assistant/docs/integrations.md

Vela Integrations and Tool Safety

Current Runtime Baseline

• vela-ui is implemented as a SvelteKit application
• vela-gateway is implemented as a Fastify service
• current integration work beyond the gateway HTTP baseline remains future implementation

STT (Speech-to-Text)

Primary Option

• whisper.cpp

Deployment

• start on NanoPi
• move to NAS if latency is insufficient

Requirements

• streaming transcription
• partial and final output
• low latency, with sub-second response preferred

TTS (Text-to-Speech)

Engine

• Kokoro TTS

Deployment

• prefer NAS for more compute headroom

API Contract

POST /speak
{
  "text": "...",
  "voice": "vela",
  "format": "wav"
}

Requirements

• streaming audio preferred
• low startup latency
• interrupt support

Tool System

Home Assistant Tool

Functions

turn_on(entity_id);
turn_off(entity_id);
set_temperature(entity_id, value);
get_state(entity_id);

Backend

• REST API
• optional Conversation API

Safety

• require confirmation for destructive actions
• require confirmation for irreversible or significant state changes
• keep secrets server-side only

SearXNG Tool

Endpoint

GET /search?q=...&format=json

Flow

• query SearXNG
• return top results
• let the LLM summarize the result set

Safety Rules

• the LLM does not directly control systems
• all external actions go through explicit tool adapters
• Home Assistant write actions require confirmation
• frontend must not contain Home Assistant tokens or other secrets
• ambiguous tool intents should be clarified instead of guessed