Rime CLI

The Rime CLI is a command-line tool for synthesizing and listening to AI speech. It supports streaming audio generation, live playback with waveform visualization, and multiple output formats.

Installation

curl -fsSL https://rime.ai/install-cli.sh | sh

`rime tts`

Synthesize text to speech. Supports WAV and MP3 formats. The format is automatically selected based on the model: mistv2 and mist output MP3 while arcana and arcanav2 default to WAV but support MP3 as well. Use --format to override.

rime tts TEXT --speaker VOICE --model-id MODEL

Required flags:

Flag	Short	Description
`--speaker`	`-s`	Voice speaker to use (e.g., `astra`, `celeste`, `orion`)
`--model-id`	`-m`	Model ID: `arcana`, `arcanav2`, `mistv2`, or `mist`

Optional flags:

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--output`	`-o`	—	Output file path. Use `-` for stdout. If omitted, plays audio directly
`--play`	`-p`	`false`	Play audio after synthesis (default behavior when no output is specified)
`--lang`	`-l`	`eng`	Language code (e.g., `eng`, `es`, `fra`). Valid codes depend on model
`--format`	`-f`	—	Audio format: `wav` or `mp3` (overrides model default)
`--speed-alpha`	—	`1`	Speed multiplier — must be greater than 0
`--sampling-rate`	—	—	Output sampling rate in Hz. Arcana: `8000`, `16000`, `22050`, `24000`, `44100`, `48000`, `96000`. Mist: `4000`–`44100`
`--api-url`	—	—	API URL (default: `$RIME_API_URL` or `https://users.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts`)

Arcana/arcanav2 flags:

Flag	Default	Description
`--temperature`	`0.5`	Sampling temperature (0–1)
`--top-p`	`1`	Top-p nucleus sampling (0–1)
`--max-tokens`	`1200`	Max output tokens (200–5000)
`--repetition-penalty`	`1.5`	Repetition penalty (1–2)

Mist/mistv2 flags:

Flag	Description
`--no-text-normalization`	Disable text normalization
`--pause-between-brackets`	Insert pause at bracketed markers
`--phonemize-between-brackets`	Phonemize text in brackets
`--inline-speed-alpha`	Comma-separated per-segment speed values
`--save-oovs`	Save out-of-vocabulary words

Examples:

# Play audio directly through speakers
rime tts "Hello world" -s astra -m arcana

# Save to a WAV file
rime tts "Hello world" -s astra -m arcana -o output.wav

# Pipe audio to stdout
rime tts "Hello world" -s astra -m arcana -o - > audio.wav

# Use mistv2 (requires MP3 format)
rime tts "Hello world" -s peak -m mistv2 -f mp3

# Synthesize in Spanish with Arcana
rime tts "Hola mundo" -s astra -m arcana -l es

# JSON output with timing metadata
rime tts "Hello world" -s astra -m arcana -o output.wav --json

Supported languages by model:

Model	Languages
`arcana`	`eng`, `ara`, `fra`, `ger`, `heb`, `hin`, `jpn`, `por`, `sin`, `spa`, `tam` (and ISO 639-1 equivalents)
`arcanav2`	`eng`, `spa`, `ger`, `fra`, `hin` (and ISO 639-1 equivalents)
`mistv2` / `mist`	`eng`, `fra`, `ger`, `spa` (and ISO 639-1 equivalents)

The mist and mistv2 models require --format mp3. The CLI returns an error if you omit it.

`rime hello`

Quick demo that generates a time-appropriate greeting (“good morning/afternoon/evening from Rime AI!”) using the Astra voice on the Arcana model.

rime hello

Optional flags:

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--output`	`-o`	—	Output file path (plays audio by default)
`--api-url`	—	—	API URL override

Examples:

# Play the greeting
rime hello

# Save the greeting to a file
rime hello -o greeting.wav

# Output as JSON
rime hello --json

`rime play`

Play a WAV audio file with terminal waveform visualization.

rime play FILE

Examples:

rime play output.wav

`rime curl`

Generate a curl command for making TTS API requests. The generated command uses $(rime key) as a shell expression, so it resolves your API key automatically when you paste and run it. Run without arguments to see an example.

rime curl [TEXT]

When providing text, --speaker and --model-id are required. When run without arguments, defaults to an example request. Optional flags:

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--speaker`	`-s`	`astra`*	Voice speaker to use
`--model-id`	`-m`	`arcana`*	Model ID
`--lang`	`-l`	`eng`	Language code
`--speed-alpha`	—	`1`	Speed multiplier — must be greater than 0
`--sampling-rate`	—	—	Output sampling rate in Hz. Arcana: `8000`, `16000`, `22050`, `24000`, `44100`, `48000`, `96000`. Mist: `4000`–`44100`
`--oneline`	—	`false`	Output as a single line for easy copy-paste
`--api-url`	—	—	API URL override

Arcana/arcanav2 flags:

