Built-in TTS Providers for Garden Skills: MiniMax and OpenAI Guide

Garden Skills ships with two built-in Text-to-Speech providers—MiniMax and OpenAI—that implement a standard shell interface for the Web Video Presentation skill.

Garden Skills (ConardLi/garden-skills) is an open-source automation framework for generating video presentations from web content. Its built-in TTS providers deliver plug-and-play speech synthesis through a modular shell-script architecture, allowing developers to toggle between Chinese-optimized and multilingual voice engines using environment variables.

Architecture of Garden Skills TTS Providers

Every TTS provider in Garden Skills follows a strict contract defined in the Web Video Presentation skill. Each provider is a shell script located in skills/web-video-presentation/templates/scripts/tts-providers/ that exposes three standard functions:

• tts_check: Validates prerequisites such as CLI binaries or API keys
• tts_install_help: (Optional) Returns installation instructions if tts_check fails
• tts_synthesize: (Required) Executes the actual text-to-speech conversion

The adapter script skills/web-video-presentation/templates/scripts/synthesize-audio.sh loads the active provider via the PRESENTATION_TTS environment variable, defaulting to minimax if unspecified:

PRESENTATION_TTS=${PRESENTATION_TTS:-minimax}
source "$SCRIPT_DIR/tts-providers/$PROVIDER.sh"

If the provider's tts_check function reports a failure, the runner prints the helper text from tts_install_help and aborts execution.

MiniMax TTS Provider

The MiniMax provider is the default engine, optimized for high-quality Chinese narration.

Implementation resides in skills/web-video-presentation/templates/scripts/tts-providers/minimax.sh. It invokes the mmx CLI (mmx-cli) to generate speech in a single call, offering extensive voice options tailored for Mandarin content.

To synthesize audio with MiniMax:

npm run synthesize-audio -- --text "你好，欢迎观看。"

OpenAI TTS Provider

The OpenAI provider connects to the OpenAI Audio Speech REST API via curl, supporting multiple voices and HD model variants.

Located at skills/web-video-presentation/templates/scripts/tts-providers/openai.sh, this provider accepts the OPENAI_TTS_MODEL environment variable (e.g., tts-1 or tts-1-hd) and the PRESENTATION_TTS_VOICE variable to select from: alloy, echo, fable, onyx, nova, and shimmer.

Example with voice selection:

PRESENTATION_TTS=openai PRESENTATION_TTS_VOICE=nova \
npm run synthesize-audio -- --text "Hello, welcome to the presentation."

Configuring and Extending TTS Providers

Toggle between engines by setting PRESENTATION_TTS before invoking the synthesis script. The system validates the provider via tts_check; if validation fails, it displays the helper text from tts_install_help and aborts.

To add custom providers, create a new <name>.sh file in skills/web-video-presentation/templates/scripts/tts-providers/ and implement the required interface functions. The README.md in that directory provides contract specifications and boilerplate snippets for additional services like ElevenLabs.

Example invocation of a custom provider:

PRESENTATION_TTS=elevenlabs npm run synthesize-audio -- --text "Custom TTS test."

Summary

• Garden Skills provides two built-in TTS providers: MiniMax (default, Chinese-optimized) and OpenAI (multilingual, six voices).
• Providers are shell scripts in skills/web-video-presentation/templates/scripts/tts-providers/ implementing tts_check and tts_synthesize.
• Selection occurs via the PRESENTATION_TTS environment variable parsed by synthesize-audio.sh.
• OpenAI supports PRESENTATION_TTS_VOICE and OPENAI_TTS_MODEL for fine-tuning output quality.
• The architecture supports custom providers through a standardized three-function interface.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I switch between TTS providers in Garden Skills?

Set the PRESENTATION_TTS environment variable to either minimax or openai before running npm run synthesize-audio. If undefined, the system defaults to MiniMax as implemented in skills/web-video-presentation/templates/scripts/synthesize-audio.sh.

What voices are available with the OpenAI TTS provider?

The OpenAI provider supports six voices: alloy, echo, fable, onyx, nova, and shimmer. Specify your choice via the PRESENTATION_TTS_VOICE environment variable.

Do I need to install anything extra to use the MiniMax provider?

Yes. The MiniMax provider requires the mmx CLI (mmx-cli) to be installed and available in your PATH. The tts_check function in minimax.sh validates this dependency before synthesis begins.

Can I add my own TTS provider to Garden Skills?

Yes. Create a new shell script in skills/web-video-presentation/templates/scripts/tts-providers/ implementing tts_check and tts_synthesize (optionally tts_install_help), then invoke it by setting PRESENTATION_TTS to your script's basename.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}