# CLAUDE.md — Home AI Assistant Project

## Project Overview

A self-hosted, always-on personal AI assistant running on a **Mac Mini M4 Pro (64GB RAM, 1TB SSD)**. The goal is a modular, expandable system that replaces commercial smart home speakers (Google Home etc.) with a locally-run AI that has a defined personality, voice, visual representation, and full smart home integration.

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## Hardware

| Component | Spec |
|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M4 Pro |
| CPU | 14-core |
| GPU | 20-core |
| Neural Engine | 16-core |
| RAM | 64GB unified memory |
| Storage | 1TB SSD |
| Network | Gigabit Ethernet |

Primary LLMs are Claude 4.5/4.6 family via Anthropic API (Haiku for quick, Sonnet for standard, Opus for creative/RP). Local Ollama models available as fallback. All other inference (STT, TTS, image gen) runs locally.

---

## Core Stack

### AI & LLM
- **Claude 4.5/4.6 family** — primary LLMs via Anthropic API, tiered per prompt style: Haiku 4.5 (quick commands), Sonnet 4.6 (standard/creative), Opus 4.6 (roleplay/storytelling)
- **Ollama** — local LLM runtime (fallback models: Llama 3.3 70B, Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B, Qwen 2.5 7B)
- **Model keep-warm daemon** — `preload-models.sh` runs as a loop, checks every 5 min, re-pins evicted models with `keep_alive=-1`. Keeps `qwen2.5:7b` (small/fast) and `$HOMEAI_MEDIUM_MODEL` (default: `qwen3.5:35b-a3b`) always loaded in VRAM. Medium model is configurable via env var for per-persona model assignment.
- **Open WebUI** — browser-based chat interface, runs as Docker container

### Image Generation
- **ComfyUI** — primary image generation UI, node-based workflows
- Target models: SDXL, Flux.1, ControlNet
- Runs via Metal (Apple GPU API)

### Speech
- **Whisper.cpp** — speech-to-text, optimised for Apple Silicon/Neural Engine
- **Kokoro TTS** — fast, lightweight text-to-speech (primary, low-latency, local)
- **ElevenLabs TTS** — cloud voice cloning/synthesis (per-character voice ID, routed via state file)
- **Chatterbox TTS** — voice cloning engine (Apple Silicon MPS optimised)
- **Qwen3-TTS** — alternative voice cloning via MLX
- **openWakeWord** — always-on wake word detection

### Smart Home
- **Home Assistant** — smart home control platform (Docker)
- **Wyoming Protocol** — bridges Whisper STT + Kokoro/Piper TTS into Home Assistant
- **Music Assistant** — self-hosted music control (Docker on Pi at 10.0.0.199:8095), Spotify + SMB library + Chromecast players
- **Snapcast** — multi-room synchronised audio output

### AI Agent / Orchestration
- **OpenClaw** — primary AI agent layer; receives voice commands, calls tools, manages personality
- **OpenClaw Skills** — 13 skills total: home-assistant, image-generation, voice-assistant, vtube-studio, memory, service-monitor, character, routine, music, workflow, gitea, calendar, mode
- **n8n** — visual workflow automation (Docker), chains AI actions
- **Character Memory System** — SQLite + sqlite-vec semantic search (personal per-character + general shared + follow-ups), injected into LLM system prompt with context-aware retrieval
- **Prompt Styles** — 6 styles (quick, standard, creative, roleplayer, game-master, storyteller) with per-style model routing, temperature, and section stripping. JSON templates in `homeai-agent/prompt-styles/`
- **Public/Private Mode** — routes requests to local Ollama (private) or cloud LLMs (public) with per-category overrides via `active-mode.json`. Default primary model is Claude Sonnet 4.6, with per-style model tiering (Haiku/Sonnet/Opus).

### Character & Personality
- **Character Schema v2** — JSON spec with background, dialogue_style, appearance, skills, gaze_presets, dream_id, gaze_character, prompt style overrides (v1 auto-migrated)
- **HomeAI Dashboard** — unified web app: character editor, chat, memory manager, service dashboard
- **Dream** — character management service (http://10.0.0.101:3000), REST API for character CRUD with GAZE integration for cover images
- **Character MCP Server** — LLM-assisted character creation via Fandom wiki/Wikipedia lookup (Docker)
- **GAZE** — image generation service (http://10.0.0.101:5782), REST API for presets, characters, and job-based image generation
- Character config stored as JSON files in `~/homeai-data/characters/`, consumed by bridge for system prompt construction

### Visual Representation
- **VTube Studio** — Live2D model display on desktop (macOS) and mobile (iOS/Android)
- VTube Studio WebSocket API used to drive expressions from the AI pipeline
- **LVGL** — simplified animated face on ESP32-S3-BOX-3 units
- Live2D model: to be sourced/commissioned (nizima.com or booth.pm)

