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bland-tts is a focused text-to-speech and voice toolkit for Bland AI. Three modes ship in one package: a CLI, a Node library (BlandTtsClient), and an MCP server.

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bland-tts vs. bland-cli

bland-cli is the full kitchen sink — calls, pathways, scenarios, knowledge bases, personas, batch campaigns. Big install, broad surface. bland-tts is for projects that just need speech: a podcast generator, a voice notification system, an experimentation harness for prompt phrasing. Tiny dependency footprint (chalk, commander, ora). Library-first design means you can drop the MCP server and import BlandTtsClient directly. If you need the full Bland API surface, use bland-cli. If you only need speech synthesis and voice management, use bland-tts.

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Install

# Install globally for CLI use
npm install -g bland-tts

# Or install per-project as a library
npm install bland-tts

# Or run without installing
npx bland-tts speak "hello world"
Requirements: Node.js 20+

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Authentication

Set your Bland API key in the environment: 
export BLAND_API_KEY=org_your_key_here
You can also pass apiKey directly to the BlandTtsClient constructor when using the library.

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Default voices

When you call speak() without specifying a voice, one is picked at random from:
  • Karen
  • Valentine Experimental
  • Willow
To lock a single default for a process, pass defaultVoice to the client constructor. To opt out and let the server choose, pass defaultVoice: null. The CLI surfaces which voice was actually used (voice_used in --json, dimmed line otherwise).

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CLI

# Speak some text — voice picked from the rotation
bland-tts speak "Hey, thanks for calling Maple Vet"
# → "voice: Karen" (or Valentine Experimental, or Willow)

# Pin a specific voice
bland-tts speak "Hello world" --voice maya -o hello.mp3
bland-tts speak "Hola" --language es --json

# Voices
bland-tts voices                       # list
bland-tts voices --custom              # only voices you've cloned
bland-tts voice maya                   # full details for one voice

# Voice cloning (BTTS v2)
bland-tts clone "MyVoice" sample1.wav sample2.wav
bland-tts rename <voice_id> "NewName"
bland-tts delete <voice_id>

# Browse stored TTS generations (auto-stored from `speak`)
bland-tts samples list
bland-tts samples list --voice <voice_id> --limit 10
bland-tts samples get <sample_id> -o sample.mp3
Every command supports --json for scripting.

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Library

import { BlandTtsClient } from "bland-tts";
import fs from "node:fs/promises";

const tts = new BlandTtsClient(); // reads BLAND_API_KEY from env

// One-shot synthesis to a file
const { audio } = await tts.speakToBuffer({
  text: "Hello world",
  voice: "maya",
});
await fs.writeFile("out.mp3", audio);

// Just get the URL
const res = await tts.speak({ text: "Hi", voice: "nat", language: "en" });
console.log(res.url);

// Voices
const voices = await tts.listVoices();
const maya = await tts.getVoice("maya");

// Clone
await tts.cloneVoice({
  name: "MyVoice",
  samples: [
    { filename: "a.wav", content: await fs.readFile("a.wav") },
  ],
});

// Manage
await tts.renameVoice(voiceId, "NewName");
await tts.deleteVoice(voiceId);

// Stored samples
const recent = await tts.listSamples({ limit: 10 });
const sample = await tts.getSample(recent[0].id);

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Library API

MethodEndpointNotes
speak({text, voice?, language?})POST /v1/speakReturns {url, sample_id}. Auto-stores.
speakToBuffer({...})(same) + downloadOne-call synth-and-download. Returns Uint8Array.
listVoices()GET /v1/voicesAll voices on your account.
getVoice(idOrName)GET /v1/voices/:idAccepts UUID or name.
cloneVoice({name, samples})POST /v1/voices/cloneMultipart. name ≤ 30 chars.
renameVoice(id, name)PATCH /v1/voices/:id
deleteVoice(id)DELETE /v1/voices/:idPermanent.
listSamples({voiceId?, limit?, offset?})GET /v1/speak/samplesPast speak() outputs.
getSample(id)GET /v1/speak/samples/:idOne sample by ID.
All methods throw BlandApiError (with .status and .body) on API failures.

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MCP server

Hook into Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop, Windsurf, and other MCP-compatible clients. Add to ~/.config/claude-code/mcp.json (or your client’s equivalent): 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bland-tts": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "bland-tts", "mcp"],
      "env": { "BLAND_API_KEY": "org_your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

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Tools exposed

ToolDoes what
tts_speakConvert text to speech with a chosen voice
tts_voices_listList voices on your account
tts_voice_getDetails for one voice (by ID or name)
tts_voice_renameRename a cloned voice
tts_voice_deleteDelete a cloned voice
tts_samples_listBrowse past TTS generations
tts_sample_getFetch one stored generation
Voice cloning is intentionally CLI-only since multipart file uploads aren’t well-suited to stdio JSON-RPC. Use bland-tts clone <name> <files...> for that.

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Environment Variables

VariablePurpose
BLAND_API_KEYYour Bland API key
Docs for agents: llms.txt