ElevenLabs — Text-to-Speech, Voice Cloning & Sound Effects

ElevenLabs-powered audio generation. Convert any text to natural-sounding speech, clone voices, generate sound effects.

Setup

Required env var: ELEVENLABS_API_KEY

The CLI script at scripts/tts.py uses only Python stdlib (urllib , json , argparse ) — no pip dependencies needed.

Quick Reference

All commands use the CLI script:

python skills/KORTIX-tts/scripts/tts.py <command> [args]

Speak — Convert text to speech

Basic — default voice (George), multilingual v2 model

python scripts/tts.py speak "Hello, this is Kortix speaking."

Named voice

python scripts/tts.py speak "Welcome to the presentation." --voice Rachel

Custom output file

python scripts/tts.py speak "Chapter one." --voice George -o chapter1.mp3

From a file (prefix with @)

python scripts/tts.py speak @article.txt -o narration.mp3

From stdin

echo "Dynamic text" | python scripts/tts.py speak -

With voice tuning

python scripts/tts.py speak "Dramatic reading." --voice Rachel --stability 0.3 --similarity 0.9 --style 0.7

High quality output

python scripts/tts.py speak "Studio quality." --format mp3_44100_192

Different model (faster, English-only)

python scripts/tts.py speak "Quick response." --model eleven_turbo_v2_5

Speed control

python scripts/tts.py speak "Slowly now." --speed 0.7 python scripts/tts.py speak "Fast paced!" --speed 1.5

Voices — List and search

List all available voices

python scripts/tts.py voices

Search by name, gender, accent, or use case

python scripts/tts.py voices --search "female" python scripts/tts.py voices --search "british" python scripts/tts.py voices --search "narration"

Models — List available TTS models

python scripts/tts.py models

Clone — Create a custom voice from audio samples

Clone from audio files (1-25 samples, each 1-10 minutes)

python scripts/tts.py clone "ClientVoice" sample1.mp3 sample2.mp3

With description

python scripts/tts.py clone "CEO" ceo_speech.mp3 --description "Confident male voice, American accent"

Use the cloned voice

python scripts/tts.py speak "Hello from my cloned voice." --voice-id <returned_voice_id>

Batch — Convert entire documents

Convert a text file to a single audio file

python scripts/tts.py batch article.txt -o article_audio/

Split by paragraphs — one audio file per paragraph

python scripts/tts.py batch book_chapter.txt --split-paragraphs -o chapter_audio/

With specific voice

python scripts/tts.py batch script.txt --voice Rachel --split-paragraphs

Sound Effects — Generate from text prompts

Generate a sound effect

python scripts/tts.py sound "ocean waves crashing on a beach"

With specific output and duration

python scripts/tts.py sound "thunderstorm with heavy rain" -o thunder.mp3 --duration 10.0

Voice Settings Guide

Fine-tune voice output with these parameters:

Parameter Range Default Effect

--stability

0.0 - 1.0 0.5 Higher = more consistent, lower = more expressive/varied

--similarity

0.0 - 1.0 0.75 Higher = closer to original voice, lower = more creative

--style

0.0 - 1.0 0.0 Higher = more expressive style, can reduce stability

--speed

0.5 - 2.0 1.0 Playback speed multiplier

Recommended presets:

• Narration/Audiobook: --stability 0.5 --similarity 0.75 (balanced, natural)

• News/Formal: --stability 0.8 --similarity 0.8 (consistent, clear)

• Character/Dramatic: --stability 0.3 --similarity 0.8 --style 0.7 (expressive, varied)

• Conversational: --stability 0.4 --similarity 0.6 (natural variation)

Output Formats

Format Quality Size Use Case

mp3_44100_128

High (default) Medium General purpose, good quality

mp3_44100_192

Very high Large Studio quality, archival

mp3_22050_32

Low Small Voice messages, previews

pcm_44100

Lossless Very large Post-processing, editing

pcm_16000

Lossless low Large Speech recognition input

opus_48000_128

High Small Web streaming, efficient

Models

Model Speed Quality Languages Best For

eleven_multilingual_v2

Normal Highest 29 languages Default — best quality, multilingual

eleven_turbo_v2_5

Fast High 32 languages Low-latency, near-instant generation

eleven_monolingual_v1

Normal Good English only Legacy English-only workloads

Always use eleven_multilingual_v2 unless speed is critical (then use eleven_turbo_v2_5 ).

Common Workflows

Narrate a document

Read the document, generate speech

python scripts/tts.py speak @workspace/report.md --voice Rachel -o report_narration.mp3

Create a podcast intro

python scripts/tts.py speak "Welcome to the Kortix Weekly. I'm your host, and today we're diving into autonomous AI agents."
--voice George --stability 0.4 --similarity 0.8 --style 0.5
-o podcast_intro.mp3

Narrate a presentation (per-slide)

For each slide, generate a separate audio file:

python scripts/tts.py speak "Slide 1: Introduction to our company" --voice Rachel -o slides/01.mp3 python scripts/tts.py speak "Slide 2: Our key metrics this quarter" --voice Rachel -o slides/02.mp3

Or write all narration to a text file (one paragraph per slide) and batch it:

python scripts/tts.py batch slide_notes.txt --split-paragraphs --voice Rachel -o slide_audio/

Voice clone for personalization

Clone the user's voice from samples they provide

python scripts/tts.py clone "UserVoice" sample1.mp3 sample2.mp3 sample3.mp3
--description "The user's natural speaking voice"

Use it for all future TTS

python scripts/tts.py speak "Personalized message." --voice-id <voice_id> -o message.mp3

Generate ambient audio

python scripts/tts.py sound "coffee shop ambiance with gentle chatter" -o ambient.mp3 --duration 15 python scripts/tts.py sound "gentle rain on a window" -o rain.mp3 --duration 30

Integration Notes

• No pip dependencies. The script uses only Python stdlib (urllib.request , json , argparse ). Works on any Python 3.10+ installation.

• Output files are saved relative to the current working directory. Use -o to specify exact paths.

• Long text is handled automatically by the API. For very long documents (>5000 chars), consider using batch with --split-paragraphs for better quality and to avoid timeouts.

• Rate limits apply per your ElevenLabs plan. The script will return API errors if limits are hit.

• Character usage counts against your ElevenLabs monthly quota. Check your plan's limits.

Env Vars

Variable Required Description

ELEVENLABS_API_KEY

Yes Your ElevenLabs API key (also accepts ELEVEN_API_KEY )

Add to sandbox/.env and sandbox/opencode/.env :

ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your_key_here