xiaozhi/README_en.md

An MCP-based Chatbot

(English | 中文 | 日本語)

Video

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Introduction

This is an open-source ESP32 project, released under the MIT license, allowing anyone to use it for free, including for commercial purposes.

We hope this project helps everyone understand AI hardware development and apply rapidly evolving large language models to real hardware devices.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to raise Issues or join the QQ group: 1011329060

Control Everything with MCP

As a voice interaction entry, the XiaoZhi AI chatbot leverages the AI capabilities of large models like Qwen / DeepSeek, and achieves multi-terminal control via the MCP protocol.

Features Implemented

• Wi-Fi / ML307 Cat.1 4G
• Offline voice wake-up ESP-SR
• Supports two communication protocols (Websocket or MQTT+UDP)
• Uses OPUS audio codec
• Voice interaction based on streaming ASR + LLM + TTS architecture
• Speaker recognition, identifies the current speaker 3D Speaker
• OLED / LCD display, supports emoji display
• Battery display and power management
• Multi-language support (Chinese, English, Japanese)
• Supports ESP32-C3, ESP32-S3, ESP32-P4 chip platforms
• Device-side MCP for device control (Speaker, LED, Servo, GPIO, etc.)
• Cloud-side MCP to extend large model capabilities (smart home control, PC desktop operation, knowledge search, email, etc.)

Hardware

Breadboard DIY Practice

See the Feishu document tutorial:

👉 "XiaoZhi AI Chatbot Encyclopedia"

Breadboard demo:

Supports 70+ Open Source Hardware (Partial List)

• LiChuang ESP32-S3 Development Board
• Espressif ESP32-S3-BOX3
• M5Stack CoreS3
• M5Stack AtomS3R + Echo Base
• Magic Button 2.4
• Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-AMOLED-1.8
• LILYGO T-Circle-S3
• XiaGe Mini C3
• CuiCan AI Pendant
• WMnologo-Xingzhi-1.54TFT
• SenseCAP Watcher
• ESP-HI Low Cost Robot Dog

Software

Firmware Flashing

For beginners, it is recommended to use the firmware that can be flashed without setting up a development environment.

The firmware connects to the official xiaozhi.me server by default. Personal users can register an account to use the Qwen real-time model for free.

👉 Beginner's Firmware Flashing Guide

Development Environment

• Cursor or VSCode
• Install ESP-IDF plugin, select SDK version 5.4 or above
• Linux is better than Windows for faster compilation and fewer driver issues
• This project uses Google C++ code style, please ensure compliance when submitting code

Developer Documentation

• Custom Board Guide - Learn how to create custom boards for XiaoZhi AI
• MCP Protocol IoT Control Usage - Learn how to control IoT devices via MCP protocol
• MCP Protocol Interaction Flow - Device-side MCP protocol implementation
• A detailed WebSocket communication protocol document

Large Model Configuration

If you already have a XiaoZhi AI chatbot device and have connected to the official server, you can log in to the xiaozhi.me console for configuration.

👉 Backend Operation Video Tutorial (Old Interface)

Related Open Source Projects

For server deployment on personal computers, refer to the following open-source projects:

• xinnan-tech/xiaozhi-esp32-server Python server
• joey-zhou/xiaozhi-esp32-server-java Java server
• AnimeAIChat/xiaozhi-server-go Golang server

Other client projects using the XiaoZhi communication protocol:

• huangjunsen0406/py-xiaozhi Python client
• TOM88812/xiaozhi-android-client Android client

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