mcp-tts

MCP Server for TTS (Text-to-Speech)

What? 🤔

Adds Text-to-Speech to things like Claude Desktop and Cursor IDE.

It registers four TTS tools:

say_tts
elevenlabs_tts
google_tts
openai_tts

`say_tts`

Uses the macOS say binary to speak the text with built-in system voices

`elevenlabs_tts`

Uses the ElevenLabs text-to-speech API to speak the text with premium AI voices

`google_tts`

Uses Google's Gemini TTS models to speak the text with 30 high-quality voices. Available voices include:

Zephyr (Bright), Puck (Upbeat), Charon (Informative)
Kore (Firm), Fenrir (Excitable), Leda (Youthful)
Orus (Firm), Aoede (Breezy), Callirhoe (Easy-going)
Autonoe (Bright), Enceladus (Breathy), Iapetus (Clear)
And 18 more voices with various characteristics

`openai_tts`

Uses OpenAI's Text-to-Speech API to speak the text with 6 natural-sounding voices:

coral (Default, warm and natural)
alloy (Balanced tone)
echo (Warm and engaging)
fable (Expressive and storytelling)
onyx (Deep and resonant)
nova (Bright and articulate)
shimmer (Smooth and pleasant)

Supports three quality models:

gpt-4o-mini-tts - Default, optimized quality and speed
tts-1 - Standard quality, faster generation
tts-1-hd - High definition audio, premium quality

Additional features:

Speed control from 0.25x to 4.0x (default: 1.0x)
Custom voice instructions (e.g., "Speak in a cheerful and positive tone") via parameter or OPENAI_TTS_INSTRUCTIONS environment variable

Configuration

Suppressing "Speaking:" Output

By default, TTS tools return a message like "Speaking: [text]" when speech completes. This can interfere with LLM responses. To suppress this output:

Environment Variable:

export MCP_TTS_SUPPRESS_SPEAKING_OUTPUT=true

Command Line Flag:

mcp-tts --suppress-speaking-output

When enabled, tools return "Speech completed" instead of echoing the spoken text.

Getting Started

Install

go install github.com/blacktop/mcp-tts@latest

❱ mcp-tts --help

TTS (text-to-speech) MCP Server.

Provides multiple text-to-speech services via MCP protocol:

• say_tts - Uses macOS built-in 'say' command (macOS only)
• elevenlabs_tts - Uses ElevenLabs API for high-quality speech synthesis
• google_tts - Uses Google's Gemini TTS models for natural speech
• openai_tts - Uses OpenAI's TTS API with various voice options

Each tool supports different voices, rates, and configuration options.
Requires appropriate API keys for cloud-based services.

Designed to be used with the MCP (Model Context Protocol).

Usage:
  mcp-tts [flags]

Flags:
  -h, --help                       help for mcp-tts
      --suppress-speaking-output   Suppress 'Speaking:' text output
  -v, --verbose                    Enable verbose debug logging

Set Claude Desktop Config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "say": {
      "command": "mcp-tts",
      "env": {
        "ELEVENLABS_API_KEY": "********",
        "ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID": "1SM7GgM6IMuvQlz2BwM3",
        "GOOGLE_AI_API_KEY": "********",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "********",
        "OPENAI_TTS_INSTRUCTIONS": "Speak in a cheerful and positive tone",
        "MCP_TTS_SUPPRESS_SPEAKING_OUTPUT": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

ELEVENLABS_API_KEY: Your ElevenLabs API key (required for elevenlabs_tts)
ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID: ElevenLabs voice ID (optional, defaults to a built-in voice)
GOOGLE_AI_API_KEY or GEMINI_API_KEY: Your Google AI API key (required for google_tts)
OPENAI_API_KEY: Your OpenAI API key (required for openai_tts)
OPENAI_TTS_INSTRUCTIONS: Custom voice instructions for OpenAI TTS (optional, e.g., "Speak in a cheerful and positive tone")

Test

Test macOS TTS

❱ cat test/say.json | go run main.go --verbose

2025/03/23 22:41:49 INFO Starting MCP server name="Say TTS Service" version=1.0.0
2025/03/23 22:41:49 DEBU Say tool called request="{Request:{Method:tools/call Params:{Meta:<nil>}} Params:{Name:say_tts Arguments:map[text:Hello, world!] Meta:<nil>}}"
2025/03/23 22:41:49 DEBU Executing say command args="[--rate 200 Hello, world!]"
2025/03/23 22:41:49 INFO Speaking text text="Hello, world!"

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"result":{"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Speaking: Hello, world!"}]}}

Test Google TTS

❱ cat test/google_tts.json | go run main.go --verbose

2025/05/23 18:26:45 INFO Starting MCP server name="Say TTS Service" version=""
2025/05/23 18:26:45 DEBU Google TTS tool called request="{...}"
2025/05/23 18:26:45 DEBU Generating TTS audio model=gemini-2.5-flash-preview-tts voice=Kore text="Hello! This is a test of Google's TTS API. How does it sound?"
2025/05/23 18:26:49 INFO Playing TTS audio via beep speaker bytes=181006
2025/05/23 18:26:53 INFO Speaking via Google TTS text="Hello! This is a test of Google's TTS API. How does it sound?" voice=Kore

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":4,"result":{"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Speaking: Hello! This is a test of Google's TTS API. How does it sound? (via Google TTS with voice Kore)"}]}}

Test OpenAI TTS

❱ cat test/openai_tts.json | go run main.go --verbose

2025/05/23 19:15:32 INFO Starting MCP server name="Say TTS Service" version=""
2025/05/23 19:15:32 DEBU OpenAI TTS tool called request="{...}"
2025/05/23 19:15:32 DEBU Generating OpenAI TTS audio model=tts-1 voice=nova speed=1.2 text="Hello! This is a test of OpenAI's text-to-speech API. I'm using the nova voice at 1.2x speed."
2025/05/23 19:15:34 DEBU Decoding MP3 stream from OpenAI
2025/05/23 19:15:34 DEBU Initializing speaker for OpenAI TTS sampleRate=22050
2025/05/23 19:15:36 INFO Speaking text via OpenAI TTS text="Hello! This is a test of OpenAI's text-to-speech API. I'm using the nova voice at 1.2x speed." voice=nova model=tts-1 speed=1.2

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":5,"result":{"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Speaking: Hello! This is a test of OpenAI's text-to-speech API. I'm using the nova voice at 1.2x speed. (via OpenAI TTS with voice nova)"}]}}

Text To Speech Suite