Merge pull request #121 from second-state/alabulei1-patch-11

Document local GPT-SoVITS setup for EchoKit

Author: alabulei1

doc/dev/2025-12-19-echokit-day-20-local-gpt-sovits.md

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+---
+slug: echokit-30-days-day-20-local-gpt-sovits
+title: "Day 20: Running GPT-SoVITS Locally as EchoKit’s TTS Provider | The First 30 Days with EchoKit"
+tags: [echokit30days, tts]
+---
+
+
+Over the past few days, we’ve been switching EchoKit between different cloud-based TTS providers and voice styles. It’s fun, it’s flexible, and it really shows how modular the EchoKit pipeline is.
+
+But today, I want to go one step further.
+
+**Today is about running TTS fully locally.**
+No hosted APIs. No external requests. Just an open-source model running on your own machine — and EchoKit talking through it.
+
+For Day 20, I’m using **GPT-SoVITS** as EchoKit’s local TTS provider.
+
+
+
+## What Is GPT-SoVITS?
+
+**GPT-SoVITS** is an open-source text-to-speech and voice cloning system that combines:
+
+* A GPT-style text encoder for linguistic understanding
+* SoVITS-based voice synthesis for natural prosody and timbre
+
+Compared to traditional TTS systems, GPT-SoVITS stands out for two reasons.
+
+First, it produces **very natural, expressive speech**, especially for longer sentences and conversational content.
+
+Second, it supports **high-quality voice cloning** with relatively small reference audio, which has made it popular in open-source voice communities.
+
+Most importantly for us:
+**GPT-SoVITS can run entirely on your own hardware.**
+
+
+
+## Running GPT-SoVITS Locally
+
+To make local GPT-SoVITS easier to run, we also ported GPT-SoVITS to a **Rust-based implementation**.
+
+This significantly simplifies local deployment and makes it much easier to integrate with EchoKit.
+
+> Check out [Build and run a GPT-SoVITS server](https://echokit.dev/docs/server/gpt-sovits) for details. The following steps are on a MacBook
+
+First, install the LibTorch dependencies:
+
+```bash
+curl -LO https://download.pytorch.org/libtorch/cpu/libtorch-macos-arm64-2.4.0.zip
+unzip libtorch-macos-arm64-2.4.0.zip
+```
+
+Then, tell the system where to find LibTorch:
+
+```bash
+export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(pwd)/libtorch/lib:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
+export LIBTORCH=$(pwd)/libtorch
+```
+
+Next, clone the source code and build the GPT-SoVITS API server:
+
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/second-state/gsv_tts
+git clone https://github.com/second-state/gpt_sovits_rs
+
+cd gsv_tts
+cargo build --release
+```
+
+Then, download the required models.
+Since I’m running GPT-SoVITS locally on my MacBook, I’m using the **CPU versions**:
+
+```bash
+cd resources
+curl -L -o t2s.pt https://huggingface.co/L-jasmine/GPT_Sovits/resolve/main/v2pro/t2s.cpu.pt
+curl -L -o vits.pt https://huggingface.co/L-jasmine/GPT_Sovits/resolve/main/v2pro/vits.cpu.pt
+curl -LO https://huggingface.co/L-jasmine/GPT_Sovits/resolve/main/v2pro/ssl_model.pt
+curl -LO https://huggingface.co/L-jasmine/GPT_Sovits/resolve/main/v2pro/bert_model.pt
+curl -LO https://huggingface.co/L-jasmine/GPT_Sovits/resolve/main/v2pro/g2pw_model.pt
+curl -LO https://huggingface.co/L-jasmine/GPT_Sovits/resolve/main/v2pro/mini-bart-g2p.pt
+```
+
+Finally, start the GPT-SoVITS API server:
+
+```bash
+TTS_LISTEN=0.0.0.0:9094 nohup target/release/gsv_tts &
+```
+
+
+## Configure EchoKit to Use the Local TTS Provider
+
+At this point, GPT-SoVITS is running as a local service and exposing a simple HTTP API.
+
+Once the service is up, EchoKit only needs an endpoint that accepts text and returns audio.
+
+Update the TTS section in the EchoKit server configuration:
+
+```toml
+[tts]
+platform = "StreamGSV"
+url = "http://localhost:9094/v1/audio/stream_speech"
+speaker = "cooper"
+```
+
+Restart the EchoKit server, connect the service to the device, and EchoKit will start using the new local TTS provider.
+
+## A Fully Local Voice AI Pipeline
+
+With today’s setup, we can now run **the entire voice AI pipeline locally**:
+
+* **ASR**: local speech-to-text
+* **LLM**: local open-source language models
+* **TTS**: GPT-SoVITS running on your own machine
+
+That means:
+
+* No cloud dependency
+* No external APIs
+* No vendor lock-in
+
+Just a complete, end-to-end voice AI system you can understand, modify, and truly own.
+
+---
+
+Want to get your own EchoKit device and make it unique?
+
+* [EchoKit Box](https://echokit.dev/echokit_box.html)
+* [EchoKit DIY](https://echokit.dev/echokit_diy.html)
+
+Join the [EchoKit Discord](https://discord.gg/Fwe3zsT5g3) to share your custom voices and see how others are personalizing their voice AI agents.