Realtime voice is optional and online. Local Whisper remains the default local voice path.

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Enable

REALTIME_VOICE_ENABLED=true
REALTIME_MODEL=gpt-realtime
REALTIME_VOICE=marin
OPENAI_API_KEY=<your-key>
Eyra uses OPENAI_API_KEY only on the server. Browser clients receive ephemeral client secrets minted by the Web server.

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Tools

Default behavior: Realtime tools are disabled. 
REALTIME_TOOLS_ENABLED=false
REALTIME_ALLOWED_TOOLS=
The safe built-in allowlist is small. Current safe candidates include:
  • get_current_time
  • discover_capabilities
Risky local tools are not exposed to Realtime even if listed.

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Privacy boundary

Realtime sends browser voice/text to OpenAI only when enabled and used. It does not reuse generic API_KEY, and it does not put the standard API key in browser code. Use /capabilities or the Web capabilities endpoint to confirm what is enabled before testing.

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Use local voice first

For local-only operation, keep: 
REALTIME_VOICE_ENABLED=false
LIVE_LISTENING_ENABLED=true
LIVE_SPEECH_ENABLED=true
That keeps voice input and speech output on Local Whisper.