---
summary: "How inbound audio/voice notes are downloaded, transcribed, and injected into replies"
read_when:
  - Changing audio transcription or media handling
title: "Audio and voice notes"
---

This page covers inbound transcription and voice-note handling. For inline
audio and video players in OpenClaw chat clients, see
[Media playback](/nodes/media-playback).

## What it does

When audio understanding is enabled (or auto-detected), OpenClaw:

1. Locates the first audio attachment (local path or URL) and downloads it if needed.
2. Enforces `maxBytes` before sending to each model entry.
3. Runs the first eligible model entry in order (provider or CLI); if an entry fails or skips (size/timeout), the next entry is tried.
4. On success, replaces `Body` with an `[Audio]` block and sets `{{Transcript}}`.

When transcription succeeds, `CommandBody`/`RawBody` are also set to the transcript so slash commands still work. With `--verbose`, logs show when transcription runs and when it replaces the body.

## Auto-detection (default)

If you have not configured models and `tools.media.audio.enabled` is not `false`, OpenClaw auto-detects in this order and stops at the first working option:

1. **Active reply model**, when its provider supports audio understanding.
2. **Configured provider auth** — any `models.providers.*` entry with auth available for a provider that supports audio transcription. This is checked before local CLIs, so a configured API key always wins over a local binary on `PATH`.
   Provider priority when multiple are configured: Groq, OpenAI, xAI, Deepgram, Google, SenseAudio, ElevenLabs, Mistral.
3. **Local CLIs** (only if no provider auth resolved). OpenClaw builds an ordered fallback list:
   - `whisper-cli`, before CPU defaults only when an earlier model invocation in the current process observed Metal or CUDA
   - `sherpa-onnx-offline` on its default CPU provider (requires `SHERPA_ONNX_MODEL_DIR` with `tokens.txt`, `encoder.onnx`, `decoder.onnx`, and `joiner.onnx`)
   - `whisper-cli` when Metal/CUDA is only build-capable or the selected backend is otherwise unobserved
   - `parakeet-mlx` on Apple Silicon (MLX-capable; device use remains unobserved)
   - `whisper` (Python CLI; downloads models automatically)

Install/link provenance is capability evidence, not execution evidence. It never moves a candidate ahead of CPU sherpa by itself. OpenClaw does not load a model during setup or status checks just to probe a backend.
Auto-detected whisper.cpp keeps its normal model-run logs enabled so OpenClaw can record the upstream `using … backend` line. Explicit CLI entries keep their configured output flags.

Gemini CLI and Antigravity are not auto-detected for media understanding. Audio
does not use a CLI fallback beyond the local binaries above.

To disable auto-detection, set `tools.media.audio.enabled: false`. To customize, add capability-tagged entries to `tools.media.models`.

<Note>
Binary detection is best-effort across macOS/Linux/Windows. Make sure the CLI is on `PATH` (`~` is expanded), or set an explicit CLI model with a full command path.
</Note>

Inspect the local selection without transcribing audio:

```bash
openclaw capability audio providers
openclaw doctor --lint --only core/doctor/local-audio-acceleration --severity-min info
```

The provider inventory reports the local fallback winner separately from global provider selection, plus capable, requested, and observed backend fields. After transcription runs, `/status` reports the requested or observed backend in the media line. Explicit audio-capable `tools.media.models` CLI entries still bypass auto-selection; use their backend-specific flags such as sherpa `--provider=cuda` or whisper.cpp `--no-gpu`/`--device`.

## Config examples

### Provider + CLI fallback (OpenAI + Whisper CLI)

```json5
{
  tools: {
    media: {
      models: [
        { provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4o-transcribe", capabilities: ["audio"] },
        {
          type: "cli",
          command: "whisper",
          args: ["--model", "base", "{{AttachmentPath}}"],
          timeoutSeconds: 45,
          capabilities: ["audio"],
        },
      ],
      audio: { enabled: true, preferredModel: "openai/gpt-4o-transcribe" },
    },
  },
}
```

### Provider-only (Deepgram)

```json5
{
  tools: {
    media: {
      models: [{ provider: "deepgram", model: "nova-3", capabilities: ["audio"] }],
      audio: { enabled: true },
    },
  },
}
```

### Provider-only (Mistral Voxtral)

```json5
{
  tools: {
    media: {
      models: [{ provider: "mistral", model: "voxtral-mini-latest", capabilities: ["audio"] }],
      audio: { enabled: true },
    },
  },
}
```

### Provider-only (SenseAudio)

```json5
{
  tools: {
    media: {
      models: [
        {
          provider: "senseaudio",
          model: "senseaudio-asr-pro-1.5-260319",
          capabilities: ["audio"],
        },
      ],
      audio: { enabled: true },
    },
  },
}
```

### Echo transcript to chat (opt-in)

```json5
{
  tools: {
    media: {
      audio: {
        enabled: true,
        echoTranscript: true,
        echoFormat: '📝 "{transcript}"',
      },
    },
  },
}
```

