Mirror, Mirror… Who’s My Persona Today?

Daily-driver edition: practical, speedy, and just cheeky enough 😏.

OVOS = Open Voice OS.

The demo shows our smart mirror flipping personas on command—Friendly, Snobby, Smarty Pants—while everything runs locally. Below is the daily-driver recipe we actually use: classic skills stay in charge, personas jump in when it’s chat time, and MagicMirror² handles the visuals. No devices were harmed. ☁️❌

🎥 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDkEbAySH0I

Why personas (and why this layout)?

In OVOS, a persona is a runtime-swappable reasoning preset. It can route a question to an LLM, change tone/verbosity, and gracefully handle open-ended chatter. This layout keeps your high-confidence skills first (timers, weather, music, home control), then lets the persona shine for the fuzzy stuff. Best of both worlds. ✨

TL;DR (copy/paste speed-run)

Install OVOS with the ovos-installer TUI, select alpha channel, and do NOT enable GUI (MagicMirror² is the face).
In mycroft.conf (e.g., ~/.config/mycroft/mycroft.conf or /etc/mycroft/mycroft.conf), add ovos-persona-pipeline-plugin-high after your high matchers.
Drop the persona JSON files below (Local LLM, Friendly, Snobby, Smarty Pants) and run Ollama for the model.
Set up MagicMirror² with MMM-ShareToMirror + MMM-ovos-wakeword and the OVOS skill ovos-skill-share-to-mirror.
Say “Switch to Local LLM persona,” and enjoy your mirror’s new mood. ☕️

1) Install OVOS via the TUI (choose alpha & do NOT enable GUI)

sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenVoiceOS/ovos-installer/main/installer.sh)"

Inside the TUI:

Channel: pick Alpha (latest persona goodness)
Method: virtualenv (or containers)
Profile: OVOS
Features: enable Skills ✅ and do NOT enable GUI ❌ (MagicMirror² provides visuals)

Keep your config path handy: ~/.config/mycroft/mycroft.conf (user) or /etc/mycroft/mycroft.conf (system).

2) Add ovos-persona to today’s pipeline (daily-driver)

Edit your config at ~/.config/mycroft/mycroft.conf or /etc/mycroft/mycroft.conf. Insert persona after the high-confidence matchers:

{
  "intents": {
    "pipeline": [
      "ovos-stop-pipeline-plugin-high",
      "ovos-converse-pipeline-plugin",
      "ovos-ocp-pipeline-plugin-high",
      "ovos-padatious-pipeline-plugin-high",
      "ovos-adapt-pipeline-plugin-high",
      "ovos-m2v-pipeline-high",

      "ovos-persona-pipeline-plugin-high",

      "ovos-ocp-pipeline-plugin-medium",
      "ovos-fallback-pipeline-plugin-high",
      "ovos-stop-pipeline-plugin-medium",
      "ovos-adapt-pipeline-plugin-medium",
      "ovos-fallback-pipeline-plugin-medium",
      "ovos-fallback-pipeline-plugin-low"
    ]
  }
}

Why here? Skills get first crack at clear commands. Persona handles open-ended “hmm, let’s think” questions—without stepping on your timers and lights. 🔦

3) Personas (drop these into `~/.config/ovos_persona/`)

All four personas use a local LLM via Ollama’s OpenAI-style /v1 API. Adjust model to taste (gemma3:4b is a great default).

`local-llm.json` — base persona

{
  "name": "Local LLM",
  "solvers": ["ovos-solver-openai-plugin"],
  "ovos-solver-openai-plugin": {
    "api_url": "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1",
    "key": "ollama",
    "model": "gemma3:4b",
    "system_prompt": "helpful, witty, concise; prefers practical answers.",
    "temperature": 0.6
  }
}

`friendly.json`

{
  "name": "Friendly",
  "solvers": ["ovos-solver-openai-plugin"],
  "ovos-solver-openai-plugin": {
    "api_url": "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1",
    "key": "ollama",
    "model": "gemma3:4b",
    "system_prompt": "kind, upbeat, plain language, one actionable next step; no emojis.",
    "temperature": 0.7
  }
}

`snobby.json`

{
  "name": "Snobby",
  "solvers": ["ovos-solver-openai-plugin"],
  "ovos-solver-openai-plugin": {
    "api_url": "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1",
    "key": "ollama",
    "model": "gemma3:4b",
    "system_prompt": "precise, mildly sardonic librarian; terse and technically correct; no emojis.",
    "temperature": 0.5
  }
}

`smarty-pants.json`

{
  "name": "Smarty Pants",
  "solvers": ["ovos-solver-openai-plugin"],
  "ovos-solver-openai-plugin": {
    "api_url": "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1",
    "key": "ollama",
    "model": "gemma3:4b",
    "system_prompt": "clever explainer; tiny examples; 1–2 sentences per idea; playful but clear; no fluff.",
    "temperature": 0.65
  }
}

🎭 Note on “vibe” vs model

Even with the same persona file, different models behave differently:

gemma3:4b – friendly, concise; great default on Pi/mini-PC.
qwen2.5:1.5b – very small & literal; bump temperature slightly if it feels too dry.
llama3.1:8b – more capable but chattier; lower temperature & max_tokens to keep replies snappy.

Think of the persona JSON as the style guide, and the model as the actor—casting changes the performance. 🎬

4) Run a local model with Ollama

curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
ollama pull gemma3:4b
ollama serve &                # http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1/models | jq .

