talk

macOS only (Apple Silicon recommended). Requires Python 3.11+.

Local-first dictation for macOS. Press a hotkey, talk, text appears at your cursor.

• Parakeet local transcription by default (zero API cost on Apple Silicon).
• OpenAI gpt-4o-transcribe fallback with one env switch.
• Automatic paste at cursor (clipboard-safe restore).

Install

pip install talktype

That's it. On first run, Parakeet model weights (~1.2 GB) download automatically.

Alternative: from source

git clone https://github.com/strangeloopcanon/talk.git
cd talk
./scripts/install_macos.sh
./scripts/doctor_macos.sh
./scripts/run_macos.sh

Usage

talk run

• Press Ctrl+Option+D to start recording.
• Press Ctrl+Option+D again to stop, transcribe, and paste.
• Press Ctrl+Option+Q to quit.

Preflight checks

talk doctor

File transcription

talk transcribe-file /path/to/sample.wav

macOS permissions

You must grant your terminal app:

• Microphone -- for audio recording
• Accessibility -- for paste keystroke automation
• Input Monitoring -- for global hotkeys

If paste fails but transcription works, Accessibility permission is usually the issue.

Configuration

Works out of the box with zero configuration. To customize, create ~/.config/talk/.env:

mkdir -p ~/.config/talk

Key options (all have sensible defaults):

See .env.example for the full list.

Switching backend

# In ~/.config/talk/.env or as env vars:
DICTATE_BACKEND=openai
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

Cleanup

Parakeet model weights are cached in ~/.cache/huggingface/hub/. To reclaim disk space:

rm -rf ~/.cache/huggingface/hub/models--mlx-community--parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3