feat: move voice enable/model config to admin UI

Replace VOICE_ENABLED env var gate with DB-backed admin setting.

- services/voice_config.py: reads voice_enabled + voice_stt_model from
  admin user's settings row (falls back to env var defaults)
- routes/admin.py: GET/PUT /api/admin/voice for admin configuration
- routes/voice.py, services/stt.py, services/tts.py: read enabled/model
  from DB via voice_config instead of Config directly
- app.py: always schedule model loaders at startup; they self-gate on
  the DB setting so no conditional needed at the call site
- SettingsView.vue: Voice section in Admin → Config tab (enable toggle +
  STT model dropdown); user Voice tab now points to admin panel when disabled

No env var required to test — enable via Settings → Admin → Config → Voice.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue

@@ -445,6 +445,29 @@ const baseUrl = ref("");
 const savingBaseUrl = ref(false);
 const baseUrlSaved = ref(false);
 
+// Voice config (admin only)
+const adminVoiceEnabled = ref(false);
+const adminVoiceSttModel = ref("base.en");
+const savingAdminVoice = ref(false);
+const adminVoiceSaved = ref(false);
+
+async function saveAdminVoice() {
+  savingAdminVoice.value = true;
+  adminVoiceSaved.value = false;
+  try {
+    await apiPut("/api/admin/voice", {
+      voice_enabled: adminVoiceEnabled.value,
+      voice_stt_model: adminVoiceSttModel.value,
+    });
+    adminVoiceSaved.value = true;
+    setTimeout(() => { adminVoiceSaved.value = false; }, 2000);
+    // Refresh the user-facing voice status after toggling
+    voiceTabLoaded.value = false;
+  } finally {
+    savingAdminVoice.value = false;
+  }
+}
+
 // Search test (SearXNG)
 const searxngConfigured = ref(false);
 const searxngUrl = ref("");
@@ -565,6 +588,13 @@ onMounted(async () => {
     } catch {
       // base URL not configured yet
     }
+    try {
+      const vc = await apiGet<Record<string, string>>("/api/admin/voice");
+      adminVoiceEnabled.value = vc.voice_enabled === "true";
+      adminVoiceSttModel.value = vc.voice_stt_model ?? "base.en";
+    } catch {
+      // voice not configured yet
+    }
   }
   _loadTabContent(activeTab.value);
 });
@@ -1888,9 +1918,8 @@ function formatUserDate(iso: string): string {
         </div>
 
         <div v-if="!voiceStatus?.enabled" class="field-hint" style="margin-top:0.75rem;">
-          Set <code>VOICE_ENABLED=true</code> in your server environment to activate voice features.
-          Optionally set <code>STT_MODEL</code> (tiny.en / base.en / small.en / medium.en) and
-          install <code>pip install fabledassistant[voice]</code>.
+          Voice is disabled. An administrator can enable it under
+          <strong>Admin → Config → Voice</strong>.
         </div>
       </section>
 
@@ -2146,6 +2175,38 @@ FABLE_API_KEY=&lt;your-api-key&gt;</pre>
         </div>
       </section>
 
+      <section class="settings-section full-width">
+        <h2>Voice (Speech-to-Speech)</h2>
+        <p class="section-desc">
+          Enable self-hosted voice using faster-whisper (STT) and Kokoro (TTS).
+          Models load at startup — a server restart is required after changing these settings.
+          Install dependencies first: <code>pip install faster-whisper kokoro soundfile</code>
+        </p>
+        <div class="checkbox-field">
+          <label>
+            <input type="checkbox" v-model="adminVoiceEnabled" />
+            Enable Voice
+          </label>
+          <p class="field-hint">Shows the PTT button and voice settings to all users.</p>
+        </div>
+        <div v-if="adminVoiceEnabled" class="field" style="max-width:280px; margin-top:0.75rem;">
+          <label for="stt-model">STT Model</label>
+          <select id="stt-model" v-model="adminVoiceSttModel" class="input">
+            <option value="tiny.en">tiny.en — fastest, lowest accuracy (~75 MB)</option>
+            <option value="base.en">base.en — balanced (recommended, ~145 MB)</option>
+            <option value="small.en">small.en — better accuracy (~465 MB)</option>
+            <option value="medium.en">medium.en — best accuracy (~1.5 GB)</option>
+          </select>
+          <p class="field-hint">Larger models are more accurate but use more RAM and take longer to load.</p>
+        </div>
+        <div class="actions" style="margin-top:0.85rem;">
+          <button class="btn-save" @click="saveAdminVoice" :disabled="savingAdminVoice">
+            {{ adminVoiceSaved ? 'Saved ✓' : savingAdminVoice ? 'Saving…' : 'Save' }}
+          </button>
+          <span v-if="adminVoiceSaved" class="field-hint">Restart the server to apply model changes.</span>
+        </div>
+      </section>
+
     </div>
 
