Voice calls
Call a bot or a channel from the desktop app, talk it through, and approve its work out loud.
When to use it
Use a call when talking is faster than typing: thinking a problem through, getting a quick status, or starting a job while you're doing something else. For a one-way message, a voice note is simpler.
How a call works
A call has two layers and one bot:
- The voice host is a fast model that speaks as the bot, with its name, personality and voice. It answers what the bot already knows, looks things up on the web, and starts talking within a moment.
- The bot's engine does the real work. When you ask for something that needs doing, such as "draft that email", the host hands it to the engine through the same path as a typed message, with the same approvals.
The host can't change anything itself. It can only talk and hand work down. If the host isn't available or stalls, the bot's engine answers each turn itself, which is much slower.
While the engine works, the bot keeps you up to date by telling you what it's doing. A long finished answer is summed up in a few sentences rather than read out word for word.
What you need
- A voice for the bot. Open the bot's settings, go to Voice & alerts, and pick a Voice engine and a Voice. See Voice providers.
- Something to hear you. On a Mac, Apple's on-device speech recognition does it. Allow Microphone and Speech Recognition for Murage when asked. On Windows and Ubuntu, Murage transcribes what you said through Flux, or your own Groq or OpenAI key.
- A voice host. Flux, or your own xAI, Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq or OpenRouter key.
Flux Router covers every part of a call with one key. A Claude or ChatGPT subscription signed in to an engine doesn't count for calls. It still does the bot's work.
Make a call
Step 1
Open the bot's chat
Open the bot's chat. The phone button is at the top.
If the button shows a small dot, the call can't start yet. Choose it to see Call unavailable and the reason. If the bot needs a voice, choose Open agent settings.
You're done when: you see the phone button at the top.
Step 2
Start the call
Choose the phone button (its tooltip says Call name). Start talking.
EmberYou're done when: the status under the bot shows Listening.
Step 3
Talk, interrupt, mute
- Talk over the bot to interrupt it, or say "stop".
- Space interrupts. Esc hangs up.
- Mute and Unmute your microphone.
The status under the bot shows Listening, One moment, Working or Muted.
On a Mac you can also hold Control + Option to talk, and let go to send. The hint at the bottom of the call tells you which way this call works.
On a Mac, Murage hears your words as you say them. On Windows and Ubuntu, it waits until you pause, then transcribes what you said.
You're done when: the bot answers out loud and you can stop it.
Step 4
Approve out loud
When the work needs your permission, the bot reads the request aloud. Say yes or no, as plain words: "yes", "go ahead", "no", "cancel". If the answer isn't clearly a yes or a no, the bot asks "Sorry, is that a yes or a no?" It never guesses.
Say "yes for the rest of the call" to cover ordinary requests until you hang up. It's forgotten when the call ends. Routines, skills and using your computer are still asked every time, and the stop line still applies.
You're done when: you answered yes or no and the bot carried on.
Step 5
Hang up
Choose Hang up. Work the bot handed off carries on.
You're done when: a note of the call is left in the chat.
Call a channel
Open a channel and choose its phone button. Every member needs a voice first: "Give every channel member a voice before starting a channel call."
On a channel call, say a member's name to talk to them, say "everyone", or just talk to the channel. You hear each member's answer in turn.
After the call
A note of the call is left in the chat: what you said, what the bot answered or looked up, and what it handed to its engine. It's built from the call's own record, so it can't claim anything the call didn't do. Work that was handed off shows up in the chat as ordinary messages.
Troubleshooting
You see
Add a Flux key, or an OpenAI or Groq key, in Settings to make calls on this computerDo this
On Windows or Ubuntu, nothing can transcribe you yet. Add Flux Router, or add a Groq or OpenAI key under SettingsModels & engines.
You see
Choose a voice before starting a call.Do this
Also shown as "Pick a voice in a bot's settings to make calls". Pick a voice in Voice & alerts.
You see
Add a Flux key, an ElevenLabs key, or switch to the built-in Mac voices so the bot can speak during calls.Do this
The bot's voice engine has no way to speak. See Voice providers.
You see
The microphone couldn't start. Check Microphone and Speech Recognition access.Do this
Also shown as "Dictation needs Microphone + Speech Recognition access in System Settings." On a Mac, turn on both for Murage in System SettingsPrivacy & Security, then choose Try microphone again.
You see
Calls need macOS dictation, which isn't available here yet.Do this
This computer can't listen in this kind of call. Use a one-to-one call instead.
You see
The previous dictation session is still closing. Try again in a moment.Do this
Wait a second and start again.