How to make Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor speak and transcribe Arabic (MCP)
Your AI assistant can write an Arabic script, but it cannot say it — or listen to your Arabic voice note. Connect one MCP server and it can do both, in Gulf dialect, from the chat.
nutq teamPublished 3 min read
AI assistants are good at Arabic text. Ask Claude or ChatGPT for a Gulf Arabic ad script and you get one. Ask it to say the script in an Emirati voice, or to listen to a 40-minute Arabic interview, and it stops. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) closes that gap: connect one server and you get Arabic speech in Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor — speaking and transcribing from the chat.
What can an AI assistant do with nutq connected?
| Ask it to… | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Transcribe this interview and give me an SRT" | nutq transcribes it, dialect kept, and returns text, SRT or VTT |
| "Turn this script into a voiceover in Alia's voice, excited" | nutq speaks it with nutq-speak-3 and returns a link to the WAV |
| "Write a two-person ad and voice it" | The assistant writes it with [Voice] lines and cues, then generates one file |
| "Which voices do you have?" | It lists the Arabic voices and the other languages |
| "What's my balance?" | It reads your nutq account |
The speech side understands the same cues as the API: seven emotions such as [excited] and [tender], [laughter], [sigh] and timed pauses. See Arabic text to speech with emotion for what each one does.
How do you connect Claude?
- In Claude (web or desktop), open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
- Name it
nutqand paste the server URL:https://nutq.dev/mcp. - Click Add, then Connect, and allow access on the nutq page that opens.
On Team and Enterprise plans an owner adds the connector once under organisation settings; each person then connects their own nutq account.
In Claude Code, add the server, run /mcp, choose nutq and Authenticate — your browser opens to allow access.
How do you connect ChatGPT?
- Open Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced settings and turn on Developer mode.
- Back in Apps & Connectors, choose Create. Name:
nutq. MCP server URL:https://nutq.dev/mcp. - Authentication: OAuth. Create it, sign in to nutq and allow access.
- In a chat, turn nutq on from the + menu, then ask it to transcribe or speak.
How do you connect Cursor and others?
In Cursor, use the install button on your nutq account's MCP page, or add the server URL to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then open Settings → MCP and click Connect. Antigravity connects with an API key in its config, because its sign-in flow is unreliable; the MCP page creates one for you. Any other client that supports remote MCP servers can use the same URL. The guides for each app are on the MCP page once you are signed in.
How does transcription of a local file work?
Chat apps cannot hand a large audio file to a server, so nutq does not ask them to. The assistant requests an upload link, you drop the file on that page, and it goes straight to nutq — not through the chat. The assistant then collects the transcript. A file that is already online can be transcribed from a direct link instead. Either way the transcript keeps Gulf and Levantine dialect as spoken; see Gulf Arabic vs MSA.
Is it safe, and what does it cost?
You approve each app by name on a nutq consent page, and you can see and disconnect connected apps at any time. Requests are billed to your balance at the usual prices — $0.15 per hour of audio, $0.05 per 1,000 characters — and checking a script before generating it is free. New accounts get $5 of credit at sign-up.
If you are building your own product rather than using an assistant, the same abilities are in the API: see the Arabic speech to text API guide and the API reference.
Questions people ask
Can ChatGPT or Claude speak Arabic in a Gulf accent?
Not on their own. With the nutq MCP server connected, they can generate Gulf Arabic speech — with emotions, laughter, pauses and several voices — and give you a link to the audio file.
Which AI apps can connect to nutq?
Claude (web and desktop), Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor and Antigravity have step-by-step guides, and any MCP client that supports remote servers can connect to https://nutq.dev/mcp.
How does the assistant transcribe a file on my computer?
It asks nutq for an upload link and gives you a page to drop the file on; the file goes straight to nutq, not through the chat. If the file is online, it can transcribe a direct link instead.
What does it cost to use nutq through an AI assistant?
The same as the API: $0.15 per hour of audio for transcription and $0.05 per 1,000 characters for speech, billed to your nutq balance. Checking a script before generating it is free.
Can I disconnect an AI app later?
Yes. Connected apps are listed on the MCP page of your nutq account, and you can disconnect any of them at any time.
Written by nutq team. nutq is an Arabic speech API built in the UAE: speech to text that keeps Gulf dialect, and Arabic text to speech with voice cloning.
اقرأ بالعربيةHear it on your own audio.
$5 of credit to start — about 33 hours of transcription. No card.
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