What happens if Kairos puts the wrong verse on screen during the service?

Two safeguards. Every detection carries a visible confidence score in the operator panel — low-confidence hits never auto-go-live, they sit in a queue for the operator to approve or skip. And the operator always has a one-click "clear overlay" to pull anything off the broadcast instantly. The default posture is "surface, don't override": Kairos suggests, the operator decides.

What if our internet drops mid-sermon?

Kairos ships with a local Whisper model that runs entirely on the booth machine — no internet required for transcription or detection. If you use cloud STT (Deepgram, Gladia, or our managed option) and the connection drops, Kairos falls back to the local model automatically so the broadcast keeps moving.

Will the pastor notice a delay?

Typical end-to-end latency from the spoken word to the verse on the broadcast is 0.6 seconds. The pastor will not feel it; the congregation perceives it as the verse appearing as it's being preached, not after. The hardest case — a paraphrased quote — takes a beat longer because the semantic match runs after the phrase completes.

Who can hear the audio Kairos records? Where is it stored?

Live transcription audio is streamed to the STT provider you choose and is not retained after transcription — that holds for BYOK Deepgram/Gladia, our managed option, and local Whisper (which never leaves your machine). Optional session recordings are saved to your own cloud account on Kairos Cloud, accessible only to operators you invite. You own the audio; we don't train on it.

If our current operator quits, can the next volunteer figure this out?

Yes. Operators control Kairos from a single panel — Prev / Next / Send Live, with keyboard shortcuts and a queue of pending detections. Most teams hand it off to a new volunteer in under fifteen minutes. Setup happens once, on the booth machine, and survives reboots.

Kairos is a free desktop app that detects Bible verses in real time from live sermon audio. It listens to a sermon feed, transcribes speech as it happens, identifies scripture references (including paraphrased quotations), and renders broadcast-ready overlays via NDI for OBS, vMix, and other live production tools. Kairos is built with Tauri v2, a React frontend, and a Rust backend.

What equipment do I need to run Kairos?

A computer running Windows or macOS, an audio feed from your sound system (system audio, NDI, or a USB mic), and a projector or display screen on the output side. Kairos works with your existing audio setup and NDI-compatible switcher. No specialised hardware required.

What Bible translations does Kairos support?

Kairos supports KJV, ESV, NIV, NKJV, NLT, and more. You can switch between translations on-the-fly from the operator panel, and each translation is stored locally in your app database for offline use.

What happens if the pastor paraphrases a verse?

Kairos is trained to recognise paraphrased scripture references, not just exact quotations. A semantic / vector model surfaces the intended passage even when the wording differs from any source translation, and tags the match with a confidence score so the operator can decide whether to go live.

Do we still need a projection or media operator?

Yes, but their role becomes simpler. Instead of typing verse references into a search bar mid-sermon, the operator triages incoming detections — approving high-confidence hits, overriding the few that need correction. The job moves from data entry to judgement.

Does Kairos work with OBS Studio and vMix?

Yes. Kairos outputs broadcast-ready overlays via NDI, which integrates natively with OBS Studio, vMix, Resolume, and other professional live production software. The overlay is a single NDI source you drop onto a layer above your existing scene.

How do I get started?

Download the free desktop app for Windows or macOS, plug in your audio feed, and you're ready to go. Most teams are running in under five minutes. Full setup instructions live in-app and in the online documentation.

Is Kairos difficult to set up or use?

No. Kairos is designed for church teams of all technical skill levels. Setup is straightforward, and once running, it operates with minimal interaction during services.

How much does Kairos cost?

Kairos is free for every church when you bring your own transcription key (Deepgram or Gladia) or run our bundled local Whisper model fully offline. No account required, no usage limits. If you'd rather not manage a transcription account, every new account gets 2 free hours of managed transcription to try it — no card required. After that you can stay on a prepaid wallet ($10 ≈ 20 hours) or move to a Pro annual plan ($200/year with 60 hours included every month). See the pricing page for details.

What is managed transcription and do I need it?

Managed transcription means Kairos handles the speech-to-text connection for you — no key paste, no separate STT account, no surprise bills. We meter usage by the minute and charge a flat per-hour rate via Paystack. You don't need it: the free BYOK and local Whisper options work the same as they always have. Managed is purely for teams that want a single bill and zero setup.

Import songs

Import your existing song library from EasyWorship, OpenLP, or any OpenLyrics XML source into Kairos.

Import your song library from EasyWorship or OpenLP into Kairos.

In Kairos, go to Settings → Lyrics → Import to open the importer. You'll see one card per supported source.

EasyWorship song import

EasyWorship stores its song library in a Firebird database that Kairos can't read directly without bundling a heavy database driver. Instead, use EasyWorship's built-in Export → Plain text feature against the folder of your choosing, then point Kairos at that folder.

Each .txt file in the folder becomes one song. Kairos reads optional header fields (Title:, Author:, CCLI:, Copyright:, Alternate title:) at the top of each file and [Verse 1] / [Chorus] section markers throughout the body. If a file has no header, the filename is used as the title; if it has no section markers, blank lines split the lyrics into successive verses.

One-way import

Songs are copied into Kairos's library. Changes made in EasyWorship after the import are not synced automatically; export and re-import to pick up new songs.

OpenLP song import

OpenLP stores its song library as a SQLite database (songs.sqlite — typically under ~/.local/share/openlp/songs/ on Linux, or %APPDATA%\openlp\songs\ on Windows). Pick that file in the importer and Kairos parses every song, including the verse / chorus / bridge structure encoded in OpenLP's lyrics XML.

The file is opened read-only — Kairos never modifies your OpenLP install.

One-time copy

Like the EasyWorship import, this is a one-time copy. For live verse detection and display, Kairos runs independently and does not require EasyWorship or OpenLP to be open.

OpenLyrics XML import

OpenLyrics is the de-facto interchange format for worship songs — ProPresenter's File → Export, OpenLP's File → Export → Songs, FreeShow, EasySlides, and most other worship apps emit .xml in this format. Pick either a single .xml file or a folder of files in the importer; Kairos reads the title / authors / copyright / CCLI metadata and the verse / chorus / bridge structure encoded in each file.

Format auto-detect

The importer handles the standard OpenLyrics shape (<verse name="v1">, <lines>…<br/>…</lines>) and recognises section codes for verse (v), chorus (c), pre-chorus (p), bridge (b), tag (t), intro (i), outro (o), and ending (e).

Duplicates are skipped

Both importers compare song titles case-insensitively against your existing Kairos catalog. Anything that matches is skipped rather than overwritten so re-running an import never clobbers manual edits you've made to songs already in your library.

Import songs

EasyWorship song import

OpenLP song import

OpenLyrics XML import

Duplicates are skipped

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