Release v9.0.0

Added

• conch(action="heartbeat") now reports granted and claim_window_remaining, so a
  queued remote agent sees its grant without an extra status call. (VM-2078)
• voicemode service install mlx-audio warns when the espeak-ng data path is 160+
  characters, which crashes the server on the first Kokoro request. (VM-2338)

Changed

• Voice names resolve completely or fail: a voice= (or a VOICEMODE_VOICES default)
  the resolver cannot place is now an error naming the cause, not silent Alloy. See
  Migration. (VM-1901)
• The converse tool description is cut from ~2,400 to ~190 tokens; the MCP connect
  cost of the default tool set falls from ~4,400 to ~2,170 tokens. (VM-2442)
• listen_duration_max is unset in the converse schema by default, so your
  VOICEMODE_DEFAULT_LISTEN_DURATION sets the listening ceiling. (VM-2442)
• The transcript echo (ASSISTANT/USER (voicemode) blockquotes) is gone from the tool
  description and the skill; the Talk app already shows the conversation. (VM-2442)
• One VoiceMode skill: converse, impressions and voicemode-dj are folded into
  voicemode, with the detail in its references. (VM-2442)
• STT on mlx-audio needs no model setting: with VOICEMODE_STT_MODEL unset it is sent
  mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo-asr-4bit instead of whisper-1. (VM-2342)
• With VOICEMODE_WHISPER_LANGUAGE=auto, mlx-audio is sent no language and detects
  it; whisper.cpp still gets auto. (VM-2342)
• STT 4xx get their own listen_and_transcribe error_kind and ask_turns stop reason:
  stt_model_not_found (HTTP 404) and stt_request_rejected (other 4xx). (VM-2342)
• mlx-audio STT no longer drops whisper's "" / "." / "..." silence segments (the
  old patch did); default whisper.cpp installs are unaffected. (VM-2338)
• mlx-audio answers clients that omit response_format with ndjson, not json;
  converse and impressions always send it. (VM-2338, VM-2346)
• The mlx-audio install result has a warnings list in place of its patch key.
  (VM-2338)

Removed

• converse(conch_mode=...) and VOICEMODE_CONCH_MODE: callback mode never delivered
  its turn and could wedge the conch queue. See Migration. (VM-2078)
• timeout from the converse MCP schema (no effect since LiveKit left); passing it
  is now a validation error. The CLI keeps it. See Migration. (VM-2442)
• VoiceMode Connect docs and the voicemode-connect skill: the product was abandoned.
  voicemode connect auth stays for now; its removal is VM-2314. (VM-2290)
• The bundled mlx-audio server.py patch: upstream serves response_format natively
  since 0.4.4. (VM-2338)

Fixed

• All 67 Kokoro voices work in converse again, not just a 7-name whitelist; a voice
  no configured endpoint serves still fails loudly. (VM-2190)
• voicemode service install mlx-audio installs current mlx-audio again: the pin is
  now mlx-audio>=0.5.7,<0.6 (was >=0.4.3,<0.4.4). (VM-2338)
• STT: an HTTP 4xx is no longer reported as "STT service connection failed"; a 404
  names the model and endpoint and points at VOICEMODE_STT_MODELS. (VM-2342)
• Impressions voice-profile transcription asks the STT server for JSON, so it works on
  mlx-audio 0.4.4 and later. (VM-2346)
• The docs no longer tell assistants to pass their own listening limit, which silently
  overrode your VOICEMODE_DEFAULT_LISTEN_DURATION and cut you off. (VM-2099)
• The parameter reference is one document for assistants and the docs site, and
  listen_duration_max / listen_duration_min have real descriptions. (VM-2099)
• A silent converse(hold_conch=true) no longer holds the channel indefinitely: the
  hold is kept only when the turn spoke. (VM-2045)
• Every conch grant is covered by the VOICEMODE_CONCH_GRANT_TTL self-heal, so an
  unclaimed grant can no longer wedge the queue. (VM-2078)
• conch give / summon to a session not in the queue grants only on a confirmed
  nudge; otherwise it returns granted: false and the operator relays. (VM-2078)
• A grant issued mid-turn is no longer evicted as wedged before the floor frees;
  remote grantees get a heartbeat-scaled claim window. (VM-2078)
• The provider registry no longer advertises tts-1 for mlx-audio, and selection
  never sends a model id the provider cannot load. (VM-2156)
• Three dead voicemode.dev links in the voicemode://docs/parameters resource now
  point at the docs on GitHub. (VM-2290)
• Contributors: pytest can no longer reach the real microphone or speakers;
  pytest -m audio runs muted. See docs/reference/audio-test-isolation.md. (VM-2072)
• VOICEMODE_TEST_AUDIO_GUARD=off lifts the test audio guard. Tool-call soundfonts
  (VOICEMODE_SOUNDFONTS_ENABLED, on by default) are separate and unchanged. (VM-2072)

Security

• Cleared 67/67 Dependabot and 17/17 CodeQL alerts. The uv.lock refresh pins dev and
  CI only; a pip or uvx install resolves its own dependency versions. (VM-2484)
• Provider URLs are matched by parsed hostname, not substring, and the whisper.cpp
  temp WAV is created with mkstemp. (VM-2484)
• scripts/conversation_browser.py serves /audio/ only from inside AUDIO_DIR, and
  Flask debug is off unless VOICEMODE_BROWSER_DEBUG=1. (VM-2484)

Migration

• Stop passing conch_mode to converse. To avoid blocking your turn, run a
  wait_for_conch=true converse call in the background. (VM-2078)
• Delete VOICEMODE_CONCH_MODE from ~/.voicemode/voicemode.env; it has no effect.
  (VM-2078)
• Replace conch(action="callback") with action="queue"; "callback" now returns
  an error naming "queue". (VM-2078)
• To queue past the 25 s conch(action="wait") cap, use action="queue" plus a
  periodic action="heartbeat". (VM-2078)
• MCP callers: stop passing timeout to converse; it is now a validation error.
  (VM-2442)
• If converse now fails with a voice-resolution error, fix the name it points at:
  qualify group/member, declare default: in the group's voice.md, or add
  default.wav. For undeclared groups only, VOICEMODE_CAST_UNDECLARED_SEVERITY=warn
  makes it a warning (the group's first member speaks) for one release. (VM-1901)

Installation

Quick Start (Recommended)

# Install UV package manager (if not already installed)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Install VoiceMode and configure services
uvx voice-mode-install

# Add to Claude Code MCP
claude mcp add --scope user voicemode -- uvx --refresh voice-mode

Alternative: Direct Installation

# With UV
uv tool install voice-mode

# With pip
pip install voice-mode==9.0.0

For detailed documentation, visit https://getvoicemode.com