aloud 0.1.1

Text-to-speech CLI with podcast feed publishing.

Text in, speech out. Free TTS via Microsoft Edge — no API key needed.
Linux

Install

uv tool install aloud

Or with pip:

pip install aloud

System dependencies

• mpv — audio playback (sudo apt install mpv)
• ffprobe — episode durations, publish mode only (sudo apt install ffmpeg)
• git — feed publishing (sudo apt install git)
• xclip / xsel / wl-paste — clipboard reading

Usage

aloud article.txt              # play locally
aloud -c                       # read from clipboard
cat notes.md | aloud           # read from stdin
aloud -s "+80%" paper.md       # custom speed
aloud -v "en-US-JennyNeural"   # different voice

Speak, press q to quit. Space = pause, Left/Right = skip 5s.

Podcast publishing

Generate an MP3 episode and publish to a self-hosted podcast feed:

aloud -o article.txt           # synthesize + publish to feed
aloud feed                     # regenerate RSS feed and push

Options

Flag	Description
-c, --clipboard	Read from clipboard instead of file
-o, --output	Publish to podcast feed (no playback)
-s, --speed	TTS speed (default: +20%)
-v, --voice	TTS voice (default: en-US-AndrewMultilingualNeural)

Subcommands

Command	Description
aloud feed	Regenerate RSS feed and git push
aloud config	Interactive setup wizard

Configuration

Run aloud config to set up:

Feed directory [~/Projects/read-aloud-feed]:
Feed URL [https://...]:
Default speed [+20%]:

Config is stored in ~/.config/aloud/config.json. Playback works without config — only publishing requires it.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later