Speech Toggle

Control whether Claude's responses are spoken aloud using macOS text-to-speech.

When to Use

When the user says things like:

• "turn on speech" / "turn off speech"
• "speak to me" / "stop speaking"
• "enable/disable voice"
• "I want to hear you" / "be quiet"

Also use this skill when:

• User installs the claude-speech plugin and needs hook setup
• User asks about setting up speech or voice output

Commands

Enable Speech

touch ~/.claude-speak

Disable Speech

rm -f ~/.claude-speak

Check Status

[ -f ~/.claude-speak ] && echo "Speech is ON" || echo "Speech is OFF"

Hook Setup (IMPORTANT)

The speech feature requires a Stop hook to be configured. When a user installs this plugin or asks about speech setup, help them add the hook.

Check if hook is installed

Look in the project's .claude/settings.json for a Stop hook referencing speak_response.sh.

Install the hook

Add this to .claude/settings.json (create the file if needed):

{
  "hooks": {
    "Stop": [
      {
        "matcher": "",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "~/.claude/plugins/cache/markng-plugins/claude-speech/*/hooks/speak_response.sh"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

If the user already has hooks configured, merge the Stop hook into their existing configuration.

Requirements

• macOS (uses say command)
• jq must be installed (brew install jq)

How It Works

1. A Stop hook runs after each Claude response
2. If ~/.claude-speak exists (or CLAUDE_SPEAK=1 is set), the hook:
   • Reads the transcript file
   • Extracts the last assistant message
   • Speaks it using macOS say command (in background)

Examples

User: "Turn on speech" -> Run: touch ~/.claude-speak -> Respond: "Speech is now enabled. You'll hear my responses spoken aloud."

User: "Turn off speech" / "Stop talking" -> Run: rm -f ~/.claude-speak -> Respond: "Speech disabled."

User: "I just installed the speech plugin" -> Check if hook is configured in .claude/settings.json -> If not, offer to add it -> Verify jq is installed -> Enable speech with touch ~/.claude-speak