Claude Code text to speech

Its /voice command is dictation: you speak, it types your prompt. Speech out is the missing half. Here are the four ways I know to get it, with what each takes to set up, what it sounds like and where it breaks.

1. A Stop hook and the system voice

Claude Code runs hooks at fixed moments. The Stop hook fires when a reply is done and gets the path to the session transcript. Read the last reply from it and pipe it into say.

• Setup: about 20 lines of shell and some jq. Ten minutes if you’ve written hooks before.
• Sounds like: the macOS system voice. Clear, but robotic.
• Breaks when: the reply has markdown (it reads the stars and backticks), two tabs finish at once (they talk over each other), you run /clear or /compact (it fires anyway), or a background job finishes.

This walkthrough on dev.to shows the hook step by step.

2. The Mac reads it for you

macOS has Spoken Content built in: select text, press a shortcut, it reads the selection.

• Setup: one checkbox in System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content.
• Sounds like: the system voice.
• Breaks when: the reply is long. It reads everything you select, and you have to go and select it.

3. An open-source tool

Aloud reads a short gist of each reply with a local voice and works with Codex too. flowcode is a native menu bar app that reads replies and takes dictation, all on your Mac. VoiceMode turns the session into a two-way voice conversation.

• Setup: from one app download to Homebrew, Python and a local model.
• Sounds like: a local neural voice, usually Kokoro. Much better than the system voice.
• Breaks when: you want a voice or language the local model doesn’t have, or the tool’s maintainer moves on. They’re free, and several are good.

4. An app built for it: Pintail

Pintail is what I built for myself. It hooks into Claude Code, writes a short spoken version of each reply at the length you pick, and speaks it in a natural cloud voice on your own OpenRouter account. A pill at the top of the screen shows which project is talking, with live captions.

• Setup: install the app, connect Claude Code, paste an OpenRouter key.
• Sounds like: a human-sounding cloud voice. First sound about half a second to a second and a half after the summary starts.
• Costs: €15 once (planned), plus the voice on OpenRouter, usually ½–2 ¢ a reply.
• Breaks when: you’re offline. The voice needs OpenRouter.

Which one should you use?

One tab and free: the Stop hook or Spoken Content. Fully local and free: Aloud or flowcode. Talking, not just listening: VoiceMode. Several tabs, short summaries, a voice you can listen to all day: Pintail. The full comparison has a table.