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Text to speech
Turns text into an mp3 narration with a Clippie voice or one of your cloned voices, with word timings. Spends voiceover minutes for the audio's length (about 150 words a minute), and the same in caption minutes for the word timings. Finishes within the call: the job comes back completed with audioUrl and captions.words.
Paste it into any AI assistant. The shortcuts open with the prompt typed in; nothing is sent until you press enter.
At a glance
- REST
POST https://api.clippie.ai/v1/ai/speech
- MCP tool
text_to_speech
- Scope
create
- Cost
- Spends credits or minutes, at the same prices as the app. Send
"dryRun": true(or call estimate_cost) first to see the exact cost without spending anything.
- Spends credits or minutes, at the same prices as the app. Send
- Limit bucket
voiceover(see Rate limits)
Parameters
text- In:
- body
- Type:
- string
- Required:
- Yes
- Description:
- What to say. 1-5000 chars.
voiceId- In:
- body
- Type:
- string
- Required:
- Yes
- Description:
- A voice id from list_voices (Clippie's or your own). 1-64 chars.
stability- In:
- body
- Type:
- number
- Required:
- No
- Default:
0.5- Description:
- 0.01-1.
similarity- In:
- body
- Type:
- number
- Required:
- No
- Default:
0.75- Description:
- 0.01-1.
language- In:
- body
- Type:
- string
- Required:
- No
- Description:
- Language code, e.g. "en". Up to 10 chars.
wordTimestamps- In:
- body
- Type:
- boolean
- Required:
- No
- Default:
true- Description:
- Also return word timings (transcribes the audio, which uses caption minutes too).
dryRun- In:
- body
- Type:
- boolean
- Required:
- No
- Description:
- Check the request and return { estimate } (credits and minutes) without spending anything.
webhookUrl- In:
- body
- Type:
- string (URL)
- Required:
- No
- Description:
- https URL that receives job.completed / job.failed, signed with your webhook secret. Up to 2048 chars.
Idempotency-Key- In:
- header
- Type:
- string
- Required:
- No
- Description:
- Retry-safe key: a retry with the same key and body within 24 hours returns the first job instead of starting (and charging) again. The same key with a different body is a 409. MCP clients pass it as the idempotencyKey argument. 1-255 chars. MCP:
idempotencyKey.
Example
# 1. Dry run: the exact cost, nothing is spent.
curl https://api.clippie.ai/v1/ai/speech \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $CLIPPIE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"text": "Clippie turns your ideas into finished videos.",
"voiceId": "VOICE_ID",
"dryRun": true
}'
# => { "dryRun": true, "estimate": { "credits": ..., "minutes": { ... }, "wouldSucceed": true } }
# 2. The real call. Keep the key and send the same one if you retry, so it is never charged twice.
KEY=$(uuidgen)
curl https://api.clippie.ai/v1/ai/speech \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $CLIPPIE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: $KEY" \
-d '{
"text": "Clippie turns your ideas into finished videos.",
"voiceId": "VOICE_ID"
}'
# => 202 { "job": { "id": "job_...", "status": "queued", ... } }import { randomUUID } from 'node:crypto';
const auth = { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.CLIPPIE_API_KEY}` };
const input = {
"text": "Clippie turns your ideas into finished videos.",
"voiceId": "VOICE_ID"
};
async function call(body, headers = {}) {
const res = await fetch('https://api.clippie.ai/v1/ai/speech', {
method: 'POST',
headers: { ...auth, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', ...headers },
body: JSON.stringify(body),
});
const json = await res.json();
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${json.error.type}: ${json.error.message}`);
return json;
}
// 1. Dry run: the exact cost, nothing is spent. Confirm it before going on.
const { estimate } = await call({ ...input, dryRun: true });
console.log(estimate); // { credits, minutes, wouldSucceed, reason }
// 2. Create. Keep the key and reuse it on retries, so a retry never charges twice.
let { job } = await call(input, { 'Idempotency-Key': randomUUID() });
// 3. Wait. Each call holds for up to 30 seconds until the job changes.
while (!['completed', 'failed', 'canceled'].includes(job.status)) {
const res = await fetch(`https://api.clippie.ai/v1/jobs/${job.id}?wait=30`, { headers: auth });
({ job } = await res.json());
}
console.log(job.status, job.output);Response
202 { job }: the job, straight away. Wait for it with Get job (?wait=30) or a webhookUrl; see Jobs and waiting. With "dryRun": true the answer is 200 { dryRun: true, estimate } and nothing is started.
{
"job": {
"id": "job_abc123",
"object": "job",
"kind": "text_to_speech",
"status": "queued",
"step": null,
"progress": null,
"input": {
"prompt": "The lost library of Alexandria"
},
"output": null,
"cost": {
"credits": 0,
"minutes": {
"voiceover": 1,
"captions": 1,
"export": 1
}
},
"error": null,
"source": "api",
"webhookUrl": null,
"createdAt": "2026-10-24T12:00:00.000Z",
"startedAt": null,
"completedAt": null
}
}{
"dryRun": true,
"estimate": {
"credits": 0,
"minutes": {
"voiceover": 0,
"captions": 0,
"export": 0
},
"wouldSucceed": true
}
}From an MCP client
Your AI calls text_to_speech with the same fields as JSON arguments, plus idempotencyKey instead of the header. See MCP server to connect one.
{
"name": "text_to_speech",
"arguments": {
"text": "Clippie turns your ideas into finished videos.",
"voiceId": "VOICE_ID",
"idempotencyKey": "a-unique-key-per-thing-you-make"
}
}