Elo STT Passive v1.0

Global push-to-talk speech-to-text for Windows 11.

Hold Right Ctrl to talk (works while the app is minimized or unfocused). On release, audio is sent to Fish Audio STT, then typed into whichever window has focus—including fullscreen games. Optionally run as an MCP server so Claude Desktop, Claude Code, OpenClaw, and similar tools can read your STT history.

Features

Requirements

• Windows 11 (designed for; other Windows versions may work)
• Python 3.10+
• A Fish Audio API key

Install

cd "C:\Projects\Elo STT Passive\repo"
python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install -r requirements.txt

Set the API key (Windows 11)

1. Press Win, search for environment variables, open Edit the system environment variables.
2. Environment Variables… → under User variables → New…
3. Name: FISH_AUDIO_API_KEY
   Value: your key from https://fish.audio/app/api-keys
4. OK out of all dialogs. Restart the terminal (and this app) so the variable is visible.

Session-only (PowerShell, not permanent):

$env:FISH_AUDIO_API_KEY = "your_key_here"

Run

Desktop (Notepad and other unelevated apps):

python elo_stt_passive.py

In some fullscreen games, Windows hides keyboard state from other programs. If Right Ctrl does nothing while the game is focused, start elevated (optional):

python elo_stt_passive.py --elevate

Configuration

Edit config.ini in this folder and save. Most settings — including capture mode — apply immediately; you do not need to restart the program. A fully commented template is in config.example.ini. Defaults and limits are also documented in the header of elo_stt_passive.py.

Useful keys:

• [audio] capture_mode — microphone (default), system (what you hear), or both (switch live)
• [recording] buffer_seconds — pre/post roll (default 0.5)
• [audio_processing] speech_boost_percent — default 30 (×1.30 ≈ +2.28 dB)
• [keystrokes] inter_key_delay / key_hold_duration
• [stt] timeout_seconds — default 8
• [speech_detection] * — ambient / speech gate

MCP server

Start capture and expose tools to MCP clients:

python elo_stt_passive.py --mcp

Claude Desktop (example)

Add to your Claude Desktop MCP config (path may vary):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elo-stt-passive": {
      "command": "C:\\Projects\\Elo STT Passive\\repo\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
      "args": [
        "C:\\Projects\\Elo STT Passive\\repo\\elo_stt_passive.py",
        "--mcp",
        "--skip-api-key-check"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Set FISH_AUDIO_API_KEY in your user environment rather than putting it in the JSON file.

Tools

Each success record includes hold_start_utc / hold_end_utc (and Unix equivalents) with millisecond precision, plus the transcript text.

Optional SSE transport for a long-running windowed app:

python elo_stt_passive.py --mcp-sse

Tests

python -m pytest tests -q

Project layout

elo_stt_passive.py     # Entry point + documented defaults
config.ini             # Your settings
config.example.ini     # Template
elo_stt/               # Modular package
tests/

Privacy & security

• The Fish Audio API key is read from the environment only when needed.
• This program does not write API keys to config.ini or any other file.
• Audio is sent to Fish Audio over HTTPS for transcription; review their terms for data handling.
• STT history is in-memory only (lost when the process exits), sized by mcp.max_history.

License

MIT. See LICENSE. Fish Audio, Claude, and other trademarks belong to their respective owners.