google-home-notifier

Send text-to-speech notifications — or play an MP3 — on your Google Home / Nest speakers.

What's new (1.3.0): pure-JS device discovery via bonjour-service — no more native mdns build, no avahi system packages, no patching node_modules. notify()/play() now return Promises (so you can await them) while the old callback style keeps working unchanged. Upgraded to google-tts-api 2.x. New volume() and slow() controls.

Why this still exists in 2026

Google never shipped an official API for "make my speaker say this." The Google Assistant SDK is experimental / non-commercial and explicitly can't broadcast voice messages; the newer Google Home APIs are for device control + automations + Matter, not media or text-to-speech. So casting a generated TTS clip to the speaker — exactly what this library does, and what Home Assistant does under the hood — is still the way to do it. This is a tiny, dependency-light alternative to running a whole home-automation stack.

Installation

npm install google-home-notifier

That's it — it installs and runs cross-platform (macOS / Linux / Raspberry Pi / Windows) with no compilation step.

Usage

const googlehome = require('google-home-notifier');

// Target by name (discovered on your network)…
googlehome.device('Living Room');
// …or skip discovery if you know the IP:
// googlehome.ip('192.168.1.20');

// Promise / async (new):
await googlehome.notify('Hello, Google Home');

// Callback (still supported, unchanged):
googlehome.notify('Hello, Google Home', (res) => console.log(res));

Language & accent

googlehome.device('Living Room', 'en');   // language code (2nd arg)
googlehome.accent('co.uk');               // 'us' (default), 'co.uk', 'com.au', 'ca', …
await googlehome.notify('Right, then');

Multiple devices

googlehome.devices(['Living Room', 'Kitchen', 'Office']);   // by name
// or: googlehome.ips(['192.168.1.20', '192.168.1.21']);

const results = await googlehome.notify('Dinner is ready');
// → [ { device: 'Living Room', result: 'Device notified' },
//     { device: 'Kitchen',    result: 'Device notified' },
//     { device: 'Office',     error: '...' } ]   // one offline speaker won't block the rest

With a single device (device()/ip()) the result is just the status string, as before.

Discover every device, then announce to all

const list = await googlehome.getDevices();
// → [ { name: 'Living Room', address: '192.168.1.20', port: 8009 }, … ]

// announce to all of them:
googlehome.ips(list.map((d) => d.address));
await googlehome.notify('Good morning!');

// …or loop yourself:
for (const d of list) {
  await googlehome.ip(d.address).notify(`Hello from ${d.name}`);
}

getDevices(timeoutMs = 3000) browses the network for the given window and returns every Google Cast device it sees (deduped).

Volume & speech rate

googlehome.volume(0.6);   // 0.0–1.0; the device's prior volume is restored afterwards
googlehome.slow(true);    // slower TTS (default: normal speed)
await googlehome.notify('Dinner is ready');

Play an MP3

await googlehome.play('http://example.com/sound.mp3');

TTS notifications are limited to ~200 characters per request (a Google TTS limit).

API

Method	Description
device(name, lang?)	Target a device by (fuzzy) name. Chainable.
ip(address, lang?)	Target a device by IP, skipping discovery. Chainable.
getDevices(timeoutMs?)	Discover all Cast devices on the network → Promise<[{name, address, port}]>.
devices(names, lang?)	Target several devices by name; notify/play fan out to all. Chainable.
ips(addresses, lang?)	Target several devices by IP; notify/play fan out to all. Chainable.
accent(code)	TTS accent/host (us, co.uk, com.au, … or a full URL). Chainable.
volume(level)	Notification volume 0.0–1.0; prior device volume restored after. Chainable.
slow(enabled?)	Slower TTS speech (default normal). Chainable.
notify(text, cb?)	Speak text. Returns a Promise<string>; cb(result) / cb('error', err) still work.
play(url, cb?)	Play an MP3 url. Same return/callback contract as notify.

HTTP listener (example/)

example/example.js runs a tiny server so you can trigger notifications over HTTP — handy with IFTTT, webhooks, or home automation. It uses ngrok to expose the endpoint outside your network.

git clone https://github.com/noelportugal/google-home-notifier
cd google-home-notifier
npm install
node example/example.js

Endpoints:
    http://192.168.1.20:8091/google-home-notifier
    https://xxxxx.ngrok.io/google-home-notifier
GET:  curl -X GET "https://xxxxx.ngrok.io/google-home-notifier?text=Hello+Google+Home"
POST: curl -X POST -d "text=Hello Google Home" https://xxxxx.ngrok.io/google-home-notifier

If text starts with http(s):// it's played as an MP3; otherwise it's spoken.

License

MIT © Noel Portugal