when voice mode starts
silence_threshold: 200 # RMS level (0-32767) below which counts as silence
silence_duration: 3.0 # Seconds of silence before auto-stop
# Speech-to-Text
stt:
enabled: true
model: "whisper-1" # Or: whisper-large-v3-turbo (Groq)
# Text-to-Speech
tts:
provider: "edge" # "edge" (free) | "elevenlabs" | "openai"
edge:
voice: "en-US-AriaNeural" # 322 voices, 74 languages
elevenlabs:
voice_id: "pNInz6obpgDQGcFmaJgB" # Adam
model_id: "eleven_multilingual_v2"
openai:
model: "gpt-4o-mini-tts"
voice: "alloy" # alloy, echo, fable, onyx, nova, shimmer
```
### Environment Variables
```bash
# Speech-to-Text providers
GROQ_API_KEY=... # Groq Whisper (recommended — fast, free tier)
VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY=... # OpenAI Whisper (alternative)
# Text-to-Speech providers (Edge TTS needs no key)
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=... # ElevenLabs (premium quality)
# OpenAI TTS uses VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY
# Discord voice channel
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=...
DISCORD_ALLOWED_USERS=...
```
### STT Provider Comparison
| Provider | Model | Speed | Quality | Cost |
|----------|-------|-------|---------|------|
| **Groq** | `whisper-large-v3-turbo` | Very fast (~0.5s) | Good | Free tier |
| **Groq** | `whisper-large-v3` | Fast (~1s) | Better | Free tier |
| **OpenAI** | `whisper-1` | Fast (~1s) | Good | Low |
| **OpenAI** | `gpt-4o-transcribe` | Medium (~2s) | Best | Higher |
### TTS Provider Comparison
| Provider | Quality | Cost | Latency | Key Required |
|----------|---------|------|---------|-------------|
| **Edge TTS** | Good | Free | ~1s | No |
| **ElevenLabs** | Excellent | Paid | ~2s | Yes |
| **OpenAI TTS** | Good | Paid | ~1.5s | Yes |
---
## Troubleshooting
### "No audio device found" (CLI)
PortAudio is not installed:
```bash
brew install portaudio # macOS
sudo apt install portaudio19-dev # Ubuntu
```
### Bot joins VC but doesn't hear me
- Check your Discord user ID is in `DISCORD_ALLOWED_USERS`
- Make sure you're not muted in Discord
- The bot needs a SPEAKING event from Discord before it can map your audio — start speaking within a few seconds of joining
### Bot hears me but doesn't respond
- Verify STT key is set (`GROQ_API_KEY` or `VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY`)
- Check the LLM model is configured and accessible
- Review gateway logs: `tail -f ~/.hermes/logs/gateway.log`
### Bot responds in text but not in voice channel
- TTS provider may be failing — check API key and quota
- Edge TTS (free, no key) is the default fallback
- Check logs for TTS errors
### Whisper returns garbage text
The hallucination filter catches most cases automatically. If you're still getting phantom transcripts:
- Use a quieter environment
- Adjust `silence_threshold` in config (higher = less sensitive)
- Try a different STT model

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Hermes Agent supports Discord voice messages:
- **Incoming voice messages** are automatically transcribed using Whisper (requires `VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY` to be set in your environment).
- **Text-to-speech**: When TTS is enabled, the bot can send spoken responses as MP3 file attachments.
- **Incoming voice messages** are automatically transcribed using Whisper (requires `GROQ_API_KEY` or `VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY` to be set in your environment).
- **Text-to-speech**: Use `/voice tts` to have the bot send spoken audio responses alongside text replies.
## Troubleshooting