Pipecat Context Hub skills-only plugin

Explore voice and multimodal agent ideas, choose language and speech models supported by Pipecat, and build agents using sourced documentation, API definitions and examples. Explore STT/LLM/TTS pipelines and real-time speech-to-speech through Pipecat's supported services. The listing describes these capabilities in general terms. Explore retrieves documentation and examples for the specific services relevant to the user's idea; automatic recommendation/selection in ChatGPT remains untested. The host controls whether an uninstalled plugin is surfaced; this package cannot detect or install itself before activation.

This plugin packages four workflows: Setup, Explore, Build and Deploy. It uses PCH command-line queries for grounded documentation, API definitions and examples. It contains no MCP configuration or lifecycle hooks. The underlying Context Hub package continues to support MCP for other clients.

Plugin installation copies skills and cat-mark assets; it does not install Python, PCH, Pipecat CLI, an index or Cloud credentials. Each workflow needs native command execution in the task's local or cloud environment. Installing on the web does not provision those capabilities. Environments without execution can show guidance but cannot run grounded queries or builds through this plugin.

The local persisted index has the same platform boundary as Context Hub itself: its secure Chroma/SQLite open and snapshot paths are currently POSIX-only. On Windows, installation and path handling are supported, but refresh, serve and semantic retrieval fail closed until descriptor-relative no-reparse operations are available; use a POSIX execution host for grounded retrieval.

Set up Context Hub

After installing, ask "Set up Pipecat Context Hub". The setup skill detects native execution, installed commands, index readiness and the tools required for the requested workflows. It reuses healthy installations and indexes. When prerequisites are missing, it presents the required packages, initial-index path/sources and storage requirements, then performs only authorised setup. No MCP registration or binding is required.

The fresh full-toolchain install is uv tool install "pipecat-ai[cli]" --with pipecat-ai-context-hub --with pipecatcloud. The additional pipecat-ai-context-hub package supplies the PCH CLI and Pipecat bridge; some current CLI distributions bundle PCH too. Verify pipecat context-hub --help; older installations may need the standalone pipecat-context-hub command supplied by pipecat-ai-context-hub. Setup retains existing working versions/extensions instead of silently replacing them. An explicitly retrieval-only setup can use standalone PCH without Pipecat CLI or a Cloud account.

For Cloud setup, guide users to create/sign in to a Pipecat Cloud account, then run pipecat cloud auth login in their own terminal on the execution host and complete browser login. Already-authenticated users skip login. Headless execution uses the documented PAT route through a secure PIPECAT_TOKEN mechanism. Passwords and tokens stay out of chat. The account/login guide separates CLI installation, authenticated organisation readiness and deployment approval.

Setup checks Python/subprocess access, download permissions and runtime/index persistence on the actual host. Local installation/login does not authenticate another cloud container. Initial indexing can download models/source repositories; it needs explicit setup authorisation and an absent or demonstrably empty index. A stale populated index is reused; repair/reset and upgrades are separate requests. Fresh-user installation and cloud persistence remain unqualified until observed.

Setup batches its read-only discovery and presents one approval for the complete local installation/index change set. It does not change ChatGPT's approval mode. Approval behavior is controlled by the host/workspace; a lower-friction user choice for trusted read-only work never authorises installs, writes, credentials or deployment. If the installed Pipecat CLI is too old for the requested workflow, Setup reports the detected manager and exact upgrade command, asks for approval, then verifies the CLI and PCH commands after the upgrade. Unknown managers receive instructions only; no host mutation is attempted.

Explore an idea or concept

Use the explore skill for a voice or multimodal agent idea or framework concept. It discovers the PCH query commands, checks status, retrieves relevant concepts and detail, and cites returned source URLs. It uses pipecat context-hub when available, otherwise standalone pipecat-context-hub. Both dispatch the same handlers and return JSON on stdout; diagnostics remain on stderr.

For example, after verifying the installed command:

pipecat context-hub status
pipecat context-hub search-docs "TTS + STT"
pipecat context-hub search-examples "TTS + STT" --domain backend

Multi-concept searches use + or & for balanced coverage. Fetch the relevant page, example or symbol detail before making framework claims. Installed help controls flags, including source/version preferences. Compatibility annotations are not a different source snapshot or proof of compatibility when unknown. A latest pin is not proof of today's latest release.

Exploration is read-only: no installs, indexing, or persistent project/index file creation (semantic queries may create a temporary private Chroma snapshot), example execution, secret access or deployment. Missing runtime/index offers explicit Setup. CLI status before/after confirms unchanged index/version provenance; no refresh occurs. A stale index can provide dated evidence with a stated coverage limit. Neither PCH query route needs a Cloud account.

For image/video or other multimodal requests, the skill checks for modality-specific evidence and reports when the indexed corpus does not cover it. It does not turn a generic voice result into a vision claim.

Build a local app

Explicitly request a build and select an empty project directory. The build skill checks native shell access, installed CLI version, help and JSON options, clarifies transport/providers/client/behaviour, validates resolved dry-run output and scaffolds once. Existing apps are adapted without re-scaffolding. It keeps generated constraints and records resolved dependency versions, grounds customization in packaged Hub retrieval, and reports separate import, startup and behaviour outcomes. Provider credentials are supplied locally by the user; imports and credential-free checks do not verify a conversation.

CLI 1.3.0 was qualified with an explicit web/SmallWebRTC/cascade configuration, Deepgram/OpenAI/Cartesia and no client. These are test inputs, not user defaults. Local generation supports --no-deploy-to-cloud; no --eval flag is advertised. See the repository evaluation report for exact flags, resolved versions and limits. Build and grounded exploration are unavailable in discussion-only hosts. Grounded exploration also requires a working PCH CLI and populated index; without those prerequisites, the plugin can provide setup guidance only.

