Agent skill

Text To Sfx

by sonilo-ai in sonilo-ai/skills

Generate a sound effect from a text description using Sonilo — a UI chime, a whoosh, an impact, ambience, a stylized cue — when there is no video to match.

MITAuto-check: notesMedia & Creative

Install Text To Sfx

skills CLI
$ npx skills add sonilo-ai/skills --skill text-to-sfx -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install sonilo-ai/skills text-to-sfx --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/sonilo-ai/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/text-to-sfx .claude/skills/text-to-sfx && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
text-to-sfx
GitHub stars
115
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~1.6k tokens
SKILL.md length
689 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
13
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Generate a sound effect from a text description using Sonilo — a UI chime, a whoosh, an impact, ambience, a stylized cue — when there is no video to match.

  • Works in 3 steps: Sonilo MCP tools visible in this session… → No usable Sonilo MCP tools, but sonilo… → Neither — stop and run the setup-api-key…
  • The user describes the sound they want in words
  • SKILL.md covers Transport: MCP or CLI, Quick Start, Tool and Parameters, plus 5 more sections
  • Calls pip, npm and curl; reaches api.sonilo.com; needs SONILO_API_KEY

What it does

Text To Sfx is an agent skill from sonilo-ai/skills. Generate a sound effect from a text description using Sonilo — a UI chime, a whoosh, an impact, ambience, a stylized cue — when there is no video to match. Use when the user describes the sound they want in words, with or without a length. For SFX matched to footage, use the video-to-sfx skill; for music, use text-to-music.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.6k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts. Compatibility notes: Requires Sonilo through either transport — the MCP server connected, or the sonilo CLI installed and signed in — plus credentials: a sonilo login sign-in, the…

It sits in Media & Creative, covering Music and audio generation and MCP servers. It works with Model Context Protocol. The repository describes itself as: Agent skills for Sonilo's licensed music, sound-effects, dubbing, and audio-ducking API. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user describes the sound they want in words
  • Without a length

Example prompts

  • “/text-to-sfx”

Requirements

  • Python 3
  • Node.js
  • A credential in SONILO_API_KEY
  • Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires Sonilo through either transport — the MCP server connected, or the `sonilo` CLI installed and signed in — plus credentials: a `sonilo login` sign-in, the hosted OAuth plugin, or SONILO_API_KEY. See the setup-api-key skill.
  • Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Bash, Read, Write, mcp__sonilo__*

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Sonilo MCP tools visible in this session (text_to_sfx and friends) — use them. This is the preferred path: it needs no shell, and it is…
  2. No usable Sonilo MCP tools, but sonilo account exits 0 — use the CLI commands below. Same API, same account, same credential file. Probe…
  3. Neither — stop and run the setup-api-key skill. Do not call api.sonilo.com with curl to work around it; both transports handle uploads…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1ce1bd8. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

    • Bash
    • Read
    • Write
    • mcp__sonilo__*

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • pip
    • npm
    • curl

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • api.sonilo.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

    • SONILO_API_KEY

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

  • Compatibility

    Requires Sonilo through either transport — the MCP server connected, or the `sonilo` CLI installed and signed in — plus credentials: a `sonilo login` sign-in, the hosted OAuth plugin, or SONILO_API_KEY. See the setup-api-key skill.

    From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Text To Sfx loads about 1.6k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 84 tokens; SKILL.md has 689 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~84
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.6k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check: notes

The automated check noted patterns worth knowing about, such as sudo or a known installer.

  • NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md
    allowed-tools: Bash, Read, Write, mcp__sonilo__*

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from sonilo-ai/skills at commit 1ce1bd8, republished under its MIT licence (© sonilo-ai). 689 words, ~1,621 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/text-to-sfx/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
text-to-sfx
description
Generate a sound effect from a text description using Sonilo — a UI chime, a whoosh, an impact, ambience, a stylized cue — when there is no video to match. Use when the user describes the sound they want in words, with or without a length. For SFX matched to footage, use the video-to-sfx skill; for music, use text-to-music.
allowed-tools
Bash, Read, Write, mcp__sonilo__*
compatibility
Requires Sonilo through either transport — the MCP server connected, or the `sonilo` CLI installed and signed in — plus credentials: a `sonilo login` sign-in, the hosted OAuth plugin, or SONILO_API_KEY. See the setup-api-key skill.
license
MIT

Sonilo Text-to-SFX

Generate a single sound effect from a text description — no video involved. The prompt IS the input, so describe the action and materials directly. Generation runs as an async task on the backend; the tool polls internally and hands back the saved file.

