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Migrating from Mycroft

In a nutshell

OVOS grew out of the original Mycroft AI project. A lot of the vocabulary is unchanged on purpose: "skills", "intents", "dialog files", even the wake word "Hey Mycroft". This lets skills and habits carry over. The underlying Python API was cleaned up along the way. Class names moved, one central cloud account went away entirely, and a couple of decorators merged into one. This page is a one-stop diff for anyone arriving with old mycroft-core knowledge (a skill, a config file, a habit) who wants to know exactly what changed and why. New to the words here? See the Glossary.

This page is for skill authors and integrators. If you just used a Mycroft device and want to know what daily use looks like on OVOS, read Coming from Mycroft instead.

The short version

OVOS is a backendless, community-maintained continuation of the ideas behind Mycroft AI. There is no cloud account, no pairing step, and no home.mycroft.ai. Everything that used to require the Mycroft backend now runs locally or through swappable, self-hosted plugins. The skill-writing model (intent files, dialog files, locale/ folders) is the same model you already know. Only a handful of import paths and class/decorator names changed.

Before / after: writing a skill

from mycroft import MycroftSkill, intent_file_handler

class HelloSkill(MycroftSkill):
    def __init__(self):
        MycroftSkill.__init__(self)

    @intent_file_handler("hello.intent")
    def handle_hello(self, message):
        self.speak_dialog("hello")

def create_skill():
    return HelloSkill()

from ovos_workshop.skills import OVOSSkill
from ovos_workshop.decorators import intent_handler

class HelloSkill(OVOSSkill):

    @intent_handler("hello.intent")
    def handle_hello(self, message):
        self.speak_dialog("hello")

What changed, line by line:

  • from mycroft import MycroftSkill → from ovos_workshop.skills import OVOSSkill. The mycroft package and its MycroftSkill class do not exist in the current OVOS stack. OVOSSkill (in ovos-workshop) is the base class every skill subclasses today.
  • No __init__ / create_skill() boilerplate is required. A skill is loaded from a Python package that declares itself through an opm.skill entry point (see Your First Skill). OVOS instantiates the class directly.
  • @intent_file_handler(...) → @intent_handler(...). mycroft-core kept Padatious .intent files and Adapt intents behind two separate decorators. OVOS merged them into a single @intent_handler that accepts either an .intent filename or an IntentBuilder. See Decorators for the full note.
  • self.speak_dialog(...) is unchanged. Dialog files and the multilingual locale/ layout work exactly as before (see Statements).

Concept map

mycroft-core concept OVOS today Notes
MycroftSkill OVOSSkill Base class every skill subclasses.
@intent_file_handler @intent_handler Now handles both Padatious .intent files and Adapt IntentBuilders.
self.translate() / translate_list() / translate_namedvalue() / translate_template() self.resources.render_dialog() / load_list_file() / load_named_value_file() / load_template_file() The old translate* helpers were removed. See Statements → Using translatable resources.
home.mycroft.ai (pairing, cloud STT/TTS, remote settings) Nothing, removed OVOS is backendless. There is no account, no pairing, and no central server. STT/TTS/settings all run through local or self-hosted plugins instead.
Mycroft Skills Manager (msm, ovos_skill_manager) pip / opm.skill entry points Skills are ordinary Python packages installed with pip. Discovery goes through OPM, not a separate skill manager.
settingsmeta.json / settingsmeta.yaml Still read, no backend to sync to The legacy settings-UI descriptor still works for tools that read it, but nothing uploads it anywhere. See Settings Meta and Skill Settings.
GUITracker can_display() / is_gui_installed() / is_gui_connected(bus) in ovos_utils.gui See Developer FAQ. GUI-heavy skills should also read Mark 1: self.enclosure and self.gui are being removed from the OVOSSkill base class.
Mycroft backend skills (skill-ovos-setup, ovos-stt-plugin-selene, …) Removed or replaced See the Deprecated & Archived Repositories list for the full mapping.
~/.config/mycroft/ config/settings folder Same path, kept for compatibility mycroft is still the default base folder name for config and settings, on purpose. See Skill Settings. It can be renamed via ovos.conf / OVOS_CONFIG_BASE_FOLDER if you want a fresh OpenVoiceOS folder instead.
"Hey Mycroft" wake word Unchanged Still the default wake word. Nothing to migrate here.

What you don't have to change

  • Intent files, dialog files, and the locale/ folder layout are the same format and the same lookup rules. A skill's resources port over unmodified.
  • self.speak() / self.speak_dialog() / self.get_response() and the general shape of an intent handler are unchanged.
  • The wake word and general voice interaction model ("Hey Mycroft, do the thing") are unchanged.

What you must change

  • Replace from mycroft import MycroftSkill with from ovos_workshop.skills import OVOSSkill (or one of its subclasses, such as FallbackSkill or OVOSCommonPlaybackSkill. See Skill Classes). There is no CommonQuerySkill base class. A plain OVOSSkill joins CommonQuery by decorating a method with @common_query().
  • Replace @intent_file_handler with @intent_handler.
  • Drop any code that depends on home.mycroft.ai (pairing checks, remote settings sync, cloud STT/TTS calls). There is nothing to pair with. Local plugins provide the equivalent functionality instead (see STT Plugins, TTS Plugins, Skill Settings).
  • Replace self.translate*() calls with the corresponding self.resources.* loader (see the concept map above).
  • If your skill shipped a setup.py/msm metadata file for the old Skills Manager, replace it with a pyproject.toml and an opm.skill entry point (see Your First Skill and skill.json).

Where to go from here

Read next: Skill Structure · Writing Version-Compatible Skills and Plugins Related: Skill Design Best Practices · Voice User Interface Design Guidelines · Intent Design · Coming from Mycroft