Markdown TTS

A VS Code extension that reads markdown files aloud and lets you speak into Copilot Chat using your OS's built-in dictation. Works on Windows (SAPI) and macOS (say), with optional Microsoft Edge neural voices (online, high quality). No API keys needed.

Requirements

All platforms

• VS Code 1.80.0 or later
• Internet connection — only if using Edge Neural TTS engine

Windows (Voice Input)

• Windows 10/11 with Voice Typing enabled
• Enable: Settings → Privacy & Security → Speech → Online speech recognition → On
• Test manually: press Win+H anywhere — the Voice Typing toolbar should appear

macOS (Voice Input)

• macOS with Dictation enabled
• Enable: System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation → On
• First run: macOS will prompt for Accessibility permission for VS Code — grant it

Linux

• Edge Neural TTS engine works (requires internet)
• Local TTS and Voice Input are not yet supported

Install

code --install-extension markdown-tts-1.0.0.vsix

Or: Ctrl+Shift+P → Extensions: Install from VSIX… → pick the file.

Features

Text-to-Speech

• Read File Aloud — speak the entire file, or from cursor position if placed mid-file
• Read from Cursor — explicitly read from cursor to end of file
• Read Selection Aloud — speak only highlighted text
• Read Clipboard Aloud — speak copied text (great for chat responses, browser content, etc.)
• Heading Navigation — skip to next/previous heading while reading
• Pause / Resume — temporarily pause and continue speech
• Stop Reading — stop the current speech immediately
• Edge Neural TTS — optional high-quality voices via Microsoft Edge's online service
• List Edge Voices — browse 400+ voices in a searchable picker
• Reading time estimate — shows word count and estimated duration before reading long files
• Speed display — status bar shows current reading speed (e.g. "Reading 1.2x")

Voice Input (Speech-to-Text)

• Voice Input to Chat — triggers OS-native dictation directly into Copilot Chat
• Press Ctrl+Alt+M → Copilot Chat opens → dictation starts → speak → text streams into chat
• Windows: launches Win+H Voice Typing (press Esc to stop)
• macOS: triggers Edit → Start Dictation (press Fn to stop)
• Pre-warmed PowerShell process for near-instant launch on Windows

Smart Markdown Processing

• Strips YAML frontmatter, HTML tags, code blocks, footnotes
• Converts headings to "Heading level N: ..."
• Removes bold/italic/link/image syntax, keeps the text
• Skips tables, horizontal rules, blockquote markers
• Works in markdown preview mode and with unsaved/untitled files

Keyboard Shortcuts

Also available via right-click context menu, Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P → "Markdown TTS"), and title bar icon buttons.

Settings

{
  "markdownTts.engine": "sapi",
  "markdownTts.rate": 2,
  "markdownTts.voice": "",
  "markdownTts.edgeVoice": "en-US-AriaNeural"
}

• engine — "sapi" (local system voice, offline, default) or "edge" (Microsoft Edge neural voices, online)
• rate — Speech rate: -10 to 10. Default 2. Maps to SAPI rate on Windows, WPM on macOS, percentage on Edge.
• voice — Voice name. Windows: SAPI voice (e.g. "Microsoft David Desktop"). macOS: say voice (e.g. "Samantha"). Leave blank for system default.
• edgeVoice — Edge voice name. Default "en-US-AriaNeural". Run Markdown TTS: List Edge Voices to browse.

Platform Support

Architecture

• extension.js — single-file entry point (~700 lines)
• Windows SAPI: spawns PowerShell with System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer
• macOS say: spawns say command, pause/resume via Unix signals
• Edge engine: generates MP3 via node-edge-tts, plays through platform-native player
• Voice Input: pre-warmed PowerShell sends Win+H via keybd_event (Windows) or AppleScript triggers Dictation menu (macOS)
• Pause/resume/stop: control file on Windows, signals (SIGTSTP/SIGCONT) on macOS
• Title bar buttons and status bar indicator for visual control

Troubleshooting

Limitations

• Linux: only Edge engine supported (no local TTS, no voice input)
• Edge engine requires internet — text is sent to Microsoft servers
• Voice Input requires OS-level dictation to be enabled
• Markdown stripping is regex-based, not a full parser