### Room Presence (Smart Speaker Replacement)
- **ESP32-S3-BOX-3** units — one per room
- Flashed with **ESPHome**
- Acts as Wyoming Satellite (mic input → Mac Mini → TTS audio back)
- LVGL display shows animated face + status info
- Communicates over local WiFi

### Infrastructure
- **Docker Desktop for Mac** — containerises Home Assistant, Open WebUI, n8n, etc.
- **Tailscale** — secure remote access to all services, no port forwarding
- **Authelia** — 2FA authentication layer for exposed web UIs
- **Portainer** — Docker container management UI
- **Uptime Kuma** — service health monitoring and mobile alerts
- **Gitea** — self-hosted Git server for all project code and configs
- **code-server** — browser-based VS Code for remote development

---

## Voice Pipeline (End-to-End)

```
ESP32-S3-BOX-3 (room)
  → Wake word detected (openWakeWord, runs locally on device or Mac Mini)
  → Audio streamed to Mac Mini via Wyoming Satellite
  → Whisper MLX transcribes speech to text
  → HA conversation agent → OpenClaw HTTP Bridge
  → Bridge resolves character (satellite_id → character mapping)
  → Bridge builds system prompt (profile + memories) and writes TTS config to state file
  → Bridge checks active-mode.json for model routing (private=local, public=cloud)
  → OpenClaw CLI → LLM generates response (Claude Haiku/Sonnet/Opus per style, Ollama fallback)
  → Response dispatched:
      → Wyoming TTS reads state file → routes to Kokoro (local) or ElevenLabs (cloud)
      → Audio sent back to ESP32-S3-BOX-3 (spoken response)
      → VTube Studio API triggered (expression + lip sync on desktop/mobile)
      → Home Assistant action called if applicable (lights, music, etc.)
```

### Timeout Strategy

The HTTP bridge checks Ollama `/api/ps` before each request to determine if the LLM is already loaded:

| Layer | Warm (model loaded) | Cold (model loading) |
|---|---|---|
| HA conversation component | 200s | 200s |
| OpenClaw HTTP bridge | 60s | 180s |
| OpenClaw agent | 60s | 60s |

The keep-warm daemon ensures models stay loaded, so cold starts should be rare (only after Ollama restarts or VRAM pressure).

---

## Character System

The AI assistant has a defined personality managed via the HomeAI Dashboard (character editor + memory manager).

### Character Schema v2

Each character is a JSON file in `~/homeai-data/characters/` with:
- **System prompt** — core personality, injected into every LLM request
- **Profile fields** — background, appearance, dialogue_style, skills array
- **TTS config** — engine (kokoro/elevenlabs), kokoro_voice, elevenlabs_voice_id, elevenlabs_model, speed
- **GAZE presets** — array of `{preset, trigger}` for image generation styles
- **Dream link** — `dream_id` for syncing character data from Dream service
- **GAZE link** — `gaze_character` for auto-assigned cover image and presets
- **Prompt style config** — `default_prompt_style`, `prompt_style_overrides` for per-style tuning
- **Custom prompt rules** — trigger/response overrides for specific contexts

### Memory System

SQLite + sqlite-vec database at `~/homeai-data/memories/memories.db`:
- **Personal memories** — per-character, semantic/episodic/relational/opinion types
- **General memories** — shared operational knowledge (character_id = "general")
- **Follow-ups** — LLM-driven questions injected into system prompt, auto-resolve after 2 surfacings or 48h
- **Privacy levels** — public, sensitive, local_only (local_only excluded from cloud model requests)
- **Semantic search** — sentence-transformers all-MiniLM-L6-v2 embeddings (384 dims) for context-aware retrieval
- Core module: `homeai-agent/memory_store.py` (imported by bridge + memory-ctl skill)

### Prompt Styles

Six response styles in `homeai-agent/prompt-styles/`, each a JSON template with model, temperature, and instructions:
- **quick** — Claude Haiku 4.5, low temp, brief responses, strips profile sections
- **standard** — Claude Sonnet 4.6, balanced
- **creative** — Claude Sonnet 4.6, higher temp, elaborative
- **roleplayer** — Claude Opus 4.6, full personality injection
- **game-master** — Claude Opus 4.6, narrative-focused
- **storyteller** — Claude Opus 4.6, story-centric

Style selection: dashboard chat has a style picker; characters can set `default_prompt_style`; satellites use the global active style. Bridge resolves model per style → group → mode → default.

