kokoro-tts
Enables AI agents to generate high-quality speech with 54+ voices in multiple languages via MCP tools.
README
<div align="center">
🎙️ Kokoro TTS
All-in-One Docker image for Kokoro-82M Text-to-Speech
Web UI • REST API • WebSocket • Streaming • Batch • MCP
<img src="docs/screenshot.png" width="800" alt="Kokoro TTS UI">
</div>
✨ Features
- 🎨 Beautiful Web UI - Modern interface with real-time audio playback
- 🔌 REST API - Full-featured HTTP endpoints with Swagger docs
- 📡 WebSocket - Real-time bidirectional TTS communication
- 🌊 Streaming - Audio chunks delivered as they generate
- 📦 Batch Processing - Process multiple texts in one request
- 🤖 MCP Server - AI agent integration (Claude, etc.)
- 🌍 Multi-language - English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese
- 🚀 GPU Accelerated - CUDA support with automatic memory management
- 📱 54+ Voices - Wide variety of male and female voices
🚀 Quick Start
docker run -d --name kokoro-tts --gpus all -p 8300:8300 neosun/kokoro-tts:latest
Open http://localhost:8300 in your browser.
📦 Installation
Prerequisites
- Docker 20.10+
- NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support (optional, CPU fallback available)
- nvidia-docker2 (for GPU support)
Docker Run
# With GPU
docker run -d \
--name kokoro-tts \
--gpus all \
-p 8300:8300 \
-e GPU_IDLE_TIMEOUT=600 \
--restart unless-stopped \
neosun/kokoro-tts:latest
# CPU only
docker run -d \
--name kokoro-tts \
-p 8300:8300 \
--restart unless-stopped \
neosun/kokoro-tts:latest
Docker Compose
services:
kokoro-tts:
image: neosun/kokoro-tts:latest
container_name: kokoro-tts
ports:
- "8300:8300"
environment:
- GPU_IDLE_TIMEOUT=600
- KEEP_MODEL_LOADED=true # Never release model from memory
deploy:
resources:
reservations:
devices:
- driver: nvidia
count: 1
capabilities: [gpu]
restart: unless-stopped
docker-compose up -d
Verify Installation
# Health check
curl http://localhost:8300/health
# Generate speech
curl -X POST http://localhost:8300/api/tts \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text":"Hello world","voice":"af_heart"}' \
-o output.wav
⚙️ Configuration
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
PORT |
8300 |
Server port |
GPU_IDLE_TIMEOUT |
300 |
Seconds before GPU memory release |
KEEP_MODEL_LOADED |
false |
Never release model from memory (set to true for lowest latency) |
NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES |
all |
GPU device selection |
📖 Usage
Web UI
| Tab | Description |
|---|---|
| Single | Generate single audio file |
| Stream | Real-time streaming playback |
| WebSocket | Bidirectional real-time TTS |
| Batch | Process multiple texts at once |
REST API
Generate Speech (WAV)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8300/api/tts \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text":"Hello world","voice":"af_heart","speed":1.0}' \
-o output.wav
Generate Speech (Base64)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8300/api/tts/base64 \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text":"Hello world","voice":"af_heart","speed":1.0}'
Streaming
curl -X POST http://localhost:8300/api/tts/stream \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text":"Long text here...","voice":"af_heart"}'
Batch Processing
curl -X POST http://localhost:8300/api/tts/batch \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"items": [
{"id":"1","text":"First","voice":"af_heart"},
{"id":"2","text":"Second","voice":"am_michael"}
]
}'
WebSocket
const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:8300/ws/tts');
ws.onopen = () => {
ws.send(JSON.stringify({
text: "Hello world",
voice: "af_heart",
speed: 1.0
}));
};
ws.onmessage = (e) => {
const data = JSON.parse(e.data);
if (data.status === 'chunk') {
// Play audio: data.audio (base64)
}
};
MCP Integration
{
"mcpServers": {
"kokoro-tts": {
"command": "docker",
"args": ["exec", "-i", "kokoro-tts", "python", "/app/docker/server.py", "mcp"]
}
}
}
🎤 Available Voices
Models
| Model | Languages | Voices | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
hexgrad/Kokoro-82M |
9 | 54 | General use |
hexgrad/Kokoro-82M-v1.1-zh |
3 | 103 | Chinese optimized |
Voice Examples
| Language | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 American English | af_heart, af_bella, af_nicole | am_michael, am_fenrir |
| 🇬🇧 British English | bf_emma, bf_isabella | bm_george, bm_fable |
| 🇨🇳 Chinese | zf_xiaobei, zf_xiaoyi | zm_yunjian, zm_yunyang |
| 🇯🇵 Japanese | jf_alpha, jf_tebukuro | jm_kumo |
| 🇪🇸 Spanish | ef_dora | em_alex |
| 🇫🇷 French | ff_siwis | - |
📚 API Documentation