5) Install MagicMirror²

# prerequisites: Node 18+, git
git clone https://github.com/MagicMirrorOrg/MagicMirror ~/MagicMirror
cd ~/MagicMirror
node --run install-mm
cp config/config.js.sample config/config.js
# start on the local display
node --run start
# or as a web server:
# node --run server

If you run server-only, set address: "0.0.0.0" and add your LAN to ipWhitelist in config/config.js.

6) Add MMM-ShareToMirror + ovos-skill-share-to-mirror

Install the module

cd ~/MagicMirror/modules
git clone https://github.com/smartgic/MMM-ShareToMirror.git
cd MMM-ShareToMirror && npm install

Add to ~/MagicMirror/config/config.js:

{
  module: "MMM-ShareToMirror",
  position: "bottom_center",
  config: {
    port: 8570,
    https: { enabled: false },
    invisible: true,
    overlay: {
      width: "70vw",
      maxWidth: "1280px",
      aspectRatio: "16 / 9",
      zIndex: 9999,
      borderRadius: "16px",
      boxShadow: "0 10px 36px rgba(0,0,0,.5)"
    },
    caption: { enabled: false, lang: "en" },
    quality: { target: "auto", lock: false }
  }
}

Install the OVOS skill (pip method)

pip install "git+https://github.com/smartgic/ovos-skill-share-to-mirror.git"

Create skill settings at ~/.config/mycroft/skills/ovos-skill-share-to-mirror.smartgic/settings.json:

{
  "base_url": "http://<MIRROR_IP>:8570",
  "verify_ssl": false,
  "request_timeout": 6,
  "caption_enabled": false,
  "caption_lang": "en",
  "quality_target": "auto",
  "quality_lock": false,
  "search_backend": "yt_dlp",
  "youtube_api_key": ""
}

Restart OVOS services so the skill gets picked up. Now you can say: “Play a video about espresso on the mirror.” …and the skill will drive the MMM-ShareToMirror overlay.

More handy intents for this skill

“Play <query> on the mirror.” — search + play
“Pause the mirror video.” / “Resume the mirror video.”
“Stop the mirror video.”
“Show captions on the mirror.” / “Hide captions on the mirror.”
“Set mirror quality to high/auto/low.”
“Open this YouTube link on the mirror.” (if used with a URL or clipboard helper)
“Close the mirror overlay.” (hides the player)

7) Add MMM-ovos-wakeword (+ OVOS side ping)

Module: https://github.com/smartgic/MMM-ovos-wakeword

Install the module

cd ~/MagicMirror/modules
git clone https://github.com/smartgic/MMM-ovos-wakeword.git

Add to ~/MagicMirror/config/config.js (and allow your LAN):

let config = {
  address: "0.0.0.0",
  port: 8080,
  ipWhitelist: ["127.0.0.1","::1","::ffff:192.168.1.1/24"],

  modules: [
    // ... other modules ...
    {
      module: "MMM-ovos-wakeword",
      position: "lower_third",
      config: {
        title: "Open Voice OS",
        apiKey: "CHANGE-ME-TO-A-RANDOM-STRING",
        maxMessages: 1,
        opacity: 0.5
      }
    }
  ]
}

Install the OVOS PHAL plugin to send the wake cue

pip install ovos-phal-plugin-mm-wakeword

Create ~/.config/OpenVoiceOS/ovos-phal-plugin-mm-wakeword.json:

{
  "url": "http://<MIRROR_IP>:8080",
  "key": "CHANGE-ME-TO-A-RANDOM-STRING",
  "message": "Listening...",
  "timeout": 10,
  "verify": false
}

Restart OVOS (systemctl --user restart ovos). Say your wake word — the mirror flashes “Listening…” then fades. ✨

8) Use it (talk to your mirror like it’s totally normal)

“Switch to Local LLM persona.”
“Switch to Friendly.”
“Talk to Snobby about pour-over coffee.”
“Smarty Pants, explain Kubernetes like I’m five.”
“Play lo-fi beats on the mirror.”
“List personas.”

If your mirror starts giving life advice, that’s on you. 😇

That’s it—your daily-driver setup is ready. Skills stay crisp, personas bring the charm, and your mirror finally has the personality it deserves. Now go ask it for a pep talk before your next meeting. 💪🪞

Mirror, Mirror… Who’s My Persona Today? (OVOS + MagicMirror² + Local LLM)

Mirror, Mirror… Who’s My Persona Today?

Why personas (and why this layout)?

TL;DR (copy/paste speed-run)

1) Install OVOS via the TUI (choose alpha & do NOT enable GUI)

2) Add ovos-persona to today’s pipeline (daily-driver)

3) Personas (drop these into ~/.config/ovos_persona/)

local-llm.json — base persona

friendly.json

snobby.json

smarty-pants.json

🎭 Note on “vibe” vs model

4) Run a local model with Ollama

5) Install MagicMirror²

6) Add MMM-ShareToMirror + ovos-skill-share-to-mirror

Install the module

Install the OVOS skill (pip method)

More handy intents for this skill

7) Add MMM-ovos-wakeword (+ OVOS side ping)

Install the module

Install the OVOS PHAL plugin to send the wake cue

8) Use it (talk to your mirror like it’s totally normal)

3) Personas (drop these into `~/.config/ovos_persona/`)

`local-llm.json` — base persona

`friendly.json`

`snobby.json`

`smarty-pants.json`