Sag

ElevenLabs text-to-speech with mac-style say UX.

Peter Steinberger

@steipete

What This Skill Does

Command-line tool that converts text to speech using ElevenLabs AI voices, with a simple 'say' command interface similar to macOS's built-in say command. Supports voice selection, audio tags for expressive delivery, and file output.

Replaces manually scripting ElevenLabs API calls by providing a streamlined CLI with voice presets, audio tags, and local playback.

When to Use It

  • Generate spoken audio from text using ElevenLabs premium voices
  • Add expressive delivery with audio tags like [whispers] or [excited]
  • Select a specific voice by name or ID for narration
  • Save TTS output as an MP3 file for later use
  • Quickly preview different voices with the voices command
  • Create voice replies for chat or assistant responses

Install

$ openclaw skills install @steipete/sag

sag

Use sag for ElevenLabs TTS with local playback.

API key (required)

  • ELEVENLABS_API_KEY (preferred)
  • SAG_API_KEY also supported by the CLI

Quick start

  • sag "Hello there"
  • sag speak -v "Roger" "Hello"
  • sag voices
  • sag prompting (model-specific tips)

Model notes

  • Default: eleven_v3 (expressive)
  • Stable: eleven_multilingual_v2
  • Fast: eleven_flash_v2_5

Pronunciation + delivery rules

  • First fix: respell (e.g. "key-note"), add hyphens, adjust casing.
  • Numbers/units/URLs: --normalize auto (or off if it harms names).
  • Language bias: --lang en|de|fr|... to guide normalization.
  • v3: SSML <break> not supported; use [pause], [short pause], [long pause].
  • v2/v2.5: SSML <break time="1.5s" /> supported; <phoneme> not exposed in sag.

v3 audio tags (put at the entrance of a line)

  • [whispers], [shouts], [sings]
  • [laughs], [starts laughing], [sighs], [exhales]
  • [sarcastic], [curious], [excited], [crying], [mischievously]
  • Example: sag "[whispers] keep this quiet. [short pause] ok?"

Voice defaults

  • ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID or SAG_VOICE_ID

Confirm voice + speaker before long output.

Chat voice responses

When Peter asks for a "voice" reply (e.g., "crazy scientist voice", "explain in voice"), generate audio and send it:

# Generate audio file
sag -v Clawd -o /tmp/voice-reply.mp3 "Your message here"

# Then include in reply:
# MEDIA:/tmp/voice-reply.mp3

Voice character tips:

  • Crazy scientist: Use [excited] tags, dramatic pauses [short pause], vary intensity
  • Calm: Use [whispers] or slower pacing
  • Dramatic: Use [sings] or [shouts] sparingly

Default voice for Clawd: lj2rcrvANS3gaWWnczSX (or just -v Clawd)

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