# 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 |

All AI inference runs locally on this machine. No cloud dependency required (cloud APIs optional).

---

## Core Stack

### AI & LLM
- **Ollama** — local LLM runtime (target models: Llama 3.3 70B, Qwen 2.5 72B)
- **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, integrates with Home Assistant
- **Snapcast** — multi-room synchronised audio output

### AI Agent / Orchestration
- **OpenClaw** — primary AI agent layer; receives voice commands, calls tools, manages personality
- **n8n** — visual workflow automation (Docker), chains AI actions
- **Character Memory System** — two-tier JSON-based memories (personal per-character + general shared), injected into LLM system prompt with budget truncation

### Character & Personality
- **Character Schema v2** — JSON spec with background, dialogue_style, appearance, skills, gaze_presets (v1 auto-migrated)
- **HomeAI Dashboard** — unified web app: character editor, chat, memory manager, service dashboard
- **Character MCP Server** — LLM-assisted character creation via Fandom wiki/Wikipedia lookup (Docker)
- 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
  → OpenClaw CLI → Ollama LLM generates response
  → 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
- **Custom prompt rules** — trigger/response overrides for specific contexts

### Memory System

Two-tier memory stored as JSON in `~/homeai-data/memories/`:
- **Personal memories** (`personal/{character_id}.json`) — per-character, about user interactions
- **General memories** (`general.json`) — shared operational knowledge (tool usage, device info, routines)

Memories are injected into the system prompt by the bridge with budget truncation (personal: 4000 chars, general: 3000 chars, newest first).

### 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. **Animated visual** — PNG/GIF character visual for the web assistant (initial visual layer)
8. **Android app** — companion app for mobile access to the assistant
9. **ComfyUI** — image generation online, character-consistent model workflows
10. **Extended integrations** — n8n workflows, Music Assistant, Snapcast, Gitea, code-server
11. **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

- All Docker compose files: `~/server/docker/`
- OpenClaw skills: `~/.openclaw/skills/`
- Character configs: `~/homeai-data/characters/`
- Character memories: `~/homeai-data/memories/`
- Conversation history: `~/homeai-data/conversations/`
- Active TTS state: `~/homeai-data/active-tts-voice.json`
- Satellite → character map: `~/homeai-data/satellite-map.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/`

---

## 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
- Prefer local models; cloud API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI) are fallback only
- VTube Studio API bridge should be a standalone OpenClaw skill with clear event interface
- mem0 memory store should be backed up as part of regular Gitea commits