## Notes and limits

- Provider auth follows the standard model auth order (auth profiles, env vars, `models.providers.*.apiKey`).
- Groq setup details: [Groq](/providers/groq).
- Deepgram picks up `DEEPGRAM_API_KEY` when `provider: "deepgram"` is used. Setup details: [Deepgram](/providers/deepgram).
- Mistral setup details: [Mistral](/providers/mistral).
- SenseAudio picks up `SENSEAUDIO_API_KEY` when `provider: "senseaudio"` is used. Setup details: [SenseAudio](/providers/senseaudio).
- Audio providers can use defaults under `tools.media.audio` or override `baseUrl`, `headers`, `providerOptions`, and limits on their `tools.media.models[]` entry.
- The built-in audio size cap is 20MB. An entry-level `maxBytes` override can change it; oversize audio is skipped for that model and the next entry is tried.
- Audio files below 1024 bytes are skipped before provider/CLI transcription.
- Default `maxChars` for audio is **unset** (full transcript). Set `tools.media.audio.maxChars` or per-entry `maxChars` to trim output.
- OpenAI auto-detect default is `gpt-4o-transcribe`; set `model: "gpt-4o-mini-transcribe"` for a cheaper/faster option.
- Transcript is available to templates as `{{Transcript}}`.
- `tools.media.audio.echoTranscript` is off by default; `echoFormat` accepts a `{transcript}` placeholder.
- CLI stdout is capped at 5MB; keep CLI output concise.
- CLI `args` should use `{{AttachmentPath}}` for the local audio file path. Run `openclaw doctor --fix` to migrate deprecated `{input}` placeholders from older `audio.transcription.command` configs (retired key: `audio.transcription`, replaced by `tools.media.models`). `{{MediaPath}}` remains a deprecated compatibility alias.
- `tools.media.concurrency` bounds media tasks; it is not a GPU scheduler.

### Resident local STT

Auto-detected local STT remains process-per-request. OpenClaw does not currently manage a resident whisper.cpp server because the standard Homebrew `whisper-cpp` package disables that server, while the upstream example has no configured bounded admission queue. A plugin-owned resident lifecycle needs a maintained packaged worker with health/startup, model residency, bounded queueing, cancellation/timeout, loopback-only no-auth operation, and no cloud fallback before it can be enabled safely.

### Proxy environment support

Provider-based audio transcription honors standard outbound proxy env vars, matching undici's `EnvHttpProxyAgent` semantics:

- `HTTPS_PROXY` / `https_proxy`
- `HTTP_PROXY` / `http_proxy`
- `ALL_PROXY` / `all_proxy`

Lowercase variables take precedence over uppercase; `NO_PROXY`/`no_proxy` entries (hostnames, `*.suffix`, or `host:port`) bypass the proxy. If no proxy env vars are set, direct egress is used. If proxy setup fails (malformed URL), OpenClaw logs a warning and falls back to direct fetch.

## Mention detection in groups

On channels that support audio preflight, OpenClaw transcribes audio **before** checking for mentions when `requireMention: true` is set for a group chat. This lets a captionless voice note pass the mention gate when its transcript contains a configured mention pattern. Channel-specific docs describe transports that require a typed mention instead.

**How it works:**

1. If a voice message has no text body and the group requires mentions, OpenClaw performs a preflight transcription of the first audio attachment.
2. The transcript is checked for mention patterns (for example `@BotName`, emoji triggers).
3. If a mention is found, the message proceeds through the full reply pipeline.

**Fallback behavior:** if preflight transcription fails (timeout, API error, etc.), the message falls back to text-only mention detection so mixed messages (text + audio) are never dropped.

**Opt-out per Telegram group/topic:**

- Set `channels.telegram.groups.<chatId>.disableAudioPreflight: true` to skip preflight transcript mention checks for that group.
- Set `channels.telegram.groups.<chatId>.topics.<threadId>.disableAudioPreflight` to override per-topic (`true` to skip, `false` to force-enable).
- Default is `false` (preflight enabled when mention-gated conditions match).

**Example:** a user sends a voice note saying "Hey @Claude, what's the weather?" in a Telegram group with `requireMention: true`. The voice note is transcribed, the mention is detected, and the agent replies.

## Gotchas

- Scope rules use first-match-wins; `chatType` is normalized to `direct`, `group`, or `channel`.
- Ensure your CLI exits 0 and prints plain text; JSON output needs to be massaged via `jq -r .text`.
- Known file-output modes are authoritative: an empty or missing inferred transcript file produces no transcript instead of falling back to CLI progress output.
- For `parakeet-mlx`, use `--output-format txt` (or `all`) with `--output-dir` and the default `{filename}` output template. The upstream `PARAKEET_OUTPUT_FORMAT` and `PARAKEET_OUTPUT_TEMPLATE` environment variables are also honored. OpenClaw reads `<output-dir>/<media-basename>.txt`; the default `srt` format, other formats, and custom output templates continue to use stdout.
- Keep timeouts reasonable (`timeoutSeconds`, default 60s) to avoid blocking the reply queue.
- Preflight transcription only processes the **first** audio attachment for mention detection. Additional audio attachments are processed during the main media-understanding phase.

## Related

- [Media playback](/nodes/media-playback)
- [Media understanding](/nodes/media-understanding)
- [Talk mode](/nodes/talk)
- [Voice wake](/nodes/voicewake)
