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Cross-platform voice-to-text typing assistant with GPU acceleration and automatic CPU fallback

Project description

STT Type v2.0.8

Cross-platform voice-to-text typing assistant with GPU acceleration and automatic CPU fallback.

Hold F2 (configurable) to record your voice, release to transcribe and type the text automatically at your cursor position.

Features

  • Cross-platform - Works on Windows, Linux, and macOS
  • Hold hotkey to record - Audio captures while key is held (default: F2)
  • Visual indicator - Transparent red dot with hotkey label appears in top-right corner while recording
  • Bell sounds - Audio feedback when recording starts/stops (WAV playback on Linux, beep on Windows)
  • GPU-accelerated STT - Uses faster-whisper on your NVIDIA GPU
  • Auto CPU fallback - Automatically falls back to CPU if GPU is not available
  • Clipboard typing - Types text via Ctrl+V paste for reliability (no key interference)
  • System tray mode - Runs silently in background
  • Auto-startup - Starts automatically on login (Windows)
  • Settings GUI - stttype --config to change model, language, device, compute type, and hotkey
  • Config persistence - Settings saved to ~/.config/stttype/config.json

Requirements

  • Python 3.9+
  • Microphone
  • NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support (optional, for GPU mode)
  • Linux: paplay, aplay, or pw-play for sound feedback (auto-detected)

Installation

From PyPI (Recommended)

pip install stttype

Prerequisites (Optional GPU Support)

Install PyTorch with CUDA support for GPU acceleration:

# Windows/Linux with CUDA 11.8
pip install torch torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu118

# macOS (CPU only, no CUDA)
pip install torch torchaudio

Without PyTorch, STT Type will still work — it automatically falls back to CPU.

Windows (Local Install)

cd "E:\Lucas\STT Type"
.\install.ps1

Then restart PowerShell.

Linux

cd /path/to/stttype
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

If sounddevice fails, install PortAudio:

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install portaudio19-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install portaudio-devel

# Arch
sudo pacman -S portaudio

For sound feedback, ensure one of these is installed:

# PulseAudio (most desktop distros)
pulseaudio --version

# PipeWire
pw-play --version

# ALSA (fallback)
aplay --version

macOS

cd /path/to/stttype
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

If sounddevice fails, install PortAudio:

brew install portaudio

Note: On macOS, you need to grant Accessibility permissions for pynput to capture global hotkeys. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility and add your terminal application.

Commands

Once installed, stttype works from any terminal.

Command Description
stttype --start Start STT Type in background
stttype --shutdown Stop all STT Type processes
stttype --status Check if STT Type is running
stttype --restart Restart STT Type
stttype --config Open settings GUI
stttype --addtostartup Add to startup (Windows only)
stttype --rmtostartup Remove from startup (Windows only)
stttype --model <size> Set Whisper model (tiny/base/small/medium/large-v3)
stttype --lang <code> Set language (en/zh/auto/etc)
stttype --help Show help

Examples

# Start with default settings
stttype --start

# Start with a larger model for better accuracy
stttype --start --model small

# Start with Chinese language
stttype --start --lang zh

# Start with small model and auto-detect language
stttype --start --model small --lang auto

# Open settings GUI
stttype --config

Settings GUI

Run stttype --config to open a settings window where you can configure:

Setting Options
Whisper Model tiny, base, small, medium, large-v3
Language Auto-detect, English, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi
Device Auto (GPU if available), GPU (CUDA), CPU
Compute Type Auto, Float16 (GPU), Int8 (CPU)
Hotkey F1 - F12

Settings are saved to ~/.config/stttype/config.json and persist across restarts.

How It Works

  1. Hold hotkey (default F2) - A transparent red dot appears in the top-right corner, microphone starts recording
  2. Release hotkey - Red dot disappears, recording stops
  3. GPU/CPU transcribes - Whisper processes audio (GPU if available, else CPU)
  4. Text is pasted - Result is pasted at your cursor position via Ctrl+V

Models

Model Size VRAM Speed Accuracy
tiny 39 MB ~1 GB Fastest Basic
base 74 MB ~1 GB Fast Good
small 244 MB ~2 GB Medium Better
medium 769 MB ~5 GB Slower Best
large-v3 1550 MB ~10 GB Slowest Excellent

Default is base - a good balance of speed and accuracy.

Uninstall

Windows

cd "E:\Lucas\STT Type"
.\uninstall.ps1

Linux/macOS

cd /path/to/stttype
chmod +x uninstall.sh
./uninstall.sh

Troubleshooting

Issue Solution
stttype not found Restart terminal after installation
"CUDA not available" Install NVIDIA drivers and CUDA toolkit, or STT Type will auto-fallback to CPU
No sound on start/stop (Linux) Install pulseaudio-utils, alsa-utils, or pipewire
No overlay on Linux Ensure $DISPLAY is set (e.g., DISPLAY=:0 stttype --start)
Text not typing Make sure the target window is focused
Model download fails Check internet connection
Hotkeys don't work (macOS) Grant Accessibility permissions to your terminal
Hotkeys don't work (Linux) Make sure you're running under X11 (not Wayland)
Garbled text when typing Fixed in v2.0.2+ — uses clipboard paste instead of key simulation
Config not applied Fixed in v2.0.5+ — CLI defaults changed to None so config values are read

Version History

Version Changes
2.0.8 Linux: pyautogui.typewrite() typing; faster bell beeps; transparent PNG overlay via PIL
2.0.7 Linux sound via WAV playback; Linux overlay fixes; typing reverted to typewrite on Linux
2.0.6 Linux sound via WAV playback (paplay/aplay/pw-play); Linux overlay alpha transparency fallback; display detection
2.0.5 Fixed config not being used by CLI — argparse defaults changed to None
2.0.4 README sync
2.0.3 Config value extraction fix
2.0.2 Clipboard typing fix; config applied
2.0.1 Linux DISPLAY fix
2.0.0 Config GUI, transparent indicator, major update
1.0.x Initial releases

Publish to PyPI

# Install build tools
pip install build twine

# Build
cd /path/to/stttype
python -m build

# Upload
python -m twine upload dist/*

When prompted:

  • Username: __token__
  • Password: Your PyPI API token

Author: LucasApps
Version: 2.0.8
License: MIT

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