What makes an Ability ambient
- Listens without a wake word — the mic stays hot via
start_audio_recording() - Logs context silently to persistent storage — no narration
- Speaks only when something meaningful happens — and uses
send_interrupt_signal()first so it doesn’t overlap normal conversation
The best Ability is the one the user forgets is running — until it does something so well-timed they think: “How did it know?”
The building blocks
| Building block | Used for |
|---|---|
| Background Abilities | Always-on daemon that auto-starts on session |
| Hot Mic + Deepgram | Raw audio capture + analysis |
| Persistent Memory | Accumulate context across sessions |
| Companion Dashboards | Mirror what the Ability sees on a screen |
Ambient Ability ideas
- Meeting Scribe — auto-starts when 3+ voices heard, writes notes until silence
- Baby Monitor Plus — detects crying, unusual silence, sleep breathing
- Life Logger — always-on ambient capture, daily summaries to dashboard
- Daily To-Do Compiler — catches all “I need to…” mentions → list by evening
- Gratitude Harvester — catches positive statements, weekly gratitude list
Next steps
- Read Background Abilities for the
background.pypattern - Read Voice-First Best Practices — especially the “Silence is a feature” rule
- Pick an idea from the Cookbook and ship it