Transcribe audio with OpenAI
openai_transcribe_audioTranscribe local audio files (mp3, mp4, m4a, wav, webm, flac, ogg) into text by providing an absolute file path. Supports language hints and vocabulary prompts for accurate transcripts.
Instructions
Transcribe a local audio file to text.
The file is read from disk (only from directories listed in OPENAI_MCP_ALLOWED_DIRS) and uploaded to OpenAI. Supported containers include mp3, mp4, m4a, wav, webm, flac and ogg; the API limit is 25 MB per file.
Args:
file_path (string, required): absolute path to the audio file
model (string): transcription model ID, defaults to OPENAI_DEFAULT_TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL
language (string): ISO-639-1 code such as "de" or "en"
prompt (string): vocabulary hint for names and jargon
response_format ('markdown'|'json'): default 'markdown'
Returns (JSON format): { "model": string, "text": string, // full transcript "language": string | null, // detected or supplied language "duration_seconds": number | null, // audio length when reported "source_file": string // canonical path that was read }
Examples:
Use when: "What was said in this voice memo?" -> file_path="/data/memo.m4a"
Use when: transcribing a German interview -> language="de"
Don't use when: the file is a video you only want summarised — extract the audio track first
Error Handling:
"Error: File not found" means the path does not exist
"Error: Payload too large" means the file exceeds 25 MB — split it before retrying
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| model | No | Transcription model ID. Defaults to OPENAI_DEFAULT_TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL. | |
| prompt | No | Optional hint with names, jargon or spelling conventions that appear in the audio | |
| language | No | ISO-639-1 code of the spoken language, e.g. "de". Improves accuracy and latency when known. | |
| file_path | Yes | Absolute path to the audio file (mp3, mp4, m4a, wav, webm, flac, ogg). Must be inside an allowed directory. | |
| response_format | No | Output format: 'markdown' or 'json' | markdown |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| text | Yes | ||
| model | Yes | ||
| language | Yes | ||
| source_file | Yes | ||
| duration_seconds | Yes |