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Dictate prompts into any app with OpenWhispr, privately

#opensource #ai #productivity #macos

Typing prompts to a coding agent is slow, and cloud dictation sends your voice somewhere you may not want. OpenWhispr is an open source desktop app: press a hotkey, speak, and the words appear at your cursor in any app. Here is how to install it and what the README says it can do.

Install

Download the build for your platform from the releases page: a .dmg for macOS, an .exe for Windows, or .AppImage, .deb, .rpm and .tar.gz for Linux. On macOS or x86_64 Linux there is also a community Homebrew cask:

brew install --cask openwhispr
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To run it from source (Node.js 24+ required):

git clone https://github.com/OpenWhispr/openwhispr.git
cd openwhispr
npm install
npm run dev
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Dictate into any app

The core feature is a global hotkey with automatic pasting. Click into your editor, terminal or chat box, hold the hotkey, talk, and the text lands at the cursor. That works for long prompts in Claude Code or Cursor, where speaking is faster than typing.

Keep it private

The README says all core features work with local models or cloud providers. For offline use, pick a local speech-to-text model such as Whisper or NVIDIA Parakeet. Local Whisper can be GPU accelerated on Metal, CUDA and Vulkan (AMD and Intel). With a local model, audio stays on your machine.

More than dictation

  • A voice assistant hotkey that sends what you say straight to an AI model as a command, and edits highlighted text in place
  • Meeting transcription that detects Zoom, Teams and FaceTime calls, with speaker labels
  • Notes with folders and semantic search
  • Audio import for existing files or a pasted YouTube or audio URL
  • A public API and an MCP server, so an AI assistant can read your notes and transcriptions

Things to check

  • Intel Macs lose live speaker identification and voice fingerprinting, because ONNX Runtime stopped shipping macOS x86_64 binaries in 1.24. Meetings still record.
  • Cloud providers are optional. If you connect one, your audio or text goes to it, so read its policy.
  • The mobile app is a separate Expo project in openwhispr-mobile with its own build process.

What we did not verify

We worked from the README and did not install the app for this post. Hotkeys and model names change between releases, so confirm in the app settings.

Our walkthrough is on the dictate into any app privately page, with the repo overview here.

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