### TTS Voice Routing

The bridge writes the active character's TTS config to `~/homeai-data/active-tts-voice.json` before each request. The Wyoming TTS server reads this state file to determine which engine/voice to use:
- **Kokoro** — local, fast, uses `kokoro_voice` field (e.g., `af_heart`)
- **ElevenLabs** — cloud, uses `elevenlabs_voice_id` + `elevenlabs_model`, returns PCM 24kHz

This works for both ESP32/HA pipeline and dashboard chat.

---

## Project Priorities

1. **Foundation** — Docker stack up (Home Assistant, Open WebUI, Portainer, Uptime Kuma) ✅
2. **LLM** — Ollama running with target models, Open WebUI connected ✅
3. **Voice pipeline** — Whisper → Ollama → Kokoro → Wyoming → Home Assistant ✅
4. **OpenClaw** — installed, onboarded, connected to Ollama and Home Assistant ✅
5. **ESP32-S3-BOX-3** — ESPHome flash, Wyoming Satellite, display faces ✅
6. **Character system** — schema v2, dashboard editor, memory system, per-character TTS routing ✅
7. **OpenClaw skills expansion** — 9 new skills (memory, monitor, character, routine, music, workflow, gitea, calendar, mode) + public/private mode routing ✅
8. **Music Assistant** — deployed on Pi (10.0.0.199:8095), Spotify + SMB + Chromecast players ✅
9. **Memory v2 + Prompt Styles + Dream/GAZE** — SQLite memory with semantic search, 6 prompt styles with model tiering, Dream character import, GAZE character linking ✅
10. **Animated visual** — PNG/GIF character visual for the web assistant (initial visual layer)
11. **Android app** — companion app for mobile access to the assistant
12. **ComfyUI** — image generation online, character-consistent model workflows
13. **Extended integrations** — Snapcast, code-server
14. **Polish** — Authelia, Tailscale hardening, iOS widgets

### Stretch Goals
- **Live2D / VTube Studio** — full Live2D model with WebSocket API bridge (requires learning Live2D tooling)

---

## Key Paths & Conventions

- Launchd plists (source): `homeai-*/launchd/` (symlinked to `~/Library/LaunchAgents/`)
- Docker compose (Mac Mini): `homeai-infra/docker/docker-compose.yml`
- Docker compose (Pi/SELBINA): `~/docker/selbina/` on 10.0.0.199
- OpenClaw skills: `~/.openclaw/skills/`
- OpenClaw workspace tools: `~/.openclaw/workspace/TOOLS.md`
- OpenClaw config: `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json`
- Character configs: `~/homeai-data/characters/`
- Character memories DB: `~/homeai-data/memories/memories.db`
- Memory store module: `homeai-agent/memory_store.py`
- Prompt style templates: `homeai-agent/prompt-styles/`
- Active prompt style: `~/homeai-data/active-prompt-style.json`
- Conversation history: `~/homeai-data/conversations/`
- Active TTS state: `~/homeai-data/active-tts-voice.json`
- Active mode state: `~/homeai-data/active-mode.json`
- Satellite → character map: `~/homeai-data/satellite-map.json`
- Local routines: `~/homeai-data/routines/`
- Voice reminders: `~/homeai-data/reminders.json`
- Whisper models: `~/models/whisper/`
- Ollama models: managed by Ollama at `~/.ollama/models/`
- ComfyUI models: `~/ComfyUI/models/`
- Voice reference audio: `~/voices/`
- Gitea repos root: `~/gitea/`
- Music Assistant (Pi): `~/docker/selbina/music-assistant/` on 10.0.0.199
- Skills user guide: `homeai-agent/SKILLS_GUIDE.md`
- Dream service: `http://10.0.0.101:3000` (character management, REST API)
- GAZE service: `http://10.0.0.101:5782` (image generation, REST API)

---

## Notes for Planning

- All services should survive a Mac Mini reboot (launchd or Docker restart policies)
- ESP32-S3-BOX-3 units are dumb satellites — all intelligence stays on Mac Mini
- The character JSON schema (from Character Manager) should be treated as a versioned spec; pipeline components read from it, never hardcode personality values
- OpenClaw skills are the primary extension mechanism — new capabilities = new skills
- Primary LLMs are Claude 4.5/4.6 family (Anthropic API) with per-style tiering; local Ollama models are available as fallback
- Launchd plists are symlinked from repo source to ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ — edit source, then bootout/bootstrap to reload
- Music Assistant runs on Pi (10.0.0.199), not Mac Mini — needs host networking for Chromecast mDNS discovery
- VTube Studio API bridge should be a standalone OpenClaw skill with clear event interface
- Memory DB (`memories.db`) should be backed up as part of regular Gitea commits
- Dream characters can be linked to GAZE characters for cover image fallback and cross-referencing
- Prompt style selection hierarchy: explicit user pick → character default → global active style