Custom wake word for Raspberry Pi

Turn your Pi into a device that wakes to your phrase. The detector runs on the Pi's own CPU, starts on boot, and needs no cloud account.

Train your wake wordStart the guided setup →Test any model in the playground first.
91%of wake word utterances caught, on average, in our benchmark
~45 minfrom typing your phrase to a finished model

Why it works well here

  • ✓Runs on the Pi's CPU, so you do not need an accelerator
  • ✓One small file to copy over with scp
  • ✓Runs as a service, so it comes back after a reboot

How to set it up

  1. 01Train your wake word. Type your phrase on Outspoken and download the model.
  2. 02Set up Python on the Pi. Create a virtual environment and install openwakeword and sounddevice.
  3. 03Copy the model over. Copy the .onnx file to the Pi, for example with scp.
  4. 04Run the detector. Run a short Python script that listens to the microphone and acts when the word is heard.
  5. 05Keep it running. Wrap the script in a systemd service so it starts on boot.
Set up the Pi
python3 -m venv ~/wakeword-env
source ~/wakeword-env/bin/activate
pip install openwakeword sounddevice

Questions

Which Pi do I need?

A Pi 4 or 5 is the best fit. A Pi 3B+ is the minimum. You also need a USB microphone.

Can it control things?

Yes. When it hears you, it can play a sound, call a webhook or switch a GPIO pin. The guide shows all three.

Does it need the internet?

Only to install the software. Detection itself runs offline.

Also runs on

Home AssistantPythonReact NativeBrowser