Glossary
This glossary defines each term that the manual uses in a fixed sense. Every term has its own anchor, so other pages can link to it.
Questions
Section titled “Questions”Answer line
Section titled “Answer line”The ANSWER: line of a question. The Read answer line checkbox makes the app speak it. See Question format and reading order.
The follow-up question for the team that answered the toss-up.
Category
Section titled “Category”The subject label of a question, such as EARTH SCIENCE. The app speaks it in title case.
Choice
Section titled “Choice”One of the four answers, W, X, Y, and Z, of a multiple-choice question.
Choice letter
Section titled “Choice letter”The letter W, X, Y, or Z before a choice. The app speaks the letter, pauses for 300 milliseconds, then speaks the choice.
Moderator
Section titled “Moderator”The person who reads questions in a match.
Multiple choice
Section titled “Multiple choice”A question format with four choices, W, X, Y, and Z.
National Science Bowl
Section titled “National Science Bowl”The U.S. Department of Energy competition whose questions Cloudy Reader reads aloud. Cloudy Reader is an independent project. See About the project.
Question
Section titled “Question”One National Science Bowl question as pasted: a header, a stem, choices if any, and an optional answer line.
A set of toss-ups and bonuses that are read in one match. A paste can hold a whole round.
Short answer
Section titled “Short answer”A question format without choices.
The question text before the choices.
Toss-up
Section titled “Toss-up”A question that any player may answer first.
Reading and the window
Section titled “Reading and the window”Checkbox
Section titled “Checkbox”A box that you select or deselect. Read answer line and Online lookups are checkboxes.
A status message that starts with “Error:”. The reading did not happen. See Status messages.
Pop-up menu
Section titled “Pop-up menu”A control that opens a list of values. Voice and Rotation are pop-up menus.
Question box
Section titled “Question box”The text area where you paste or type a question.
Reading
Section titled “Reading”One run of Speak: the spoken script and its audio.
Spoken script
Section titled “Spoken script”The words that the voice receives after the app converts the question. The Spoken script view shows them, without the pronunciation overrides. See How a question becomes speech.
Status bar
Section titled “Status bar”The bar at the bottom of the window. It shows the status message, the voice download progress, and a busy bar. See Main window.
Status message
Section titled “Status message”A message in the status bar. Its tone is information, warning, or error.
Warning
Section titled “Warning”A status message that starts with “Warning:” or “n warnings:”. The reading goes on.
Voices
Section titled “Voices”The mark that the Voice menu shows after the language of a voice. A Kokoro voice has a letter grade from the model, from A at the top to F+ at the bottom. A Piper voice has a quality label, such as medium. See Voices and voice engines.
Kokoro
Section titled “Kokoro”A voice engine whose voices show a letter grade in the Voice menu. It needs a Mac with Apple silicon.
A voice engine whose voices have lower-case names in the Voice menu, such as lessac.
Rotation
Section titled “Rotation”How Speak picks the voice for a reading. The Rotation menu sets it.
Rotation mode
Section titled “Rotation mode”One of the six settings of the Rotation menu: No rotation, Round robin, Random shuffle, US only (random shuffle), Men only, and Women only. See Rotation modes.
Speaker
Section titled “Speaker”The number in the Speaker box. The box appears only for a voice that has several speakers.
Supported voices
Section titled “Supported voices”The voices that the app downloads and checks. See Voices and rotation modes.
One entry that you can choose in the Voice menu, such as “Heart (female)”.
Voice engine
Section titled “Voice engine”The speech software that makes a set of voices, such as Piper or Kokoro. See Voices and voice engines.
Pronunciation
Section titled “Pronunciation”The International Phonetic Alphabet, a notation for speech sounds. The app turns a phonetic respelling into IPA, and the voice engine speaks the word from it.
Lexicon
Section titled “Lexicon”The built-in table of 553 hard science words with exact pronunciations. The app matches whole words and ignores case.
Name detection
Section titled “Name detection”The step that finds formulas and chemical, gene, and protein names in a question.
Name-detection model
Section titled “Name-detection model”The language model for science text that name detection uses. It is part of the app, runs on your Mac, and loads once after the app starts.
OPSIN check
Section titled “OPSIN check”The local parse of a systematic chemical name. It uses no network, so it works offline.
Override
Section titled “Override”An exact pronunciation for a word or phrase, written in IPA. A pronunciation guide, the lexicon, or a systematic chemical name can set it.
Phonetic respelling
Section titled “Phonetic respelling”A pronunciation guide that spells the sounds of a word or phrase, such as [KREBZ SY-kul].
Pronunciation guide
Section titled “Pronunciation guide”Text in square brackets after a word or phrase that sets how the app says it. The three kinds are the phonetic respelling, the say-as guide, and the spell guide. See Pronunciation guides.
Say-as guide
Section titled “Say-as guide”A pronunciation guide that gives the words to say in place of a printed expression, such as [4 and two-sevenths].
Spell guide
Section titled “Spell guide”A pronunciation guide that gives the letters to say, such as [F.A.D.].
Network and privacy
Section titled “Network and privacy”Name lookup
Section titled “Name lookup”A request to PubChem or UniProt about a detected name. See Privacy.
Offline mode
Section titled “Offline mode”A launch with --offline or with CLOUDYREADER_OFFLINE=1. The app then makes no name lookups and no voice download. See Start in offline mode.
Online lookups
Section titled “Online lookups”The checkbox that allows name lookups. Clearing it is not offline mode: it stops the lookups but not the voice download.
PubChem
Section titled “PubChem”An online chemistry database. A name lookup sends it a detected chemical name.
UniProt
Section titled “UniProt”An online protein database. A name lookup sends it a detected protein or gene name.
Voice download
Section titled “Voice download”The background download of missing supported voices at launch. See Manage voices and storage.
Installation
Section titled “Installation”Ad-hoc signature
Section titled “Ad-hoc signature”A code signature that uses no Apple Developer ID. Cloudy Reader is signed ad hoc and is not notarized. See Security and code signing.
Audio cache
Section titled “Audio cache”The cache/wav folder in the data folder. It holds one WAV file for each distinct reading.
Data folder
Section titled “Data folder”The folder where the app keeps its voices and caches: ~/Library/Application Support/cloudyreader. See Data folder.
Gatekeeper
Section titled “Gatekeeper”The macOS feature that checks an app when you open it. It blocks the first launch of Cloudy Reader until you approve the app. See Approve the app.
Intel-based Mac
Section titled “Intel-based Mac”A Mac with an Intel processor. Cloudy Reader does not run on it. See Your Mac is not supported.
Mac with Apple silicon
Section titled “Mac with Apple silicon”A Mac with an Apple chip, M1 or later. Cloudy Reader runs only on these Macs.
The Mac operating system. Cloudy Reader needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26.2 or later. See Check your Mac.
Notarized
Section titled “Notarized”Passed Apple’s malware check for apps that are distributed outside the App Store. Cloudy Reader is not notarized.
Quarantine flag
Section titled “Quarantine flag”The attribute that macOS sets on a downloaded file. Gatekeeper blocks the first launch of a quarantined app.
Self-test
Section titled “Self-test”The --self-test option. It reads a built-in sample question with the first Piper voice, with no window and no sound, and reports the result. See Command line.
SHA-256
Section titled “SHA-256”A checksum algorithm. Compare the SHA-256 of your download with the published value to check that the file is intact. See Download Cloudy Reader.
System Settings
Section titled “System Settings”The macOS settings app. You approve a blocked Cloudy Reader under Privacy & Security there.
Terminal
Section titled “Terminal”The macOS app where you type commands.