Flag	Default	Description
`--temperature`	`0.5`	Sampling temperature (0–1)
`--top-p`	`1`	Top-p nucleus sampling (0–1)
`--max-tokens`	`1200`	Max output tokens (200–5000)
`--repetition-penalty`	`1.5`	Repetition penalty (1–2)

Mist/mistv2 flags:

Flag	Description
`--no-text-normalization`	Disable text normalization
`--pause-between-brackets`	Insert pause at bracketed markers
`--phonemize-between-brackets`	Phonemize text in brackets
`--inline-speed-alpha`	Comma-separated per-segment speed values
`--save-oovs`	Save out-of-vocabulary words

*Defaults apply only when run without arguments. When text is provided, --speaker and --model-id are required. Examples:

# Show example curl command
rime curl

# Generate curl for custom text
rime curl "Hello from Rime" -s celeste -m arcana

# Single-line output
rime curl "Hello" -s astra -m arcana --oneline

Authenticate with Rime. Opens your browser to the Rime dashboard for OAuth-based authentication. A local callback server receives the API key and saves it to ~/.rime/rime.toml.

rime login

No flags. The command validates the API key before saving.

`rime logout`

Remove your saved API key by deleting the config file at ~/.rime/rime.toml.

rime logout

No flags.

`rime key`

Print the resolved API key (no trailing newline). Useful in shell scripts and as a subexpression — rime curl uses $(rime key) in its generated commands.

rime key

No flags. Resolves the key from config or RIME_CLI_API_KEY, using the active environment.

`rime config`

Manage CLI configuration. The config file is TOML-based and lives at ~/.rime/rime.toml.

`rime config init`

Create a new config file. Prompts for an API key interactively.

rime config init

Flag	Default	Description
`--force`	`false`	Overwrite an existing config file

The generated file looks like:

api_key = "your_api_key"
api_url = "https://users.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts"

# [env.example]
# api_url = "https://example.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts"

`rime config list`

List all configured environments.

rime config list

Flag	Default	Description
`--json`	`false`	Output as JSON

`rime config show`

Show the fully resolved configuration for a given environment, including where the API key comes from (config file vs. environment variable).

rime config show

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--env`	`-e`	`default`	Environment to show
`--json`	—	`false`	Output as JSON
`--show-key`	—	`false`	Display the full API key (redacted by default)

Example output:

Environment:  default
API URL:      https://users.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts
API Key:      rime_aHR0cHM6Ly... (redacted)
Auth Prefix:  Bearer
Auth Header:  Authorization: Bearer (redacted)

`rime config add`

Add a named environment to ~/.rime/rime.toml. Prompts interactively for API URL, API key (input hidden), and an optional auth prefix. You cannot add an environment named default — use rime config init to modify the default.

rime config add <name>

Flag	Description
`--url`	API URL (default: `https://users.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts`)
`--key`	API key (skips interactive prompt)
`--auth-prefix`	Auth header prefix, e.g. `Bearer` (optional)

Example:

# Add a staging environment interactively
rime config add staging

# Add an on-prem environment non-interactively
rime config add onprem --url https://rime.internal:8080/v1/rime-tts --key your_key_here

`rime config rm`

Remove a named environment from ~/.rime/rime.toml. Prompts for confirmation unless --yes is passed.

rime config rm <name>

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--yes`	`-y`	`false`	Skip confirmation prompt

`rime config edit`

Open ~/.rime/rime.toml in your default editor ($VISUAL or $EDITOR, falling back to nano or vi).

rime config edit

No flags. Requires the config file to exist — run rime config init first if needed.

`rime speedtest`

Measure time-to-first-byte (TTFB) for configured environments. Sends a TTS request to each endpoint and reports latency.

rime speedtest

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--model`	`-m`	`arcana`	Model ID for the test request
`--speaker`	`-s`	`astra`	Speaker for the test request
`--runs`	—	`1`	Number of requests per endpoint — reports mean/min/max when greater than 1
`--timeout`	—	`10s`	Per-request timeout (`0` disables timeout)
`--url`	—	—	Additional URL to test, not in config (repeatable)
`--env`	—	—	Only test these named environments from config (repeatable)

Also supports all model-specific flags from rime tts (e.g. --temperature, --top-p). Behavior:

No flags: tests all configured environments
--url alone: tests only the specified URLs (config envs are skipped)
--env + --url: tests both the named envs and the extra URLs
When using --url, your configured API credentials are forwarded to those URLs (a warning is printed)

Example output (single run):

ENV             URL                                                TTFB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
default         https://users.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts                 245.12ms

Fastest: default (245.12ms)

Example output (--runs 3):

ENV             URL                                                TTFB (3 runs)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
default         https://users.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts                 mean=148.30ms  min=132.10ms  max=171.50ms

Fastest: default (148.30ms)

When --runs is greater than 1, the JSON output includes ttfb_min_ms and ttfb_max_ms fields in addition to ttfb_ms (mean).