Setup: See the setup-api-key skill.

⚠️ Cost: this tool makes an API call that may incur charges. Only call it when explicitly requested.

Matching sound to footage instead? Use video-to-sfx — it reads the cut and can pin sounds to specific moments, which a text prompt cannot do.

Transport: MCP or CLI

Pick one at the start of the session and stay on it. Do not mix the two inside a single job, and do not announce the choice.

  1. Sonilo MCP tools visible in this session (text_to_sfx and friends) — use them. This is the preferred path: it needs no shell, and it is the only one that survives a very long generation. If a call fails to authenticate — rather than failing on its inputs — this transport is not usable in this session: go to 2 instead of retrying it.
  2. No usable Sonilo MCP tools, but sonilo account exits 0 — use the CLI commands below. Same API, same account, same credential file. Probe with sonilo account, not sonilo whoami: whoami exits 0 even when signed out, so it cannot tell the two states apart.
  3. Neither — stop and run the setup-api-key skill. Do not call api.sonilo.com with curl to work around it; both transports handle uploads, polling and retries that a bare request does not.

Quick Start

text_to_sfx(
    prompt="Thunder rumbling in the distance with light rain",
    duration=6
)
Python (pip install sonilo)
python
from sonilo import Sonilo

client = Sonilo()  # reads SONILO_API_KEY

sfx = client.text_to_sfx.generate(prompt="Thunder rumbling in the distance with light rain", duration=6)
sfx.save("thunder.m4a")
JavaScript / TypeScript (npm install sonilo)
ts
import { SoniloClient } from "sonilo";

const client = new SoniloClient(); // reads SONILO_API_KEY

const sfx = await client.textToSfx.generate({
  prompt: "Thunder rumbling in the distance with light rain",
  duration: 6,
});
CLI (npm install -g sonilo-cli or pip install sonilo-cli)
bash
sonilo text-to-sfx --prompt "Thunder rumbling in the distance with light rain" --duration 6

Always async under the hood — the CLI submits and polls for you. --format accepts wav|mp3|aac|flac.

cURL (raw REST API, no MCP host)
bash
curl -X POST "https://api.sonilo.com/v1/text-to-sfx" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SONILO_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "prompt=Thunder rumbling in the distance with light rain" \
  --data-urlencode "duration=6"
# -> {"task_id": "..."}  poll GET /v1/tasks/{task_id} until status is succeeded/failed

The endpoint returns {"task_id": ...} (HTTP 202) and the result is fetched from GET /v1/tasks/{task_id} once status is terminal. The MCP tool does this polling for you and returns the saved path directly — you only see the task_id if the call times out (see task-recovery).

Tool

ToolDescription
text_to_sfx(prompt, duration?, audio_format?, output_directory?)Generate one SFX clip from a text description only.

Parameters

ParameterTypeDefaultNotes
promptstring—Required. 1–2000 chars.
durationnumberSonilo's default, 8 sOptional, 0.5–180 seconds. Omit it when the user names no length — do not invent one. Fractional values are allowed: the shortest effects, a latch or a click, run well under a second.
audio_formatstringaac (.m4a)wav, mp3, aac, or flac.
output_directorystringSONILO_MCP_BASE_PATHAbsolute, or relative to the base path.
Show full SKILL.md (257 more words)Show less

Prompting

The prompt is the only input — there is no footage to map. Describe the action and the materials directly, and combine elements: "Heavy rain on a tin roof" beats "Rain"; "Cinematic braam, horror" or "8-bit retro jump sound" for stylized cues. The same materials vocabulary and sound-bundle thinking as the video path applies: references/sfx-prompting.md.

Generate once and iterate on the prompt, not on rerolls — failed runs auto-refund, but your own retry is a new charge.

