Talking to Kenzy

Everything on this page works out of the box — no configuration. It's the five-minute guide to hand anyone in the house (or read aloud to a houseguest).

Waking her up

Say "Hey Kenzy." You'll hear a short chime — that's her saying I'm listening. Ask your question or give your instruction; a soft ticking sound means she's thinking, and she answers out loud.

The chime is also the privacy line: until the wake word fires, audio is processed on the room's device and never leaves it. Only after the chime does your speech travel (to your own server).

You:    Hey Kenzy
Kenzy:  ♪ (chime — listening)
You:    what's the weather tomorrow?
Kenzy:  Tomorrow looks sunny with a high of 84…

Making her stop

• Interrupt her mid-sentence: say "Hey Kenzy" while she's talking — the wake word is the only thing she reacts to while speaking, so a bare "stop" shouted over her does nothing. "Hey Kenzy" cuts her off instantly and she listens; follow with "stop" to end it there (or say nothing and she'll go back to idle on her own).
• The stop words — "stop", "stop it", "stop talking", "be quiet", "quiet", "hush", "shut up", "silence", "that's enough" — end the exchange silently whenever she's listening: right after the wake word ("Hey Kenzy" … "stop"), or as your answer when she's holding the mic open for a follow-up. No reply, no acknowledgment: you asked for quiet, so quiet is what you get. These are handled at the lowest level, before any thinking happens, so they're instant even if your AI model is slow or down.
• The polite bail-outs — "never mind", "forget it", "cancel" — do the same thing but with a brief spoken "Okay, no problem," which fits the cases where you changed your mind rather than demanded silence.
• A ringing alarm stops the moment you say the wake word — no other words needed.

“Stop” vs. “stop the timer”

A bare "stop" ends the current exchange. "Stop the timer" / "cancel the alarm" cancel the thing you named — see Timers, Alarms & Reminders.

Muting a room

"Hey Kenzy, mute" mutes that room's speaker — and it stays muted until you say "Hey Kenzy, unmute" (or "turn the sound back on"). That's the difference from the stop words above: "stop" ends one exchange; "mute" silences the room until further notice.

Two sounds intentionally survive muting, at a low volume: the wake-word chime (so you always know when she's listening) and alert chimes like the doorbell (someone at your door outranks mute). A restart also un-mutes.

Volume is voice-controlled too: "volume up", "turn it down", "set the volume to 60", "louder", "quieter".

Having a conversation

When Kenzy asks you something — a follow-up question, "should I create one called Shopping list?", the next line of a knock-knock joke — just answer. No wake word, no chime: when she stops talking in a conversation she started, she's listening. If you say nothing for about eight seconds, a soft cue plays meaning "I stopped waiting" and the conversation ends. Any bail-out phrase ("never mind") ends it politely too.

On rooms with an echo-cancelling speaker you don't even have to wait for her to finish: start talking over her during a conversation and she'll drop her volume, then yield the floor to you mid-sentence.

What the sounds mean

Sound	Meaning
Chime after "Hey Kenzy"	She's listening (plays even when muted, quietly)
Soft ticking	She heard you and is working on it
Short cue after silence	She stopped waiting for a reply — the conversation ended
Spoken apology	Something in the pipeline failed (see Troubleshooting)
Lead-in tone before an announcement	A timer or alarm you set is firing
Doorbell chime	An automation rang the house (plays even when muted, quietly)
Ringing tone after "call the kitchen"	The other room is being asked to accept your intercom call

Things to try

• "What time is it?" · "What's the weather this week?" — instant, and the time works with no internet at all
• "Turn off the lights" — your Home Assistant devices, room-aware: in the kitchen, that means the kitchen lights
• "Add milk and eggs to the shopping list" — lists that show up on everyone's phone
• "Set a timer for 10 minutes" · "Wake me at 7" · "Remind me to call Mom at 8"
• "Tell everyone dinner's ready" — spoken in every room at once
• "Call the living room" — a live two-way intercom (the other side has to say "yes")
• "Enroll me as Alice" — teach her your voice, so "my reminders" means yours
• "Calibrate" — she tunes her hearing to your room, by voice

The full list of built-in abilities is in Built-in Skills.