Stream Athena Talk replies incrementally

integrations/openclaw-athena-talk/README.md

@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ Athena speech stack:
    tools,
 4. Athena XTTS/Piper returns PCM audio to the Talk client.
 
+Long replies are synthesized incrementally. The first short phrase starts
+playing as soon as it is ready while the next phrase is generated in parallel.
+
 The provider intentionally uses half-duplex audio: microphone input is paused
 while a response is being transcribed, generated, synthesized, or played. This
 prevents speaker feedback from aborting TTS. Spoken interruption (barge-in) is

integrations/openclaw-athena-talk/dist/index.js

@@ -48,6 +48,28 @@ function pcmRms(pcm) {
     }
     return Math.sqrt(sum / count);
 }
+function splitForIncrementalSpeech(text, limit = 80) {
+    const words = text.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim().split(" ").filter(Boolean);
+    const chunks = [];
+    let current = "";
+    for (const word of words) {
+        const candidate = current ? `${current} ${word}` : word;
+        if (current && candidate.length > limit) {
+            chunks.push(current);
+            current = word;
+        }
+        else {
+            current = candidate;
+        }
+        if (current.length >= 35 && /[.!?](?:["')\]_*]+)?$/.test(word)) {
+            chunks.push(current);
+            current = "";
+        }
+    }
+    if (current)
+        chunks.push(current);
+    return chunks;
+}
 function readWavPcm24k(wav) {
     if (wav.length < 44 || wav.toString("ascii", 0, 4) !== "RIFF") {
         throw new Error("Athena TTS did not return PCM WAV audio");
@@ -226,7 +248,8 @@ class AthenaTalkBridge {
         const generation = ++this.generation;
         const responseId = `athena-${randomUUID()}`;
         try {
-            const result = await this.req.runAgentConsult({ prompt, signal: controller.signal });
+            const voicePrompt = `${prompt}\n\nAntwortregeln für diese Sprachantwort: Antworte ausschließlich auf Deutsch, kurz und direkt. Keine Analyse, keine Meta-Kommentare, kein Markdown und keine Wiederholung der Anfrage. Gib nur den Text aus, der gesprochen werden soll.`;
+            const result = await this.req.runAgentConsult({ prompt: voicePrompt, signal: controller.signal });
             if (generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected())
                 return;
             const text = String(result?.text || "").trim();
@@ -234,20 +257,30 @@ class AthenaTalkBridge {
                 return;
             this.req.onEvent?.({ direction: "server", type: "response.created", responseId });
             this.req.onTranscript?.("assistant", text, true);
-            const pcm = await this.synthesize(text, controller.signal);
-            if (generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected())
+            const speechChunks = splitForIncrementalSpeech(text);
+            if (speechChunks.length === 0)
                 return;
             const frameBytes = 24000 * 2 / 50;
-            const playbackStartedAt = Date.now();
-            for (let offset = 0; offset < pcm.length; offset += frameBytes) {
-                if (controller.signal.aborted || generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected()) {
+            let playbackEndsAt = 0;
+            let nextAudio = this.synthesize(speechChunks[0], controller.signal);
+            for (let index = 0; index < speechChunks.length; index += 1) {
+                const pcm = await nextAudio;
+                if (generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected())
                     return;
+                if (index + 1 < speechChunks.length) {
+                    nextAudio = this.synthesize(speechChunks[index + 1], controller.signal);
+                }
+                const audioDurationMs = pcm.length / (24000 * 2) * 1000;
+                playbackEndsAt = Math.max(playbackEndsAt, Date.now()) + audioDurationMs;
+                for (let offset = 0; offset < pcm.length; offset += frameBytes) {
+                    if (controller.signal.aborted || generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected()) {
+                        return;
+                    }
+                    this.req.onAudio?.(pcm.subarray(offset, Math.min(offset + frameBytes, pcm.length)));
+                    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 18));
                 }
-                this.req.onAudio?.(pcm.subarray(offset, Math.min(offset + frameBytes, pcm.length)));
-                await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 18));
             }
-            const audioDurationMs = pcm.length / (24000 * 2) * 1000;
-            const remainingPlaybackMs = Math.max(0, audioDurationMs - (Date.now() - playbackStartedAt));
+            const remainingPlaybackMs = Math.max(0, playbackEndsAt - Date.now());
             await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, remainingPlaybackMs + 300));
             this.req.onResponseDone?.({ status: "completed", responseId });
             this.req.onEvent?.({ direction: "server", type: "response.done", responseId });

integrations/openclaw-athena-talk/index.ts

@@ -64,6 +64,27 @@ function pcmRms(pcm: Buffer): number {
   return Math.sqrt(sum / count);
 }
 
