HiveMind Sound Server

hivemind-listener extends hivemind-core and integrates with ovos-simple-listener, enabling audio-based communication with advanced features for secure, distributed voice assistant functionality.

💡 If you are running a home server this is the best option, you only need to install hivemind-listener, ovos-core and ovos-messagebus.

⚠️ If running on a device that is also a full OVOS assistant by itself you should use hivemind-core instead

Key Features of HiveMind Listener

Audio Stream Handling:
Accepts encrypted binary audio streams, performing WakeWord detection, Voice Activity Detection (VAD), Speech-to-Text (STT), and Text-to-Speech (TTS) directly on the hivemind-listener instance.
(Lightweight clients like hivemind-mic-satellite only run a microphone and VAD plugin.)
STT Service:
Provides STT via the hivemind-websocket-client, accepting Base64-encoded audio inputs.
TTS Service:
Provides TTS via the hivemind-websocket-client, returning Base64-encoded audio outputs.
Secure Plugin Access:
Running TTS/STT via HiveMind Listener requires an access key, offering fine-grained access control compared to non-authenticated server plugins.

Usage

Install HiveMind Listener:

pip install hivemind-listener

Start the HiveMind Listener:

$ hivemind-listener --help
Usage: hivemind-listener [OPTIONS]

  Run the HiveMind Listener with configurable plugins.

  If a plugin is not specified, the defaults from mycroft.conf will be used.
  mycroft.conf will be loaded as usual for plugin settings.

Options:
  --wakeword TEXT                 Specify the wake word for the listener.
                                  Default is 'hey_mycroft'.
  --stt-plugin TEXT               Specify the STT plugin to use.
  --tts-plugin TEXT               Specify the TTS plugin to use.
  --vad-plugin TEXT               Specify the VAD plugin to use.
  --dialog-transformers TEXT      dialog transformer plugins to load.
                                  Installed plugins: None
  --utterance-transformers TEXT   utterance transformer plugins to load. 
                                  Installed plugins: ['ovos-utterance-plugin-cancel']
  --metadata-transformers TEXT    metadata transformer plugins to
                                  load. Installed plugins: None
  --ovos_bus_address TEXT         Open Voice OS bus address
  --ovos_bus_port INTEGER         Open Voice OS bus port number
  --host TEXT                     HiveMind host
  --port INTEGER                  HiveMind port number
  --ssl BOOLEAN                   use wss://
  --cert_dir TEXT                 HiveMind SSL certificate directory
  --cert_name TEXT                HiveMind SSL certificate file name
  --db-backend [redis|json|sqlite]
                                  Select the database backend to use. Options:
                                  redis, sqlite, json.
  --db-name TEXT                  [json/sqlite] The name for the database
                                  file. ~/.cache/hivemind-core/{name}
  --db-folder TEXT                [json/sqlite] The subfolder where database
                                  files are stored. ~/.cache/{db_folder}}
  --redis-host TEXT               [redis] Host for Redis. Default is
                                  localhost.
  --redis-port INTEGER            [redis] Port for Redis. Default is 6379.
  --redis-password TEXT           [redis] Password for Redis. Default None
  --help                          Show this message and exit.

This command will run the HiveMind Listener, with configurable plugins for wakeword detection, STT, TTS, and VAD, as well as access control via SSL.

Example Use Cases

Microphone Satellite:
Use hivemind-mic-satellite to stream raw audio to the hivemind-listener. Microphones handle audio capture and VAD, while the Listener manages WakeWord, STT, and TTS processing.
Authenticated STT/TTS Services:
Connect clients securely using access keys for transcribing or synthesizing audio via the HiveMind Listener, ensuring robust access control.