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name: webchat-voice-gui description: > Voice input and microphone button for OpenClaw WebChat Control UI. Adds a mic button to chat, records audio via browser MediaRecorder, transcribes locally via faster-whisper, and injects text into the conversation. Includes gateway hook for update safety. Real-time VU meter shows voice activity. Push-to-Talk (hold to speak) and Toggle mode (click start/stop), switchable via double-click. Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+Space PTT, Ctrl+Shift+M continuous recording, Ctrl+Shift+B live transcription [beta]. Localized UI (English, German, Chinese built-in, extensible). Fully local speech-to-text, no API costs. Keywords: voice input, microphone, WebChat, Control UI, speech to text, STT, local transcription, MediaRecorder, voice button, mic button, push-to-talk, PTT, keyboard shortcut, i18n, localization. requires: skills: - webchat-https-proxy (HTTPS/WSS reverse proxy — must be deployed first) - faster-whisper-local-service (local STT backend on port 18790) modified_paths: - /openclaw/dist/control-ui/index.html (injects script tag) - /openclaw/dist/control-ui/assets/voice-input.js (copies asset) - ~/.openclaw/hooks/voice-input-inject/ (creates startup hook) - ~/.openclaw/workspace/voice-input/voice-input.js (copies runtime file) - ~/.openclaw/workspace/voice-input/i18n.json (copies runtime file) env: - VOICE_LANG (optional, default: auto — prompts interactively if not set) persistence: - "Gateway startup hook: voice-input-inject (re-injects JS after updates)" privileges: user-level only, no root/sudo required dependencies: - faster-whisper transcription service on port 18790

WebChat Voice GUI

Voice input GUI for OpenClaw WebChat Control UI:

• Mic button with idle/recording/processing states
• Real-time VU meter: button shadow/scale reacts to voice level
• Push-to-Talk: hold mic button to record, release to send (default mode)
• Toggle mode: click to start, click to stop (switch via double-click on mic button)
• Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+Space Push-to-Talk, Ctrl+Shift+M start/stop continuous recording, Ctrl+Shift+B live transcription [beta]
• Localized UI: auto-detects browser language (English, German, Chinese built-in), customizable
• Gateway startup hook re-injects script after openclaw update

Prerequisites

1. webchat-https-proxy — HTTPS/WSS reverse proxy must be deployed and running.
2. faster-whisper-local-service — Local STT backend on port 18790.

Verify:

systemctl --user is-active openclaw-voice-https.service
systemctl --user is-active openclaw-transcribe.service

Deploy

bash scripts/deploy.sh

With language override:

VOICE_LANG=de bash scripts/deploy.sh

When run interactively without VOICE_LANG, the script will ask you to choose a UI language.

This script is idempotent.

Quick verify

bash scripts/status.sh

Security Notes

Client-side JS (voice-input.js)

• No dynamic code execution: No eval(), new Function(), or innerHTML with user data.
• HTTPS-first: Transcription requests use same-origin /transcribe when served over HTTPS. Only falls back to http://127.0.0.1:18790 in local dev.
• No external servers: Audio is never sent outside the local machine.
• Auth forwarding: Bearer token from Control UI is forwarded to /transcribe proxy.
• Uses textContent for all toast messages (no XSS vector).
• Bounded memory: Continuous recording mode enforces a 120-chunk limit (~2 minutes), preventing unbounded memory growth.

Deployment scripts

• Language input validated: VOICE_LANG must match ^([a-zA-Z]{2,5}(-[a-zA-Z]{2,5})?|auto)$ — prevents injection via sed.
• Robust path detection: All scripts validate Control UI directory exists before modifying files.
• Gateway hook: Uses execFileSync with array args — no shell interpolation. Script path derived from __dirname, not user input.
• Idempotent: All scripts safe to run repeatedly.

No data exfiltration

• No outbound network calls from JS or scripts.
• No telemetry, analytics, or tracking.

What this skill modifies

What	Path	Action
Control UI HTML	<npm-global>/openclaw/dist/control-ui/index.html	Adds <script> tag for voice-input.js
Control UI asset	<npm-global>/openclaw/dist/control-ui/assets/voice-input.js	Copies mic button JS
Gateway hook	~/.openclaw/hooks/voice-input-inject/	Installs startup hook that re-injects JS after updates
Workspace files	~/.openclaw/workspace/voice-input/	Copies voice-input.js, i18n.json

Mic Button Controls

Action	Effect
Hold (PTT mode)	Record while held, transcribe on release
Click (Toggle mode)	Start recording / stop and transcribe
Double-click	Switch between PTT and Toggle mode
Right-click	Toggle beep sound on/off
Ctrl+Space (hold)	Push-to-Talk via keyboard
Ctrl+Shift+M	Start/stop recording
Ctrl+Shift+B	Start/stop live transcription [beta]

Language / i18n

Auto-detects browser language. Built-in: English (en), German (de), Chinese (zh).

Override in browser console:

localStorage.setItem('oc-voice-lang', 'de');  // force German
localStorage.removeItem('oc-voice-lang');      // back to auto-detect

See assets/i18n.json for all translation keys.

Uninstall

bash scripts/uninstall.sh

This removes the UI injection, hook, and workspace files. Does not touch the HTTPS proxy or faster-whisper backend — uninstall those separately.