Claude Code's /voice mode lets you talk to it, but Claude doesn't talk back. Every response is still silent text. I wanted the full loop.

I tried the existing options:

* **ElevenLabs** — free tier can't use voices via API (instant 402)
* **VoiceMode** (893 stars) — 100+ file MCP server with DJ mode, sound fonts, team connect. I just wanted Claude to read its responses aloud.
* **OpenAI TTS** — works but costs money and sends everything to their servers

None of them had word-level highlighting. They all just play audio in the background.

**So I built claude-voice.**

* One Python file, installs as a Claude Code Stop hook
* Uses Kokoro TTS (82M params, runs on CPU) — fully local, no API keys
* Real-time karaoke-style word highlighting with a sliding window and progress bar
* Strips markdown, code blocks, URLs before speaking
* Fixes dev pronunciation (CLI, API, JSON, nginx, kubectl all spoken correctly)
* Press any key to interrupt
* 12 voices (American/British, male/female)
* `claude-voice setup` adds the hook automatically — no manual config

Time to first audio is \~1s warm, \~6s cold (model loading).

The demo video shows me asking Claude about Loki's role as a trickster in Norse mythology using voice mode, then Claude responds and the TTS reads the full answer back with the word  
highlighting running at the bottom of the terminal.

GitHub: [https://github.com/Null-Phnix/claude-voice](https://github.com/Null-Phnix/claude-voice)

Install:  
pip install kokoro sounddevice numpy  
git clone [https://github.com/Null-Phnix/claude-voice](https://github.com/Null-Phnix/claude-voice)  
cd claude-voice  
python [speak.py](http://speak.py) setup  
python [speak.py](http://speak.py) demo

Happy to answer questions about the implementation. The /dev/tty trick for writing below Claude Code's renderer was the hardest part to figure out.



I gave Claude Code a voice fully local TTS with real-time word highlighting (no API keys, one file)