Workflow Tips

  • This is for a single clip with no video context — a UI chime, a whoosh, a foley element you'll layer yourself. If the user has footage, use video-to-sfx instead.
  • Duration is optional; never invent one. Pass the length the user named. If they named none, omit duration and Sonilo uses its default (8 s) — ask only when the length actually matters to the user.
  • Don't confuse this with music. For a background score or soundtrack, use text-to-music or video-to-music.

Recovering a Timed-Out Call

Async on the backend already; a long generation can still exceed TIME_OUT_SECONDS. If it does, the error carries a task_id — the job keeps running (and is already charged). Call get_sfx_task(task_id) — get_generation_task(task_id) on the hosted server — later to retrieve the result; see task-recovery.

Output Files

Saved in the requested audio_format (.wav/.mp3/.flac, or .m4a for the aac default), named from the prompt (slugified) or sfx-<first 8 chars of the task id>.

Error Handling

Common errors: 401 invalid key, 402 insufficient balance / trial exhausted, 422 invalid parameters (e.g. duration out of range), 429 rate limit. See the account skill.

© sonilo-ai, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in text-to-sfx of sonilo-ai/skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1ce1bd8

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in sonilo-ai/skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Text To Sfx next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Text To Sfx compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Text To Sfx this skillsonilo-ai/skills1151 repos~1.6kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Resolve Audiosamuelgursky/davinci-resolve-mcp3.5k—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Musicguaardvark/guaardvark258—~710Automated safety check: PassMIT
Fal Assetsrehan-remade/universal-modder6.5k—~2kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Scenario Audioscenario-labs/skills946—~3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
OpenStoryline Install HelperFireRedTeam/FireRed-OpenStoryline3.5k—~1.5kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0

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Questions about Text To Sfx

What does Text To Sfx do?

Generate a sound effect from a text description using Sonilo — a UI chime, a whoosh, an impact, ambience, a stylized cue — when there is no video to match. Text To Sfx is an agent skill from sonilo-ai/skills. Generate a sound effect from a text description using Sonilo — a UI chime, a whoosh, an impact, ambience, a stylized cue — when there is no video to match.

When should I use Text To Sfx?

Text To Sfx fits situations like: the user describes the sound they want in words; without a length.

How do I install Text To Sfx in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add sonilo-ai/skills --skill text-to-sfx -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (text-to-sfx in sonilo-ai/skills) into .claude/skills/text-to-sfx in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Text To Sfx in Codex?

Run `npx skills add sonilo-ai/skills --skill text-to-sfx -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (text-to-sfx in sonilo-ai/skills) into .agents/skills/text-to-sfx in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Text To Sfx in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add sonilo-ai/skills --skill text-to-sfx -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/text-to-sfx, .gemini/skills/text-to-sfx, .github/skills/text-to-sfx and .opencode/skills/text-to-sfx in your project.

What does Text To Sfx need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Text To Sfx needs the command-line tools its instructions call (pip, npm and curl) and credentials named SONILO_API_KEY. Our summary lists: Python 3; Node.js; A credential in SONILO_API_KEY. Its frontmatter pre-approves these tools: Bash, Read, Write, mcp__sonilo__*. Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires Sonilo through either transport — the MCP server connected, or the `sonilo` CLI installed and signed in — plus credentials: a `sonilo login` sign-in, the hosted OAuth plugin, or SONILO_API_KEY. See the setup-api-key skill..

Does Text To Sfx access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. In commands or code: api.sonilo.com; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Text To Sfx safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found notes only (pre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: bash)), nothing it rates as a warning. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Text To Sfx use?

Text To Sfx is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Text To Sfx use?

About 1.6k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Text To Sfx?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Text To Sfx: Resolve Audio (samuelgursky/davinci-resolve-mcp, 3.5k stars), Music (guaardvark/guaardvark, 258 stars), Fal Assets (rehan-remade/universal-modder, 6.5k stars) and Scenario Audio (scenario-labs/skills, 946 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Text To Sfx?

sonilo-ai (a GitHub organization) maintains it in sonilo-ai/skills, which has 115 GitHub stars. The repository holds 13 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: sonilo-ai/skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.