- Swagger UI: http://localhost:8300/docs
- ReDoc: http://localhost:8300/redoc
🏗️ Project Structure
kokoro/
├── docker/
│ ├── server.py # FastAPI server
│ ├── ui_template.py # Web UI
│ └── mcp_server.py # MCP tools
├── kokoro/ # Core TTS library
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
└── README.md
🛠️ Tech Stack
- Backend: FastAPI, Uvicorn
- TTS Engine: Kokoro-82M (StyleTTS 2)
- Deep Learning: PyTorch, CUDA
- Container: Docker, NVIDIA Container Toolkit
🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
- Fork the repository
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/amazing) - Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'Add amazing feature') - Push to the branch (
git push origin feature/amazing) - Open a Pull Request
📖 Documentation
- Streaming Optimization Guide - How we reduced latency from 2s to 50ms
📝 Changelog
v1.1.1 (2025-01) - 🔒 Keep Model Loaded
🆕 New Features
- Added
KEEP_MODEL_LOADEDenvironment variable - When set to
true, model stays in GPU memory permanently - Eliminates cold start delay completely for consistent 51ms TTFB
📊 Latest Performance (2025-01-29)
- Local TTFB: 51-53ms (stable)
- Cloudflare TTFB: 138-178ms
- First chunk: 54ms, 71.5KB
v1.1.0 (2025-01) - 🚀 Streaming Latency Optimization
⚡ Major Performance Improvements
- 40x faster first play - Reduced from 2s+ to ~50ms
- 6x smaller first chunk - Reduced from 436KB to 71.5KB
- 10x faster TTFB - Reduced from ~500ms to ~50ms (local)
🔧 Backend Optimizations
- Split audio by sentence/clause (
[.!?。!?,,;;::]+) instead of newline - Model warmup on startup - eliminates cold start delay (93ms → 56ms)
- Added
X-Accel-Buffering: noandCache-Control: no-cacheheaders - Streaming chunks now generated per sentence for immediate delivery
🎨 Frontend Optimizations
- Non-blocking audio decoding with
.then()instead ofawait - AudioContext auto-resume for browser autoplay policy
- Immediate playback when first chunk decoded
- Parallel chunk receiving and audio decoding
📊 Performance Metrics Panel (Stream tab)
- Time to First Byte (TTFB) - measures server response time
- Time to First Play - measures actual audio start time
- Total Time - real-time elapsed time counter
- Data Size - total bytes received
🎛️ UI Enhancements
- Added Model selector to Stream, WebSocket, Batch tabs
- Added Voice selector to Stream, WebSocket, Batch tabs
- Added Speed slider to Stream, WebSocket, Batch tabs
- Real-time metrics update during streaming
- Improved status indicators and toast notifications
🐛 Bug Fixes
- Fixed WebSocket
sendWS()using wrong model selector - Fixed Batch tab missing audio playback controls
- Fixed version number display in UI footer
v1.0.0 (2025-01) - 🎉 Initial Release
✨ Core Features
- Beautiful Web UI with 4 tabs (Single, Stream, WebSocket, Batch)
- Full-featured REST API with Swagger/ReDoc documentation
- WebSocket real-time bidirectional TTS
- Streaming audio delivery as chunks generate
- Batch processing for multiple texts
🤖 AI Integration
- MCP Server for AI agent integration (Claude, Cursor, etc.)
- Tool-based TTS generation for AI workflows
🌍 Multi-language Support
- 9 languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Korean
- 54+ voices with male and female options
- Multi-model support: Kokoro-82M (general) and Kokoro-82M-v1.1-zh (Chinese optimized)
🚀 Infrastructure
- GPU accelerated with CUDA support
- Automatic GPU memory management with configurable idle timeout
- CPU fallback when GPU unavailable
- Docker containerized deployment
v1.0.0 (2025-01) - 🎉 Initial Release
✨ Core Features
- Beautiful Web UI with 4 tabs (Single, Stream, WebSocket, Batch)
- Full-featured REST API with Swagger/ReDoc documentation
- WebSocket real-time bidirectional TTS
- Streaming audio delivery as chunks generate
- Batch processing for multiple texts
🤖 AI Integration
- MCP Server for AI agent integration (Claude, Cursor, etc.)
- Tool-based TTS generation for AI workflows
🌍 Multi-language Support
- 9 languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Korean
- 54+ voices with male and female options
- Multi-model support: Kokoro-82M (general) and Kokoro-82M-v1.1-zh (Chinese optimized)
🚀 Infrastructure
- GPU accelerated with CUDA support
- Automatic GPU memory management with configurable idle timeout
- CPU fallback when GPU unavailable
- Docker containerized deployment
📄 License
This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.
🙏 Acknowledgements
- hexgrad/Kokoro-82M - The amazing TTS model
- StyleTTS 2 - Model architecture
⭐ Star History
📱 Follow Us
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