chore: drop bark which is unmaintained

.github/workflows/backend.yml

@@ -248,19 +248,6 @@ jobs:
             dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
             context: "./"
             ubuntu-version: '2404'
-          - build-type: 'cublas'
-            cuda-major-version: "12"
-            cuda-minor-version: "9"
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-gpu-nvidia-cuda-12-bark'
-            runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-            base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
-            skip-drivers: 'false'
-            backend: "bark"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
           - build-type: 'cublas'
             cuda-major-version: "12"
             cuda-minor-version: "9"
@@ -522,19 +509,6 @@ jobs:
             dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
             context: "./"
             ubuntu-version: '2404'
-          - build-type: 'cublas'
-            cuda-major-version: "13"
-            cuda-minor-version: "0"
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-gpu-nvidia-cuda-13-bark'
-            runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-            base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
-            skip-drivers: 'false'
-            backend: "bark"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
           - build-type: 'cublas'
             cuda-major-version: "13"
             cuda-minor-version: "0"
@@ -784,19 +758,6 @@ jobs:
             dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
             context: "./"
             ubuntu-version: '2404'
-          - build-type: 'hipblas'
-            cuda-major-version: ""
-            cuda-minor-version: ""
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-gpu-rocm-hipblas-bark'
-            runs-on: 'arc-runner-set'
-            base-image: "rocm/dev-ubuntu-24.04:6.4.4"
-            skip-drivers: 'false'
-            backend: "bark"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
             # sycl builds
           - build-type: 'intel'
             cuda-major-version: ""
@@ -1007,19 +968,6 @@ jobs:
             dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
             context: "./"
             ubuntu-version: '2404'
-          - build-type: 'intel'
-            cuda-major-version: ""
-            cuda-minor-version: ""
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-gpu-intel-bark'
-            runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-            base-image: "intel/oneapi-basekit:2025.3.0-0-devel-ubuntu24.04"
-            skip-drivers: 'false'
-            backend: "bark"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
           # piper
           - build-type: ''
             cuda-major-version: ""
@@ -1034,20 +982,6 @@ jobs:
             dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
             context: "./"
             ubuntu-version: '2404'
-          # bark-cpp
-          - build-type: ''
-            cuda-major-version: ""
-            cuda-minor-version: ""
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-bark-cpp'
-            runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-            base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
-            skip-drivers: 'false'
-            backend: "bark-cpp"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
           - build-type: ''
             cuda-major-version: ""
             cuda-minor-version: ""

AGENTS.md

@@ -4,13 +4,13 @@ Building and testing the project depends on the components involved and the plat
 
 ## Building a specified backend
 
-Let's say the user wants to build a particular backend for a given platform. For example let's say they want to build bark for ROCM/hipblas
+Let's say the user wants to build a particular backend for a given platform. For example let's say they want to build coqui for ROCM/hipblas
 
-- The Makefile has targets like `docker-build-bark` created with `generate-docker-build-target` at the time of writing. Recently added backends may require a new target.
+- The Makefile has targets like `docker-build-coqui` created with `generate-docker-build-target` at the time of writing. Recently added backends may require a new target.
 - At a minimum we need to set the BUILD_TYPE, BASE_IMAGE build-args
   - Use .github/workflows/backend.yml as a reference it lists the needed args in the `include` job strategy matrix
   - l4t and cublas also requires the CUDA major and minor version
-- You can pretty print a command like `DOCKER_MAKEFLAGS=-j$(nproc --ignore=1) BUILD_TYPE=hipblas BASE_IMAGE=rocm/dev-ubuntu-24.04:6.4.4 make docker-build-bark`
+- You can pretty print a command like `DOCKER_MAKEFLAGS=-j$(nproc --ignore=1) BUILD_TYPE=hipblas BASE_IMAGE=rocm/dev-ubuntu-24.04:6.4.4 make docker-build-coqui`
 - Unless the user specifies that they want you to run the command, then just print it because not all agent frontends handle long running jobs well and the output may overflow your context
 - The user may say they want to build AMD or ROCM instead of hipblas, or Intel instead of SYCL or NVIDIA insted of l4t or cublas. Ask for confirmation if there is ambiguity.
 - Sometimes the user may need extra parameters to be added to `docker build` (e.g. `--platform` for cross-platform builds or `--progress` to view the full logs), in which case you can generate the `docker build` command directly.
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ test-extra: prepare-test-extra
 
 Add a backend definition variable in the backend definitions section (around line 428-457). The format depends on the backend type:
 
-**For Python backends with root context** (like `faster-whisper`, `bark`):
+**For Python backends with root context** (like `faster-whisper`, `coqui`):
 ```makefile
 BACKEND_<BACKEND_NAME> = <backend-name>|python|.|false|true
 ```

Makefile

@@ -438,7 +438,6 @@ backend-images:
 BACKEND_LLAMA_CPP = llama-cpp|llama-cpp|.|false|false
 
 # Golang backends
-BACKEND_BARK_CPP = bark-cpp|golang|.|false|true
 BACKEND_PIPER = piper|golang|.|false|true
 BACKEND_LOCAL_STORE = local-store|golang|.|false|true
 BACKEND_HUGGINGFACE = huggingface|golang|.|false|true
@@ -451,7 +450,6 @@ BACKEND_RERANKERS = rerankers|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_TRANSFORMERS = transformers|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_FASTER_WHISPER = faster-whisper|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_COQUI = coqui|python|.|false|true
-BACKEND_BARK = bark|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_RFDETR = rfdetr|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_KITTEN_TTS = kitten-tts|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_NEUTTS = neutts|python|.|false|true
@@ -487,7 +485,6 @@ endef
 