     <!-- ── Users ── -->

src/fabledassistant/app.py

@@ -266,12 +266,11 @@ def create_app() -> Quart:
         from fabledassistant.services.briefing_scheduler import start_briefing_scheduler
         await start_briefing_scheduler(asyncio.get_running_loop())
 
-        # Voice model loading (only when feature is enabled)
-        if Config.VOICE_ENABLED:
-            from fabledassistant.services.stt import load_stt_model
-            from fabledassistant.services.tts import load_tts_model
-            asyncio.create_task(load_stt_model())
-            asyncio.create_task(load_tts_model())
+        # Voice model loading (enabled via Admin → Config in the UI, or VOICE_ENABLED env var)
+        from fabledassistant.services.stt import load_stt_model
+        from fabledassistant.services.tts import load_tts_model
+        asyncio.create_task(load_stt_model())
+        asyncio.create_task(load_tts_model())
 
     @app.after_serving
     async def shutdown():

src/fabledassistant/routes/admin.py

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from fabledassistant.services.backup import (
     restore_full_backup,
 )
 from fabledassistant.services.email import SMTP_SETTING_KEYS, get_base_url, get_smtp_config, is_smtp_configured, send_test_email
+from fabledassistant.services.voice_config import get_voice_config
 from fabledassistant.services.logging import get_logs, get_log_stats, log_audit
 from fabledassistant.services.notifications import send_invitation_email
 from fabledassistant.services.settings import set_setting, set_settings_batch
@@ -200,6 +201,33 @@ async def update_base_url():
     return jsonify({"status": "ok"})
 
 
+@admin_bp.route("/voice", methods=["GET"])
+@admin_required
+async def get_voice_config_route():
+    config = await get_voice_config()
+    return jsonify(config)
+
+
+@admin_bp.route("/voice", methods=["PUT"])
+@admin_required
+async def update_voice_config():
+    data = await request.get_json()
+    uid = get_current_user_id()
+    valid_models = {"tiny.en", "base.en", "small.en", "medium.en"}
+    settings: dict[str, str] = {}
+    if "voice_enabled" in data:
+        settings["voice_enabled"] = "true" if data["voice_enabled"] else "false"
+    if "voice_stt_model" in data:
+        model = str(data["voice_stt_model"])
+        if model not in valid_models:
+            return jsonify({"error": f"Invalid STT model. Choose from: {', '.join(sorted(valid_models))}"}), 400
+        settings["voice_stt_model"] = model
+    if settings:
+        await set_settings_batch(uid, settings)
+    await log_audit("voice_config", user_id=uid, username=g.user.username, ip_address=request.remote_addr, details=settings)
+    return jsonify({"status": "ok"})
+
+
 @admin_bp.route("/invitations", methods=["POST"])
 @admin_required
 async def create_invite():

src/fabledassistant/routes/voice.py

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import time
 from quart import Blueprint, jsonify, request
 
 from fabledassistant.auth import login_required
-from fabledassistant.config import Config
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -16,18 +15,22 @@ voice_bp = Blueprint("voice", __name__, url_prefix="/api/voice")
 @login_required
 async def voice_status():
     """Return availability of STT and TTS services."""
-    if not Config.VOICE_ENABLED:
-        return jsonify({"enabled": False, "stt": False, "tts": False})
-
+    from fabledassistant.services.voice_config import get_voice_config
     from fabledassistant.services.stt import stt_available
     from fabledassistant.services.tts import tts_available
 
+    config = await get_voice_config()
+    enabled = config.get("voice_enabled", "false").lower() in ("1", "true", "yes")
+
+    if not enabled:
+        return jsonify({"enabled": False, "stt": False, "tts": False})
+
     return jsonify({
         "enabled": True,
         "stt": stt_available(),
         "tts": tts_available(),
-        "stt_model": Config.STT_MODEL,
-        "tts_backend": Config.TTS_BACKEND,
+        "stt_model": config.get("voice_stt_model", "base.en"),
+        "tts_backend": "kokoro",
     })
 
