Open Voice OS: Open-Source Privacy-First Voice AI

Open Voice OS (OVOS) is an open-source voice assistant platform born from the Mycroft community, built for anyone who wants full control over their voice-controlled devices without sacrificing privacy. Rather than relying on a closed, cloud-locked ecosystem, OVOS gives developers and hobbyists a flexible, multi-platform framework packed with NLP capabilities and a customizable UI, so they can shape the assistant to fit their exact hardware and use case. Whether you're flashing a Raspberry Pi into a DIY smart speaker, reviving a Mycroft Mark I/II device, or spinning up a Docker container on a Linux desktop, OVOS adapts to your setup. Its skills marketplace lets you extend functionality far beyond the basics—music playback, smart home control, timers, and question-answering—while its community-driven roots mean the platform keeps evolving through open collaboration rather than corporate roadmaps. What truly sets Open Voice OS apart is its commitment to security and user autonomy: it's designed to run without a mandatory backend server, offers offline skill options, and gives privacy-conscious users a genuine alternative to mainstream voice assistants that phone home to big tech.

Choose your installation path based on your hardware and goals. Developers who want to tinker with the codebase should set up a Python Virtual Environment. For most users seeking a stable, low-hassle setup, Docker is recommended. If you're running a Raspberry Pi or a Mycroft Mark I/II device, download the pre-built image, flash it to your SD card (or use the specific Mark II image), and boot up. Once running, configure your wake word, connect any desired skills from the marketplace, and start customizing your voice interface.