OVOS-core

July 31, 2026 · View on GitHub

OVOS-core

OpenVoiceOS is an open-source platform for smart speakers and other voice-centric devices. ovos-core (this repo) is the central component.

Installing OVOS

If you have an existing system, use the ovos-installer to install OVOS and its dependencies in one step.

For Raspberry Pi users, the RaspOVOS image runs in headless mode (no GUI) and targets Raspberry Pi 3B or higher.

For embedded systems, ovos-buildroot builds a custom Linux distribution for minimal setups.

More detailed documentation is available in the ovos-technical-manual.

Developers can install ovos-core standalone:

pip install ovos-core

This includes the core components, for custom assistant development.

Skills

OVOS is powered by skills. Some skills come pre-installed; most need to be installed explicitly.

Browse OVOS-compatible skills on PyPI or in the OVOS GitHub organization.

Most classic Mycroft skills also work on OVOS.

Persona Support

ovos-persona generates responses when skills fail to handle user input. With Persona you can connect an LLM to ovos-core.

List Personas

"What personas are available?"
"Can you list the personas?"
"What personas can I use?"

Activate a Persona

"Connect me to {persona}"
"Enable {persona}"
"Start a conversation with {persona}"
"Let me chat with {persona}"

Stop Conversation

"Stop the interaction"
"Terminate persona"
"Deactivate Large Language Model"

Creating a Persona: Click to expand

Persona Files

Personas are configured using JSON files. These can be:

Provided by plugins (for example, the OpenAI plugin).
Created as user-defined JSON files in ~/.config/ovos_persona.

Personas rely on solver plugins, which try to answer queries in sequence until a response is found.

Example: using a local OpenAI-compatible server.

Save this in ~/.config/ovos_persona/salamandra.json:

{
  "name": "Salamandra",
  "solvers": [
    "ovos-solver-openai-persona-plugin"
  ],
  "ovos-solver-openai-persona-plugin": {
    "api_url": "https://ollama.uoi.io/v1",
    "model": "hdnh2006/salamandra-7b-instruct",
    "key": "sk-xxxx",
    "persona": "helpful, creative, clever, and very friendly."
  }
}

The "Salamandra" persona is now available. The example above uses a demo server; no uptime is guaranteed.

More details on how to create your personas are in the OVOS-persona README.

Pipeline Configuration: Click to expand

Persona Pipeline

Add the persona pipeline to your mycroft.conf after the _high pipeline matchers.

{
  "intents": {
      "persona": {"handle_fallback":  true},
      "pipeline": [
          "stop_high",
          "converse",
          "ocp_high",
          "padatious_high",
          "adapt_high",
          "ovos-persona-pipeline-plugin-high",
          "ocp_medium",
          "fallback_high",
          "stop_medium",
          "adapt_medium",
          "padatious_medium",
          "adapt_low",
          "common_qa",
          "fallback_medium",
          "ovos-persona-pipeline-plugin-low",
          "fallback_low"
    ]
  }
}

Getting Involved

OVOS is open source and depends on community contributions. There is a way to contribute as a coder, designer, or translator.

Help translate OVOS into your language through our Translation Portal.

Have questions or need guidance? Say hi in the OpenVoiceOS Chat, and a team member will help.

Join our Discussions to ask questions and share ideas.

Credits

The OpenVoiceOS team thanks the following organizations for their support in our early days:

Mycroft was a hackable, open-source voice assistant by the now-defunct MycroftAI. OpenVoiceOS continues that work.
NeonGecko
KDE / Blue Systems