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Voice Mode

Voice mode lets you speak tasks instead of typing them.

Prerequisites​

Install the voice extras:

pip install nimbus-ai[voice]

This installs:

  • sounddevice — microphone capture
  • numpy — audio processing
  • scipy — signal utilities
  • openai-whisper — local speech transcription (base model, ~140MB, downloaded on first use)

No audio is sent to external servers. Whisper runs entirely locally.

Launch​

nimbus --voice

Or enable voice mode inside the REPL with the --voice flag on startup.

Recording​

When you press Enter at the prompt, Nimbus starts recording:

  ●  recording... speak your task (press Enter to stop)

Recording stops when you press Enter again, or after 15 seconds of silence.

Transcription​

Nimbus transcribes your audio using the Whisper base model and displays the result:

  heard: add input validation to the user registration endpoint

If the transcription looks correct, Nimbus proceeds with the task. You can edit the transcribed text before approving.

Keyword detection​

During task execution, Nimbus listens for spoken approval keywords:

Spoken wordAction
"yes" / "approve"Approve the plan or diff
"reject" / "cancel"Reject

Limitations​

  • Requires microphone access. On macOS, grant permission when prompted by the system.
  • The base model is optimized for English. Other languages have reduced accuracy.
  • Voice mode does not work in SSH sessions without audio forwarding.