feat: manage venv for all backends

1 files changed, 24 insertions, 100 deletions

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6eaf8a5..3f61655 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,19 +15,31 @@ The converter sends text extracted from your books to a locally running TTS serv
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
-- Python 3.12
+- Python 3.12+
 - ffmpeg
 
 ## Installation
 
-Create a python 3.12 environment, clone the repo, and install the requirements.
+Clone the repo. No manual environment setup is needed — `audiobook.py`
+creates and manages its own virtual environment (`envs/tts`) the first time
+it runs, installing its requirements and any backend TTS packages into it.
 
 ```bash
-conda create -n audiobook python=3.12 -y
-conda activate audiobook
 git clone https://git.historia.vg/git/tts-audiobook-generator
 cd tts-audiobook-generator
-pip install -r requirements.txt
+python audiobook.py
+```
+
+On first launch `audiobook.py` creates `envs/tts` (via `python -m venv`),
+installs `requirements.txt` into it, and re-launches itself inside that
+environment. Backend packages (`qwen-tts`, `faster-qwen3-tts[demo]`) are
+pip-installed into the same venv by their setup wizards.
+
+To add extras manually (e.g. FlashAttention), pip-install into the managed
+venv directly:
+
+```bash
+envs/tts/bin/python -m pip install flash-attn
 ```
 
 Put your book files (epub, etc.) in the `input/` directory. The output goes to `output/`.
@@ -42,11 +54,12 @@ python audiobook.py
 
 A full-screen TUI opens and shows each backend's status in a table — **unavailable** (red, name dimmed: not installed and no server running), **installed** (orange), or **running** (green, when an external server is already accepting connections on its configured port). From the menu you can:
 
-- **Convert books…** — process the `input/` directory with a ready/running backend (it reads the backend's `server.json` / `voices.json` so you pick the model and voice from menus), or
+- **Convert books…** — process the `input/` directory with a ready/running backend (it reads the backend's `server.json` / `voices.json` so you pick the model and voice from menus). If the server isn't running you're offered to start it automatically; after the conversion you're asked whether to stop it, or
 - **Set up a backend…** — clone, build, and configure a backend end-to-end (audio.cpp, qwen, faster), or
-- **Configure a backend…** — regenerate its config (a new `server.json`, rebuild `voices.json`, change ports/speaker).
+- **Configure a backend…** — regenerate its config (a new `server.json`, rebuild `voices.json`, change ports/speaker), or
+- **Server…** — manually start or stop a configured backend's server (the hub spawns it in the managed venv and polls until it accepts connections).
 
-**Convert books…** and **Configure a backend…** only appear once at least one backend is installed or running.
+**Configure a backend…** and **Server…** only appear once at least one backend is installed or running.
 
 Everything the TUI does can also be scripted with flags: `python audiobook.py --backend audiocpp --model higgs --voice narrator`, or `python -m backends.audiocpp --families higgs_audio_tts --clone --build-backend cuda`.
 
@@ -79,100 +92,11 @@ You need one of the following backends (the TUI sets them up for you; manual ste
 
 Other options including backend server URLs/ports are configured in `converter/config.py`
 
-## Backend Option 1: audio.cpp
-
-`audiocpp` is an easy to use server that hosts numerous TTS model families.
-
-### Download and build audiocpp_server
-
-Download and build `audiocpp_server` for your platform and backend `(cuda, vulkan, hip, cpu)`. Check [audio.cpp's readme](https://github.com/0xShug0/audio.cpp) for details. I'm using one of the helper scripts:
-
-```bash
-git clone https://github.com/0xShug0/audio.cpp
-cd audio.cpp
-scripts/build_linux.sh --backend cuda --target audiocpp_server
-```
-
-### Install models
-
-Download model packages with the python model manager script from the audio.cpp checkout. Each installs to `./models`. Here are two examples, Higgs Audio and Qwen3-TTS:
-
-```bash
-python tools/model_manager_v2.py install higgs_audio_tts_4b_q8_0
-python tools/model_manager_v2.py install qwen3_tts_1_7b_base_q8_0
-python tools/model_manager_v2.py install qwen3_tts_1_7b_customvoice_q8_0
-```
-
-You can run `python tools/model_manager_v2.py list` to see all available models.
-
-### Create server.json
-
-Create a `server.json` config file. One server can host multiple models and multiple cloned voices. The `id:` fields are the model names you will set for `tts-audiobook-generator` with `--model`.
-
-The easiest way is the TUI: run `python audiobook.py`, choose **Set up a backend… → audio.cpp**, and it clones `audio.cpp` into `./audio.cpp` (or reuses an existing checkout), builds `audiocpp_server`, lets you pick model families/packages from an expandable checkbox tree (reading the checkout's `model_specs/`), transcribes `.wav` voices with `whisper`, writes `server.json` into the checkout, syncs `converter/config.py`, and prints the launch command. Run it directly with `python -m backends.audiocpp` (flags like `--wavs`, `--families`, `--build-backend`, `--clone` skip the corresponding screens for scripting). Make sure you're in a Python environment that has `whisper` (i.e. `conda activate audiobook` before running). The Qwen3-TTS model tree also offers hosting the VoiceDesign package as a `vdes` entry (see [Voice design](#voice-design) below).
-
-```json
-{
-  "host": "127.0.0.1",
-  "port": 8080,
-  "backend": "cuda",
-  "lazy_load": true,
-  "voice_dir": "/path/to/clone/wavs",
-  "models": [
-    {
-      "id": "higgs",
-      "family": "higgs_audio_tts",
-      "path": "models/Higgs-Audio-v3-TTS-4B-GGUF",
-      "task": "tts",
-      "mode": "offline"
-    },
-    {
-      "id": "qwen",
-      "family": "qwen3_tts",
-      "path": "models/Qwen3-TTS-12Hz-1.7B-CustomVoice-GGUF",
-      "task": "tts",
-      "mode": "offline"
-    },
-    {
-      "id": "qwen-clone",
-      "family": "qwen3_tts",
-      "path": "models/Qwen3-TTS-12Hz-1.7B-Base-GGUF",
-      "task": "tts",
-      "mode": "offline"
-    }
-  ]
-}
-```
-
-### Run audio.cpp and the audiobook script
-
-Run the server with this config file. The `audiocpp_server` path will be slightly different depending on your platform and build options:
-
-```bash
-./build/linux-cuda-release/bin/audiocpp_server --config server.json
-```
-
-In a different terminal, run `audiobook.py`. Pick the TTS `--model` and `--voice` from server.json:
-
-```bash
-# Higgs Audio (clone-only)
-python audiobook.py --backend audiocpp --model higgs --voice narrator
-
-# Qwen3-TTS built-in speaker
-python audiobook.py --backend audiocpp --model qwen
-
-# Qwen3-TTS voice cloning
-python audiobook.py --backend audiocpp --model qwen-clone --voice narrator
-
-# Qwen-TTS voice design
-python audiobook.py --backend audiocpp --model qwen-design \
-    --instructions "A warm adult female narrator with a British accent"
-```
-
-## Other TTS Backends
+## TTS Backend Setup
 
-Installation and usage documentation for other supported TTS backends is in the `docs/` directory:
+Installation and usage documentation for each supported TTS backend is in the `docs/` directory:
 
+- [audio.cpp instructions](docs/backend-audiocpp.md)
 - [qwen-tts instructions](docs/backend-qwen.md)
 - [faster-qwen-tts instructions](docs/backend-faster.md)