Google Cloud Text-to-Speech
Converts text and documents into audio using Google Cloud TTS API. Supports Neural2, WaveNet, Studio, and Standard voices across 40+ languages.
Setup
API key via GOOGLE_TTS_API_KEY env var or skills/google-tts/config.json with {"api_key": "..."}. Requires ffmpeg for multi-chunk documents. Optional: pip install PyPDF2 python-docx for PDF/DOCX.
Commands
List Voices
python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py voices --language en-US --type Neural2
python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py voices --jsonText-to-Speech
# From text or document (PDF, DOCX, MD, TXT)
python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py tts --text "Hello world" --output ~/Downloads/hello.mp3
python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py tts --file /path/to/doc.pdf --output ~/Downloads/narration.mp3
# With voice, rate, pitch, encoding options
python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py tts --file doc.md --voice en-US-Neural2-F --rate 0.9 --encoding MP3 --output ~/Downloads/out.mp3Podcast Generation
Takes a JSON script with alternating speakers, synthesizes each with a different voice.
[
{"speaker": "host1", "text": "Welcome to our podcast!"},
{"speaker": "host2", "text": "Thanks for having me..."}
]python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py podcast --script /tmp/script.json --output ~/Downloads/podcast.mp3
python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py podcast --script /tmp/script.json --voice1 en-US-Neural2-J --voice2 en-US-Neural2-H --rate 0.9 --output ~/Downloads/podcast.mp3Workflow
Single-Voice Narration
- If user provides a file path, use
--file. For generated content, write clean prose to/tmp/tts_input.mdfirst. - Default voice:
en-US-Neural2-D(male) oren-US-Neural2-F(female). Use Neural2 for best quality/cost balance. - Generate:
python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py tts --file /tmp/tts_input.md --output ~/Downloads/recording.mp3 - Report file location and size. Default output to
~/Downloads/.
Podcast from Document
- Extract text:
python skills/google-tts/scripts/extract.py /path/to/document.pdf - Generate a two-host conversation script as JSON:
- Natural discussion, not verbatim reading. Host 1 leads, Host 2 reacts/analyzes. - Include intro and outro. Vary turn lengths. Keep turns under 4000 chars.
- Write script to
/tmp/podcast_script.json - Generate:
python skills/google-tts/scripts/google_tts.py podcast --script /tmp/podcast_script.json --output ~/Downloads/podcast.mp3 - Clean up temp files.
Reference
- Recommended voice type: Neural2 (~$4/1M chars, high quality)
- Speaking rate: 0.25-4.0 (0.85-0.95 good for technical content)
- Pitch: -20.0 to 20.0 semitones
- Encodings: MP3 (default), LINEAR16 (.wav), OGG_OPUS (.ogg)
- API limit: 5000 bytes/request. Script auto-chunks at sentence boundaries.