______     __              _   __          __
 / ____/____/ /_  ____      / | / /___  ____/ /__
/ __/ / ___/ __ \/ __ \    /  |/ / __ \/ __  / _ \
/ /___/ /__/ / / / /_/ /   / /|  / /_/ / /_/ /  __/
/_____/\___/_/ /_/\____/   /_/ |_/\____/\__,_/\___/

Echo-Node Local Voice Assistant

Hands-free local voice assistant with wake-word activation, local STT/TTS, and flexible backend routing. Optimized for Surface Laptop Studio 2 / RTX 4050-class hardware.

Stack

• Wake word: OpenWakeWord hey_rhasspy (ONNX)
• STT: Parakeet TDT v2 through onnx-asr
• VAD: Silero VAD for silence detection and barge-in
• TTS: Kokoro ONNX, with espeak-ng fallback
• Backend: Ollama, OpenAI-compatible servers, Hermes, or Odysseus

Quick Start

cd v2
./wizard

Or manually:

cd v2
./setup.sh
./test.sh
./run.sh

Platform Installers

Platform	Command
Fedora 43 / GNOME / PipeWire	cd v2 && ./install-fedora
WSL2 Ubuntu with WSLg audio	cd v2 && ./install-wsl2
Native Windows 11	cd v2 && .\install-windows.ps1
macOS ARM	cd v2 && ./install-macos-arm

Launch Hotkeys

Platform	Command	Default Binding
GNOME/Fedora	./install-hotkey-fedora	Ctrl+Alt+V
Windows	.\install-hotkey-windows.ps1	Ctrl+Alt+V

Configuration

See v2/docs/configuration.md for backend URL, model name, wake-word mode, TTS voice, VAD settings, barge-in, and hotkeys.

See v2/docs/avatar.md for the optional animated avatar (PyQt6 sidecar with Rhubarb lip-sync).

Repository Structure

v2/                  # Current best build (active development)
  echo_node/         # Core package (agent profiles, pipeline stubs)
  avatar/            # Animated avatar subsystem
  tools/             # Voice audition, wake-word recording, deploy wizard
  docs/              # Configuration and avatar docs
  assistant_v2.py    # Main entry point
specs/               # Original design specs
docs/                # Setup guides, provider docs, troubleshooting
sprites/             # Avatar sprite sheets (raw source images)
archive/             # Historical v1 code, transcripts, design docs

Deployment

See DEPLOYMENT.md.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.