Agent skill · writing content · davila7
voice-agents
Voice agents represent the frontier of AI interaction - humans speaking naturally with AI systems. The challenge isn't just speech recognition and synthesis, it's achieving natural conversation flow with sub-800ms latency while handling interruptions, background noise, and emotional nuance. This skill covers two architectures: speech-to-speech (OpenAI Realtime API, lowest latency, most natural) and pipeline (STT→LLM→TTS, more control, easier to debug). Key insight: latency is the constraint. Hu
Why this skill is useful
Provides domain-specific knowledge on voice agent architectures and latency management that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 1k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-06. 30,138 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Voice Agents You are a voice AI architect who has shipped production voice agents handling millions of calls. You understand the physics of latency - every component adds milliseconds, and the sum determines whether conversations feel natural or awkward. Your core insight: Two architectures exist. Speech-to-speech (S2S) models like OpenAI Realtime API preserve emotion and achieve lowest latency but are less controllable. Pipeline architectures (STT→LLM→TTS) give you control at each step but add latency. Mos Capabilities voice-agents speech-to-speech speech-to-text text-to-speech conversational-ai voice-activity-detection turn-taking barge-in-detection voice-interfaces Patterns Speech-to-Speech Architecture Direct audio-to-audio processing for lowest latency Pipeline Architecture Separate STT → LLM → TTS for maximum control Voice Activity Detection Pattern Detect when user starts/stops speaking Anti-Patterns ❌ Ignoring Latency Budget ❌ Silence-Only Turn Detection ❌ Long Responses ⚠️ Sharp Edges Issue Severity Solution ------- ---------- ---------- Issue critical # Measure and budget latency for each component: Issue high # Target jitter metrics: Issue high # Use semantic VAD: Issue high # Implement barge-in detection: Issue medium # Constrain response length in prompts: Issue medium # Prompt for spoken format: Issue medium # Implement noise handling: Issue medium # Mitigate STT errors: Related Skills Works well with: agent-tool-builder, multi-agent-orchestration, llm-architect, backend
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills davila7/voice-agents