Output audio format: mp3 (default), wav, or opus

Overview

Deepgram provides text-to-speech voices (the Aura model family) for both in-app TTS and phone calls. Change the voice with the voice_config_update tool — it writes the voice to whichever TTS provider is currently active and pushes to the macOS app via SSE in one call:

voice_config_update setting="tts_voice_id" value="<aura-model-id>"

The voice lives under the active provider, not always Deepgram. The config key depends on services.tts.provider: deepgram → services.tts.providers.deepgram.model, vellum (managed) → services.tts.providers.vellum.model, elevenlabs → services.tts.providers.elevenlabs.voiceId. The voice_config_update tool (and the assistant tts voice <id> CLI command) handle this routing for you. Do NOT assistant config set services.tts.providers.deepgram.model ... blindly — on a managed (vellum) assistant that field is ignored, so the write "succeeds" but the voice never changes. See Setting the voice for the CLI fallback.

The tables below apply when the active provider is deepgram (BYO key) or managed vellum. Managed assistants synthesize Deepgram voices through the platform — the platform bills per rate-carded model and rejects voices it does not offer (the write succeeds but the voice fails on the next turn), so stick to current Aura-2 voices there. With a BYO key (setup below), any Aura model id from the catalog works. Other BYO TTS providers (elevenlabs, xai, fish-audio, …) use their own voice identifiers — never write a Deepgram Aura model id to them; see Getting to a Deepgram voice from another provider.

Getting to a Deepgram voice from another provider

Check the active provider first: assistant config get services.tts.provider.

• Already on managed vellum? No provider change needed. The managed platform supports both Deepgram and ElevenLabs voices — services.tts.providers.vellum.model accepts either an Aura model id or an ElevenLabs voice id, so switching between a Deepgram and an ElevenLabs voice is just another voice_config_update call.
• On a BYO provider (e.g. elevenlabs) and the user wants a Deepgram voice? Two options — ask which they prefer. Switch with the voice_config_update tool, not raw assistant config set — the tool validates the switch (e.g. rejects vellum when no platform connection exists, which a raw config write would leave silently broken):
  1. Switch to managed vellum (voice_config_update setting="tts_provider" value="vellum") — no Deepgram key needed; requires a platform connection and bills managed credits. Bonus: they keep access to both the Deepgram and ElevenLabs catalogs.
  2. Switch to BYO deepgram (voice_config_update setting="tts_provider" value="deepgram") — requires a Deepgram API key (setup below); usage bills their Deepgram account directly.

After either switch, set the voice with voice_config_update as usual.

Choose a Voice

Pick a voice that matches your identity and the user's preferences. Offer to show the full list if they want to choose themselves. All voice ids follow the pattern aura-2-<name>-en.

Female voices

Male voices