`rime usage`

Display daily character usage history for the past week, broken down by Mist and Arcana models.

rime usage

Flag	Default	Description
`--csv`	`false`	Output as CSV

Also supports the global --json flag. Example output:

       Day  Mist Chars  Arcana Chars       Total
----------  ----------  ------------  ----------
2026-02-24           0         1,234       1,234
2026-02-23         500         2,100       2,600

`rime uninstall`

Remove the Rime CLI binary, configuration, and shell PATH entries. Detects whether the CLI was installed via Homebrew or the shell script and provides appropriate instructions.

rime uninstall

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--yes`	`-y`	`false`	Skip the confirmation prompt

If installed via Homebrew, the command prints brew uninstall rime instead of performing removal directly.

Global flags

These flags work with all commands:

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--quiet`	`-q`	`false`	Suppress non-essential output
`--json`	—	`false`	Output results as JSON
`--env`	`-e`	—	Named environment to use from config
`--config`	`-c`	—	Path to a custom config file
`--version`	`-v`	—	Print version information
`--help`	`-h`	—	Help for any command

Environment variables

Variable	Description
`RIME_CLI_API_KEY`	API key for authentication (overrides the key in `rime.toml`)
`RIME_API_URL`	API endpoint URL (overrides the URL in `rime.toml`)
`RIME_AUTH_HEADER_PREFIX`	Authorization header prefix (default: `Bearer`)
`RIME_DASHBOARD_URL`	Dashboard URL for `rime login` (default: `https://app.rime.ai`)

Configuration

The CLI uses a TOML config file at ~/.rime/rime.toml. You can define multiple named environments for different API endpoints.

api_key = "your_api_key"
api_url = "https://users.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts"

[env.staging]
api_url = "https://staging.rime.ai/v1/rime-tts"

[env.onprem]
api_url = "https://rime.internal:8080/v1/rime-tts"
api_key = "different_key"
auth_header_prefix = "Api-Key"

Select an environment with the --env flag:

rime tts "Hello" -s astra -m arcana --env staging

Resolution order: Environment variables override config file values, which override defaults. Within the config file, named environment values override top-level values.

Audio formats

Format	Extension	Default for	Notes
WAV	`.wav`	`arcana`, `arcanav2`	Uncompressed, higher quality, larger files
MP3	`.mp3`	`mistv2`, `mist`	Compressed, smaller files. Required for Mist models

Metadata embedding

Audio files saved by the CLI include embedded metadata (voice, model, text). This metadata is visible in rime play waveform output and in media players like Finder or Preview.

WAV files: LIST/INFO chunk (IART, INAM, ICMT)
MP3 files: ID3v2.3 tags (TPE1, TIT2, COMM)

Troubleshooting

”API key not found”

Run rime login or set the environment variable:

export RIME_CLI_API_KEY=your_key_here

“authentication failed: invalid API key”

Verify your API key at app.rime.ai/tokens. Then run rime login again.

”mist and mistv2 models require —format mp3”

The Mist models only support MP3 output. Add the -f mp3 flag:

rime tts "Hello" -s cove -m mistv2 -f mp3

No audio playback

Check your system audio output settings
Try saving to a file instead: rime tts "Hello" -s astra -m arcana -o output.wav
Headless builds (e.g., Docker) require -o FILE since playback is disabled

”command not found: rime”

If you installed via the shell script, open a new terminal window or run:

source ~/.zshrc   # or ~/.bashrc

Introduction

Getting started

Documentation

Installation

`rime tts`

`rime hello`

`rime play`

`rime curl`

`rime logout`

`rime key`

`rime config`

`rime config init`

`rime config list`

`rime config show`

`rime config add`

`rime config rm`

`rime config edit`

`rime speedtest`

`rime usage`

`rime uninstall`

Global flags

Environment variables

Configuration

Audio formats

Metadata embedding

Troubleshooting

”API key not found”

“authentication failed: invalid API key”

”mist and mistv2 models require —format mp3”

No audio playback

”command not found: rime”

Introduction

Getting started

Documentation

​Installation

​rime tts

​rime hello

​rime play

​rime curl

​rime login

​rime logout

​rime key

​rime config

​rime config init

​rime config list

​rime config show

​rime config add

​rime config rm

​rime config edit

​rime speedtest

​rime usage

​rime uninstall

​Global flags

​Environment variables

​Configuration

​Audio formats

​Metadata embedding

​Troubleshooting

​”API key not found”

​“authentication failed: invalid API key”

​”mist and mistv2 models require —format mp3”

​No audio playback

​”command not found: rime”

Installation

`rime tts`

`rime hello`

`rime play`

`rime curl`

`rime login`

`rime logout`

`rime key`

`rime config`

`rime config init`

`rime config list`

`rime config show`

`rime config add`

`rime config rm`

`rime config edit`

`rime speedtest`

`rime usage`

`rime uninstall`

Global flags

Environment variables

Configuration

Audio formats

Metadata embedding

Troubleshooting

”API key not found”

“authentication failed: invalid API key”

”mist and mistv2 models require —format mp3”

No audio playback

”command not found: rime”