Prepare a Cloud deployment

Request deployment preparation for the selected existing app. The deploy skill discovers installed Cloud capabilities, verifies account metadata, target, runtime/build files, region architecture and resources, and records required key names and proposed secret-set changes. Existing apps and locks are preserved. Auth output and secret values stay outside the chat; failed metadata reads remain unresolved rather than meaning an empty account.

Preparation produces hashes, exact commands and one concrete payload covering organisation/region/agent, build source, resources and secret changes. Explicit approval precedes any secret write, local/Cloud build, source upload, registry push or deployment. Approved secret changes precede build/deploy. Sessions and deletion need explicit scope too. An approved command is verified through Cloud readiness; readiness alone does not prove a provider conversation.

CLI 1.3.0's Cloud source-build path was exercised after exact payload approval. On 2026-10-05, independent reads verified the qualification app's successful build and matching READY deployment in the selected organisation and region, with approved ARM64/resources/scaling/session limits and existing secret-set identity. Earlier failed uploads/builds and their corrections are retained in the repository evaluation report. The selected payload required zero secret writes; readiness and historical startup logs do not verify provider credentials or a voice session. Each new app still needs its own target, credential readiness and concrete approval. Candidate-source qualification and fresh rendering do not establish revised installed-skill activation or ChatGPT Work activation.

Qualification limits

The earlier stdio Codex local experiment demonstrated packaged exploration, CLI 1.3.0 scaffolding, credential-free local imports/construction/startup and the approved Cloud READY result. It uses indexed Pipecat 1.12.0; the latest recorded Hub status is 0.8.1 with an October 5 refresh. These are dated observations, not qualification of this CLI-first release, other hosts or provider combinations. JSON scaffold config execution, existing-app adaptation, absent-execution hosts, provider/browser sessions, secret writes and ChatGPT Work remain untested. The repository evaluation report distinguishes manual/synthetic walkthroughs, source-candidate conversations, actual packaged activation and live acceptance. Preparing a fresh copy propagates current instructions; activation of revised cached skills needs its own host test.

Cat-mark branding

The package includes square 512 × 512 SVGs in black for light backgrounds and white for dark backgrounds. The larger logo / logoDark assets add a small context-hub label below the cat, aligned with the outer right whisker edge. The label is outlined vector geometry, so rendering needs no installed font. The composerIcon / composerIconDark assets retain the standalone cat for small sizes. The renderer copies these four named assets; unrelated files in assets/ are excluded.

The mark matches the provided Pipecat brand folder (Mark + Black Text [Traditional].png). Its five vector paths are isolated from the supplied daily + pipecat horizontal lockup - black.svg, preserving the cat geometry while omitting the original wordmarks. The white variants change only the fill. All assets retain transparent backgrounds. Pipecat's mark remains Pipecat branding.

Prepare a fresh marketplace source and reinstall the local plugin to propagate the assets, then reopen the plugin page to verify the host displays the mark.

Prepare a portable copy

Package preparation requires only Python's standard library, not an installed Hub or index. From this checkout, run a compatible Python:

python3 -I -S plugins/pipecat-context-hub/scripts/prepare_local.py \
  /absolute/local-marketplace/plugins/pipecat-context-hub

The destination must be outside this checkout and absent or empty. The helper copies exactly fourteen resources: manifest, README, privacy notice, BSD licence, the two helper scripts, four skill entrypoints and four SVGs. It rejects missing/symlinked required resources and unsafe or nonempty destinations. It performs no runtime installation or indexing, and copies no MCP configuration, hooks, private reports or evaluation artifacts. The package is independent of the packaging machine's interpreter/index paths.

Install and verify

Place the prepared copy in the selected local marketplace. A marketplace root can contain .agents/plugins/marketplace.json with:

{
  "name": "pipecat-hub-local",
  "interface": {"displayName": "Local Pipecat Hub"},
  "plugins": [{
    "name": "pipecat-context-hub",
    "source": {"source": "local", "path": "./plugins/pipecat-context-hub"},
    "policy": {"installation": "AVAILABLE", "authentication": "ON_INSTALL"},
    "category": "Developer Tools"
  }]
}

Use codex plugin marketplace add /absolute/local-marketplace and install pipecat-context-hub@pipecat-hub-local, using the installed CLI's supported flags. After updates, prepare a fresh copy, preserve the old source as a backup and reinstall through the supported host flow. Use the plugin changelog as the source of truth for the current version and release-specific verification notes. Confirm the package includes four skills, cat-mark resources and no bundled MCP servers. Standalone Hub/client registrations are unrelated and remain unchanged.

Start a new supported chat and invoke Setup or Explore. Observe skill loading and native PCH queries with sourced output. Successful packaging, direct CLI commands and cache parity do not prove autonomous installed-skill activation. Record runtime/index, Build and Cloud prerequisites independently in your verification notes. No evaluation report is included in the installed package.

Publication

This is a skills-only plugin distribution for supported execution environments. A public submission ZIP excludes MCP configuration and hooks, so it needs no hosted PCH HTTPS endpoint. The plugin's independent release history and current submission state are recorded in the plugin changelog. The package includes the approved corporate publisher label, official product/support links, Daily's public privacy-policy and terms-of-service URLs and three starter prompts. The dashboard uses the selected verified Developer identity for the public publisher name. The bundled privacy notice explains local index/query processing, information returned to chat, downloads and Cloud uploads, and links to Daily's policy and Trust Center. It is included in the submission ZIP; publishing a separate documentation page is not performed by packaging. Clean-environment tests and portal skill scans/review remain separate qualifications. Package installation does not provision command execution or persistent storage. See submission requirements. OpenAI currently does not support adding MCP to the same skills-only listing later; a future MCP offering needs its own supported distribution decision.