 # Generate all docker-build targets
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_LLAMA_CPP)))
-$(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_BARK_CPP)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_PIPER)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_LOCAL_STORE)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_HUGGINGFACE)))
@@ -498,7 +495,6 @@ $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_RERANKERS)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_TRANSFORMERS)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_FASTER_WHISPER)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_COQUI)))
-$(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_BARK)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_RFDETR)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_KITTEN_TTS)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_NEUTTS)))
@@ -516,7 +512,7 @@ $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_QWEN_TTS)))
 docker-save-%: backend-images
 	docker save local-ai-backend:$* -o backend-images/$*.tar
 
-docker-build-backends: docker-build-llama-cpp docker-build-rerankers docker-build-vllm docker-build-vllm-omni docker-build-transformers docker-build-diffusers docker-build-kokoro docker-build-faster-whisper docker-build-coqui docker-build-bark docker-build-chatterbox docker-build-vibevoice docker-build-moonshine docker-build-pocket-tts docker-build-qwen-tts
+docker-build-backends: docker-build-llama-cpp docker-build-rerankers docker-build-vllm docker-build-vllm-omni docker-build-transformers docker-build-diffusers docker-build-kokoro docker-build-faster-whisper docker-build-coqui docker-build-chatterbox docker-build-vibevoice docker-build-moonshine docker-build-pocket-tts docker-build-qwen-tts
 
 ########################################################
 ### END Backends

README.md

@@ -268,8 +268,6 @@ LocalAI supports a comprehensive range of AI backends with multiple acceleration
 |---------|-------------|---------------------|
 | **whisper.cpp** | OpenAI Whisper in C/C++ | CUDA 12/13, ROCm, Intel SYCL, Vulkan, CPU |
 | **faster-whisper** | Fast Whisper with CTranslate2 | CUDA 12/13, ROCm, Intel, CPU |
-| **bark** | Text-to-audio generation | CUDA 12/13, ROCm, Intel |
-| **bark-cpp** | C++ implementation of Bark | CUDA, Metal, CPU |
 | **coqui** | Advanced TTS with 1100+ languages | CUDA 12/13, ROCm, Intel, CPU |
 | **kokoro** | Lightweight TTS model | CUDA 12/13, ROCm, Intel, CPU |
 | **chatterbox** | Production-grade TTS | CUDA 12/13, CPU |
@@ -301,9 +299,9 @@ LocalAI supports a comprehensive range of AI backends with multiple acceleration
 |-------------------|-------------------|------------------|
 | **NVIDIA CUDA 12** | All CUDA-compatible backends | Nvidia hardware |
 | **NVIDIA CUDA 13** | All CUDA-compatible backends | Nvidia hardware |
-| **AMD ROCm** | llama.cpp, whisper, vllm, transformers, diffusers, rerankers, coqui, kokoro, bark, neutts, vibevoice, pocket-tts, qwen-tts | AMD Graphics |
-| **Intel oneAPI** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion, vllm, transformers, diffusers, rfdetr, rerankers, coqui, kokoro, bark, vibevoice, pocket-tts, qwen-tts | Intel Arc, Intel iGPUs |
-| **Apple Metal** | llama.cpp, whisper, diffusers, MLX, MLX-VLM, bark-cpp | Apple M1/M2/M3+ |
+| **AMD ROCm** | llama.cpp, whisper, vllm, transformers, diffusers, rerankers, coqui, kokoro, neutts, vibevoice, pocket-tts, qwen-tts | AMD Graphics |
+| **Intel oneAPI** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion, vllm, transformers, diffusers, rfdetr, rerankers, coqui, kokoro, vibevoice, pocket-tts, qwen-tts | Intel Arc, Intel iGPUs |
+| **Apple Metal** | llama.cpp, whisper, diffusers, MLX, MLX-VLM | Apple M1/M2/M3+ |
 | **Vulkan** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion | Cross-platform GPUs |
 | **NVIDIA Jetson (CUDA 12)** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion, diffusers, rfdetr | ARM64 embedded AI (AGX Orin, etc.) |
 | **NVIDIA Jetson (CUDA 13)** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion, diffusers, rfdetr | ARM64 embedded AI (DGX Spark) |

backend/README.md

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ The backend system provides language-specific Dockerfiles that handle the build
 - **vllm**: High-performance LLM inference
 - **mlx**: Apple Silicon optimization
 - **diffusers**: Stable Diffusion models
-- **Audio**: bark, coqui, faster-whisper, kitten-tts
+- **Audio**: coqui, faster-whisper, kitten-tts
 - **Vision**: mlx-vlm, rfdetr
 - **Specialized**: rerankers, chatterbox, kokoro
 
@@ -55,7 +55,6 @@ The backend system provides language-specific Dockerfiles that handle the build
 - **stablediffusion-ggml**: Stable Diffusion in Go with GGML Cpp backend
 - **huggingface**: Hugging Face model integration
 - **piper**: Text-to-speech synthesis Golang with C bindings using rhaspy/piper
-- **bark-cpp**: Bark TTS models Golang with Cpp bindings
 - **local-store**: Vector storage backend
 
 #### C++ Backends (`cpp/`)