+function splitForIncrementalSpeech(text: string, limit = 80): string[] {
+  const words = text.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim().split(" ").filter(Boolean);
+  const chunks: string[] = [];
+  let current = "";
+  for (const word of words) {
+    const candidate = current ? `${current} ${word}` : word;
+    if (current && candidate.length > limit) {
+      chunks.push(current);
+      current = word;
+    } else {
+      current = candidate;
+    }
+    if (current.length >= 35 && /[.!?](?:["')\]_*]+)?$/.test(word)) {
+      chunks.push(current);
+      current = "";
+    }
+  }
+  if (current) chunks.push(current);
+  return chunks;
+}
+
 function readWavPcm24k(wav: Buffer): Buffer {
   if (wav.length < 44 || wav.toString("ascii", 0, 4) !== "RIFF") {
     throw new Error("Athena TTS did not return PCM WAV audio");
@@ -238,33 +259,35 @@ class AthenaTalkBridge {
     const generation = ++this.generation;
     const responseId = `athena-${randomUUID()}`;
     try {
-      const result = await this.req.runAgentConsult({ prompt, signal: controller.signal });
+      const voicePrompt = `${prompt}\n\nAntwortregeln für diese Sprachantwort: Antworte ausschließlich auf Deutsch, kurz und direkt. Keine Analyse, keine Meta-Kommentare, kein Markdown und keine Wiederholung der Anfrage. Gib nur den Text aus, der gesprochen werden soll.`;
+      const result = await this.req.runAgentConsult({ prompt: voicePrompt, signal: controller.signal });
       if (generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected()) return;
       const text = String(result?.text || "").trim();
       if (!text) return;
       this.req.onEvent?.({ direction: "server", type: "response.created", responseId });
       this.req.onTranscript?.("assistant", text, true);
-      const pcm = await this.synthesize(text, controller.signal);
-      if (generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected()) return;
-      // Feed OpenClaw in its native 20 ms frame size. Sending larger bursts
-      // made the relay split several frames at once; slow-client protection
-      // could then drop individual frames and produce audible holes.
+      const speechChunks = splitForIncrementalSpeech(text);
+      if (speechChunks.length === 0) return;
       const frameBytes = 24000 * 2 / 50;
-      const playbackStartedAt = Date.now();
-      for (let offset = 0; offset < pcm.length; offset += frameBytes) {
-        if (controller.signal.aborted || generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected()) {
-          return;
+      let playbackEndsAt = 0;
+      let nextAudio = this.synthesize(speechChunks[0], controller.signal);
+      for (let index = 0; index < speechChunks.length; index += 1) {
+        const pcm = await nextAudio;
+        if (generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected()) return;
+        if (index + 1 < speechChunks.length) {
+          nextAudio = this.synthesize(speechChunks[index + 1], controller.signal);
+        }
+        const audioDurationMs = pcm.length / (24000 * 2) * 1000;
+        playbackEndsAt = Math.max(playbackEndsAt, Date.now()) + audioDurationMs;
+        for (let offset = 0; offset < pcm.length; offset += frameBytes) {
+          if (controller.signal.aborted || generation !== this.generation || !this.isConnected()) {
+            return;
+          }
+          this.req.onAudio?.(pcm.subarray(offset, Math.min(offset + frameBytes, pcm.length)));
+          await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 18));
         }
-        this.req.onAudio?.(pcm.subarray(offset, Math.min(offset + frameBytes, pcm.length)));
-        // Run just ahead of realtime so the client builds a small jitter
-        // buffer without flooding the WebSocket queue.
-        await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 18));
       }
-      // Transmission is intentionally a little faster than playback. Keep the
-      // microphone gated until the client has consumed that buffered tail;
-      // otherwise the last spoken words are transcribed again as user input.
-      const audioDurationMs = pcm.length / (24000 * 2) * 1000;
-      const remainingPlaybackMs = Math.max(0, audioDurationMs - (Date.now() - playbackStartedAt));
+      const remainingPlaybackMs = Math.max(0, playbackEndsAt - Date.now());
       await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, remainingPlaybackMs + 300));
       this.req.onResponseDone?.({ status: "completed", responseId });
       this.req.onEvent?.({ direction: "server", type: "response.done", responseId });

integrations/openclaw-athena-talk/openclaw.plugin.json

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "id": "athena-talk",
   "name": "Athena Local Talk",
   "description": "Local German voice conversations through Athena without a public speech provider.",
-  "version": "0.1.3",
+  "version": "0.2.0",
   "enabledByDefault": true,
   "activation": {
     "onStartup": true,

integrations/openclaw-athena-talk/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "openclaw-plugin-athena-talk",
-  "version": "0.1.3",
+  "version": "0.2.0",
   "description": "Private realtime Talk bridge for Athena STT, OpenClaw agent consult, and Athena TTS.",
   "type": "module",
   "private": true,