Intonate

A lightweight command-line engine that converts Markdown into expressive SSML for natural-sounding text-to-speech output.

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🚀 What It Does

Intonate is a rules-based preprocessor that scans plain text or Markdown and applies SSML tags (like <break>, <prosody>, <emphasis>) using a configurable YAML ruleset. It outputs voice-friendly SSML ready for use with TTS systems like ElevenLabs or Amazon Polly.

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⚙️ How to Use

✅ Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• Install pyyaml:

  pip install pyyaml

▶️ CLI Usage

python3 engine.py --input input/sample.md --config config/default.yaml --output output/output.ssml

📁 Project Structure

intonate/
├── engine.py                 # Main CLI engine
├── config/
│   └── default.yaml          # YAML tagging rules
├── input/
│   └── sample.md             # Example Markdown input
├── output/
│   └── output.ssml           # SSML output
└── README.md                 # Project documentation

✨ Example Output

Input (sample.md):

Introduction

This is a test of the Intonate engine.

Features

• Lightweight
• Configurable
• Fun to build

Output (output.ssml):

Introduction

This is a test of the Intonate engine.

Features

Lightweight Configurable Fun to build

📌 Roadmap (Coming Soon)

• Support for wrapper

• Inline voice and emotion tags

• Speech Markdown output format

• Config profiles (e.g., "narrator", "tutorial", "story")

Brian Shand
GitHub Profile
📧 brianshand.dev@gmail.com