VoiceFlow Reader — VS Code Extension

Read text documents with full Unicode / Cyrillic support.

Free, local, no API keys — uses your operating system's built-in TTS.

Features

🔊 Read entire documents, from cursor, or selected text
⏯️ Pause, resume, and stop controls
🎯 Highlights the currently spoken sentence
🌍 Full Unicode support — English, Chinese, Arabic, etc.
🎛️ Editor title bar buttons (Play / Pause / Stop)
🎨 Configurable highlight color
📂 Filter buttons by file type
🗣️ Voice picker from installed system voices
💻 Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Setup

Windows

Voices are provided by SAPI (System.Speech).

Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) → VoiceFlow Reader: Select Voice
Pick Microsoft George Desktop

macOS

Uses the built-in say command. Install additional voices in System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System Voice → Manage Voices.

Linux

Install espeak-ng:

sudo apt install espeak-ng

For Chinese: set voice-flow-reader.voice to zh.

Commands

Command	Description
VoiceFlow Reader: Speak Document	Read the entire document from the beginning
VoiceFlow Reader: Speak From Cursor	Read from the cursor position to the end
VoiceFlow Reader: Speak Selection	Read the selected text only
VoiceFlow Reader: Pause	Pause playback
VoiceFlow Reader: Resume	Resume paused playback
VoiceFlow Reader: Stop	Stop playback and reset position
VoiceFlow Reader: Select Voice	Pick from installed system voices

Editor Buttons

Play, Pause, and Stop buttons appear in the top-right corner of the editor:

State	Buttons
Stopped	▶ Play
Playing	⏸ Pause · ⏹ Stop
Paused	▶ Resume · ⏹ Stop

Buttons can be hidden entirely or shown only for specific file types (see Settings below).

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`voice-flow-reader.voice`	`""`	Voice name. Leave empty for system default. Use Select Voice command to browse.
`voice-flow-reader.speed`	`1.0`	Speech speed multiplier (`0.1` – `5.0`)
`voice-flow-reader.highlightColor`	`rgba(255,255,0,0.3)`	Background color for the currently spoken sentence
`voice-flow-reader.showEditorButtons`	`true`	Show Play / Pause / Stop buttons in the editor title bar
`voice-flow-reader.fileExtensions`	`["*"]`	File extensions to show buttons for. Use `["*"]` for all files.

Example Configurations

// Show buttons only for Markdown and plain text
{
  "voice-flow-reader.showEditorButtons": true,
  "voice-flow-reader.fileExtensions": ["md", "txt"]
}

// Hide buttons entirely (commands still available via Command Palette)
{
  "voice-flow-reader.showEditorButtons": false
}

// English voice at 1.2x speed with custom highlight
{
  "voice-flow-reader.voice": "Microsoft George Desktop",
  "voice-flow-reader.speed": 1.2,
  "voice-flow-reader.highlightColor": "rgba(100, 200, 255, 0.3)"
}

Supported File Types

Format	Extensions
Markdown	`.md`, `.markdown`, `.mdx`, `.mdown`, `.mkd`
Plain text	`.txt`, `.text`, and any other extension

Build

git clone https://github.com/Grim-es/voice-flow-reader.git
cd voice-flow-reader
npm install
npm run build

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host.

Package as VSIX

npm run package

Install the generated .vsix via Extensions → ⋯ → Install from VSIX.

Support

Funding

If you find this extension useful:

License

MIT

VoiceFlow Reader

shotariya