Claude Read Aloud

Claude Read Aloud is an open-source MIT-licensed project by Michael Gifford that adds text-to-speech playback to Claude Code, letting developers listen to AI replies instead of reading them. It ships as two pieces: a Claude Code plugin (the audio engine) and an optional VS Code extension (the UI layer with buttons, hotkeys, and a settings panel). The project is available on GitHub and free to use out of the box with system voices.

What It Is

Claude Read Aloud is a developer accessibility and productivity tool that converts Claude Code's chat replies into spoken audio. It targets developers who spend long sessions in Claude Code and want to reduce eye strain, improve information absorption, or make the tool usable for those with low vision, dyslexia, or screen fatigue. The plugin handles chunked audio synthesis and playback; the VS Code extension surfaces controls natively inside the editor.

How the Two-Piece Architecture Works

The project is split deliberately into an engine and a UI layer:

• Claude Code plugin — handles all voice synthesis, chunked playback, /read-aloud:* slash commands, and an auto-read hook. Written in Python using only the standard library (no pip installs required). Requires Python 3.9+.
• VS Code extension — adds a status-bar Read Aloud button, a toolbar icon on the Claude Code panel, keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Alt+S / Ctrl+Alt+X), a right-click "Read aloud" context menu, an in-chat speaker button beside the microphone, and a settings panel with a searchable voice picker inside Claude's sidebar.

Terminal-only users need only the plugin. VS Code users install both.

Voice Provider Options

The plugin supports a range of TTS providers, from fully free to premium cloud APIs:

• System (default) — macOS say, Linux speech-dispatcher, or Windows SAPI; zero setup
• Kokoro — free local neural voice with 54 voices, installed via /read-aloud:voice-setup (~340 MB one-time download, no account needed)
• Speechify — cloud API, requires SPEECHIFY_API_KEY environment variable
• ElevenLabs — cloud API, requires ELEVENLABS_API_KEY
• OpenAI — cloud API, requires OPENAI_API_KEY
• Command — custom template for any local engine (e.g., Piper), enabling gapless chunked playback via WAV output

API keys are stored in environment variables, never in the config file. Configuration lives at ~/.config/claude-read-aloud/config.json (or %APPDATA%\claude-read-aloud\config.json on Windows).

Playback Design and Accessibility Tradeoffs

Long replies begin playing within 1–3 seconds regardless of length. Text is split at sentence boundaries into ramped chunks — the first chunk is small so audio starts immediately, while subsequent chunks synthesize in parallel with playback, eliminating gaps. Replies are capped at 12,000 characters (~14 minutes of speech), and code blocks are announced as "code omitted" rather than read verbatim. Auto-read is off by default; the README notes that a full working session can produce 4+ hours of speech per day, and most users prefer on-demand triggering.

The in-chat speaker button works by patching two files of the installed Claude Code extension locally — a userscript-style mod that is opt-in, never leaves the machine, and is automatically re-applied after Claude Code updates. Originals are backed up and fully restorable.

Setup Path

claude plugin marketplace add michaelpgifford/claude-read-aloud
claude plugin install read-aloud@claude-read-aloud

The VS Code extension is available on the VS Code Marketplace as "Claude Read Aloud" or via code --install-extension MichaelGifford.claude-read-aloud-button. Linux users are prompted to run /read-aloud:voice-setup once to replace the default espeak voice with Kokoro.

Current Status

The repository was created in August 2026 and last updated in September 2026, with active recent pushes. It carries an MIT license, 7 stars, and 3 forks at the time of indexing. The project is in active development with open issues at zero.