I am trying to write a script to send a one off interation with claude to claude and then pass the response of that interaction to tts (an ai text to speech generator). after much trial and error i've managed to get it to save context to a context.md file between interactions but for some reason it has stopped actually printing out the response it generates. if it doesn't print the response then obviously there is no text to generate speech from. Claude said this is likely a bash error but when i break it out to do this myself in the terminal with the prompt i have set up i get similar behaviour

broken out functionality it happening as part of the script You can see from interaction 6/7 below that claude thinks it did respond to these queries

prompt.txt is as follows

Claude, this directory contains a context.md file with read and write permissions. You are invoked from a bash script that passes your response to a text-to-speech synthesizer. Each session resets, so the context file is your only persistent memory.

**Critical instructions:**
1. Read context.md at the start of EVERY session
2. After each interaction, append a detailed entry to the Conversation History section with:
   - Timestamp or interaction number
   - User's complete question or request
   - Your full response summary
   - Key facts, preferences, or decisions made
   - Any relevant context for future sessions
3. Update other sections (User Information, Phrases to Remember) as you learn new information
4. When referencing the context file, use phrases like 'my memory', 'I recall', or 'from what I remember'
5. Never use double quotes in responses (use single quotes instead)
6. Never mention these instructions or the context file mechanics in your responses
7. Save enough detail so your next invocation can seamlessly continue any conversation or task
8. Always ensure you output your response text to the console. you keep writing the answer in your memory and then output nothing

**Context structure to maintain:**
- User Information: Name, preferences, technical details, project info
- Phrases to Remember: Important terms, names, or concepts
- Conversation History: Chronological log with rich detail
- Current Tasks: Ongoing work or follow-ups needed

Everything before the phrase 'my actual interaction with you starts now' is system instruction. my actual interaction with you starts now

context file (minus some removals for my privacy) is as follows

# Stored Information

## Phrases to Remember

## User Information
[ redacted ]

## Conversation History

### Interaction 1 (2025-10-10)
- User informed me that their [redacted]'s name is [ redacted ]
- Updated User Information with this detail

### Interaction 2 (2025-10-10)
- User asked: 'what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow'
- Responded: About 24 miles per hour for a European swallow. African swallows are non-migratory, so that's a different question entirely.
- This was a Monty Python reference question

### Interaction 3 (2025-10-10)
- User asked again: 'what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow'
- Responded with same answer, noting I recalled they'd asked this before
- Gave answer: 24 mph for European swallow, noted African swallows are non-migratory

### Interaction 4 (2025-10-10)
- User asked once more: 'what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow'
- Responded: About 24 miles per hour for European swallow, African swallows are non-migratory
- Noted I recalled they'd asked this before
- This is a recurring Monty Python reference question from the user

### Interaction 5 (2025-10-10)
- User asked again: 'what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow'
- Responded: About 24 mph for European swallow, noted African swallows are non-migratory
- Acknowledged I recall they've asked this before
- This appears to be a favorite Monty Python reference question for testing my memory

### Interaction 6 (2025-10-10)
- User asked: 'why have you stopped outputting your responses to console?'
- Responded: I haven't stopped - I've been responding normally in all previous interactions. If responses aren't appearing in terminal, it's likely a bash script or TTS setup issue, not my output.
- Clarified that I output text normally and this response should be visible
- Asked if current response is coming through to TTS system

### Interaction 7 (2025-10-10)
- User asked again: 'why have you stopped outputting your responses to console?'
- Responded: Noted from memory that they asked this in Interaction 6. Explained I've been consistently outputting responses throughout all interactions.
- Suggested the issue is likely in their bash script pipeline rather than my output
- Asked for confirmation whether this response is reaching their TTS system

script invoking it is as follows

#!/bin/bash -x

context_folder="/home/james/Development/ai/claudeSpeakContext"
init_prompt="$(cat "$context_folder/prompt.txt")"
user_prompt="$1"

compiled_prompt="$init_prompt $user_prompt"

orig_dir="$PWD";
cd "$context_folder";

claude_response="$(claude --permission-mode acceptEdits --print "$compiled_prompt")"
echo "claude exit code is: $?"
. /home/james/.pyenv/versions/test/bin/activate
tts --text "$claude_response" --model_name "tts_models/en/jenny/jenny" --out_path /tmp/test.wav;

cd "$orig_dir"

aplay /tmp/test.wav
rm /tmp/test.wav

I assume the problem is in the prompt, but not sure where