 
@@ -35,7 +38,8 @@ async def voice_status():
 @login_required
 async def list_voices():
     """Return available Kokoro voice IDs and labels."""
-    if not Config.VOICE_ENABLED:
+    from fabledassistant.services.voice_config import is_voice_enabled
+    if not await is_voice_enabled():
         return jsonify({"error": "Voice feature is disabled"}), 503
 
     from fabledassistant.services.tts import list_voices, tts_available
@@ -54,7 +58,8 @@ async def transcribe_audio():
     Request: multipart/form-data with field 'audio' (WebM/Opus blob)
     Response: {"transcript": "...", "duration_ms": 123}
     """
-    if not Config.VOICE_ENABLED:
+    from fabledassistant.services.voice_config import is_voice_enabled
+    if not await is_voice_enabled():
         return jsonify({"error": "Voice feature is disabled"}), 503
 
     from fabledassistant.services.stt import stt_available, transcribe
@@ -95,7 +100,8 @@ async def synthesise_speech():
     Request body: {"text": "...", "voice": "af_heart", "speed": 1.0}
     Response: audio/wav bytes
     """
-    if not Config.VOICE_ENABLED:
+    from fabledassistant.services.voice_config import is_voice_enabled
+    if not await is_voice_enabled():
         return jsonify({"error": "Voice feature is disabled"}), 503
 
     from fabledassistant.services.tts import synthesise, tts_available

src/fabledassistant/services/stt.py

@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@ _load_error: str | None = None
 
 
 async def load_stt_model() -> None:
-    """Load the Whisper model. Called once at startup when VOICE_ENABLED=true."""
+    """Load the Whisper model. Called once at startup when voice is enabled."""
     global _model, _load_error
-    from fabledassistant.config import Config
+    from fabledassistant.services.voice_config import get_stt_model, is_voice_enabled
 
-    if not Config.VOICE_ENABLED:
+    if not await is_voice_enabled():
         return
 
     async with _model_lock:
@@ -29,15 +29,16 @@ async def load_stt_model() -> None:
         try:
             from faster_whisper import WhisperModel
 
-            logger.info("Loading Whisper STT model '%s'...", Config.STT_MODEL)
+            model_name = await get_stt_model()
+            logger.info("Loading Whisper STT model '%s'...", model_name)
             loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
             _model = await loop.run_in_executor(
                 None,
-                lambda: WhisperModel(Config.STT_MODEL, device="cpu", compute_type="int8"),
+                lambda: WhisperModel(model_name, device="cpu", compute_type="int8"),
             )
-            logger.info("Whisper STT model '%s' loaded", Config.STT_MODEL)
+            logger.info("Whisper STT model '%s' loaded", model_name)
         except Exception:
-            _load_error = f"Failed to load Whisper model '{Config.STT_MODEL}'"
+            _load_error = "Failed to load Whisper STT model"
             logger.exception(_load_error)
 
 

src/fabledassistant/services/tts.py

@@ -31,11 +31,11 @@ _VOICES: list[dict] = [
 
 
 async def load_tts_model() -> None:
-    """Load the Kokoro pipeline. Called once at startup when VOICE_ENABLED=true."""
+    """Load the Kokoro pipeline. Called once at startup when voice is enabled."""
     global _pipeline, _load_error
-    from fabledassistant.config import Config
+    from fabledassistant.services.voice_config import is_voice_enabled
 
-    if not Config.VOICE_ENABLED:
+    if not await is_voice_enabled():
         return
 
     async with _pipeline_lock:

src/fabledassistant/services/voice_config.py

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+"""System-wide voice configuration stored in the admin user's settings row.
+
+Falls back to Config env vars so operators can still seed defaults via the
+environment without touching the UI.
+"""
+from sqlalchemy import select
+
+from fabledassistant.config import Config
+from fabledassistant.models import async_session
+from fabledassistant.models.setting import Setting
+from fabledassistant.models.user import User
+
+VOICE_SETTING_KEYS = ("voice_enabled", "voice_stt_model")
+
+
+async def get_voice_config() -> dict[str, str]:
+    """Return voice config, preferring DB values over env-var defaults."""
+    config: dict[str, str] = {
+        "voice_enabled": "true" if Config.VOICE_ENABLED else "false",
+        "voice_stt_model": Config.STT_MODEL,
+    }
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        result = await session.execute(
+            select(Setting)
+            .join(User, Setting.user_id == User.id)
+            .where(User.role == "admin", Setting.key.in_(VOICE_SETTING_KEYS))
+        )
+        for setting in result.scalars().all():
+            config[setting.key] = setting.value
+    return config
+
+
+async def is_voice_enabled() -> bool:
+    config = await get_voice_config()
+    return config.get("voice_enabled", "false").lower() in ("1", "true", "yes")
+
+
+async def get_stt_model() -> str:
+    config = await get_voice_config()
+    return config.get("voice_stt_model", Config.STT_MODEL)