ovos-core Documentation
August 14, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
ovos-core is the central service of the OpenVoiceOS platform. It manages skill loading, intent parsing, and routes user utterances to the correct skill handler.
Contents
| Document | Description |
|---|---|
| architecture.md | High-level component overview and startup flow |
| skill-manager.md | SkillManager: skill loading, activation, connectivity gating |
| intent-service.md | IntentService: utterance handling and pipeline matching |
| pipeline.md | Pipeline configuration, plugin IDs, and ordering |
| transformers.md | Utterance, metadata, and intent transformer plugins |
| converse-fallback.md | ConverseService and FallbackService |
| skill-installer.md | SkillsStore: runtime pip install/uninstall via the bus |
| bus-events.md | MessageBus events reference |
| prerelease-quirks.md | What changed since the last stable release |
Quick Start
pip install ovos-core
ovos-core # starts SkillManager + IntentService + installer + scheduler
Run only the intent service (no skills):
ovos-intent-service
Entry Points
| Command | Module |
|---|---|
ovos-core | ovos_core.__main__:main |
ovos-intent-service | ovos_core.intent_services.service:launch_standalone |
ovos-skill-installer | ovos_core.skill_installer:launch_standalone |
Dependencies & Related Packages
ovos-core depends on and integrates with the following packages in this workspace:
| Package | Role | Docs |
|---|---|---|
| ovos-messagebus | WebSocket message broker that all services connect to | ovos-messagebus/docs/index.md |
| ovos-bus-client | MessageBusClient, Message, Session: the bus API | ovos-bus-client/docs/index.md |
| ovos-workshop | OVOSSkill, FallbackSkill, PluginSkillLoader: skill base classes | ovos-workshop/docs/index.md |
| ovos-plugin-manager | Entry point discovery (find_skill_plugins, OVOSPipelineFactory) | ovos-plugin-manager/docs/index.md |
| ovos-config | Configuration singleton: reads mycroft.conf | ovos-config/docs/index.md |
| ovos-utils | LOG, ProcessStatus, FileWatcher, is_connected_http | ovos-utils/docs/index.md |
| ovos-dinkum-listener | Produces recognizer_loop:utterance that IntentService consumes | ovos-dinkum-listener/docs/index.md |
| ovos-audio | Consumes mycroft.audio.play_sound emitted by IntentService | ovos-audio/docs/index.md |
| ovos-PHAL | Emits connectivity events; responds to ovos.PHAL.internet_check | ovos-PHAL/docs/index.md |
| ovos-gui | Consumes GUI template events emitted by skills via GUIInterface | ovos-gui/docs/index.md |
Skill-writing guide
If you are writing a skill, start with ovos-workshop/docs/index.md. Skills register via the opm.skills entry point: see ovos-plugin-manager/docs/plugin-types.md.
Pipeline plugin guide
If you are writing a pipeline plugin, see ovos-plugin-manager/docs/writing-plugins.md and pipeline.md.