whotalksitron 1.1.0

Audio transcription CLI with speaker identification

whotalksitron

Audio transcription CLI with speaker identification. Accepts audio files, produces markdown transcripts with speaker-attributed segments and timestamps.

Features

• Multiple inference backends: Gemini via Vertex AI (primary), pyannote+Whisper (local), Whisper-only (Ollama/LM Studio)
• Speaker voiceprint enrollment per podcast — enroll known voices, re-identify them automatically in future episodes
• Markdown output with timestamps and speaker labels
• Machine-parseable progress output for scripting

Installation

Gemini-only (lean, no GPU required):

uv tool install whotalksitron

With local backends (pyannote+faster-whisper, requires GPU or Apple Silicon):

uv tool install whotalksitron --with local

Quickstart

# Transcribe with Gemini (requires API credentials — see docs/gcloud.md)
whotalksitron transcribe episode.mp3 --backend gemini --podcast my-show

# Transcribe with a local backend
whotalksitron transcribe episode.mp3 --backend pyannote

# Enroll a known speaker
whotalksitron enroll --name alice --podcast my-show --sample alice-sample.wav

# Transcribe with speaker identification
whotalksitron transcribe episode.mp3 --backend gemini --podcast my-show

Output is written alongside the audio file as <stem>-transcript.md by default. Use --overwrite / -f to replace an existing output file.

Commands

transcribe

whotalksitron transcribe AUDIO_FILE [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--backend	gemini, pyannote, or whisper. Defaults to auto-select.
--podcast NAME	Load enrolled speakers for this podcast and run voiceprint matching.
--output PATH / -o	Output path. Defaults to <stem>-transcript.md alongside the audio file.
--model NAME	Override the model for the selected backend.
--overwrite / -f	Overwrite output file if it exists.
--identify-speakers	Force speaker identification even without enrolled voices.

enroll

Add a voice sample for a speaker. Run multiple times to add more samples.

whotalksitron enroll --name NAME --podcast PODCAST --sample AUDIO_FILE

Option	Description
--name	Speaker name as it will appear in transcripts.
--podcast	Podcast identifier (used to scope speakers per show).
--sample	Audio file containing only this speaker's voice.
--rebuild	Recompute embeddings from existing samples.

extract-samples

Transcribe an episode and extract short audio clips per speaker — useful for building an enrollment library without manually slicing audio.

whotalksitron extract-samples AUDIO_FILE [--podcast PODCAST] [--output DIR]

Prints enrollment commands for any unrecognised speakers at the end.

import-speaker

Copy an enrolled speaker from one podcast to another without re-enrolling.

whotalksitron import-speaker --name NAME --from SOURCE_PODCAST --to TARGET_PODCAST

list-speakers

whotalksitron list-speakers [--podcast PODCAST]

config

whotalksitron config --init           # Write default config to ~/.config/whotalksitron/config.toml
whotalksitron config --show           # Print resolved config (with secrets masked)
whotalksitron config --set key=value  # Update a single key in the config file

Global flags

These apply to all commands:

Flag	Description
--log-level	debug, info, warn, error
--log-format	text (default) or json
--progress	Emit structured progress lines to stderr
--quiet / -q	Suppress non-error output

Configuration

Config file lives at ~/.config/whotalksitron/config.toml. Generate a template with whotalksitron config --init.

Configuration is resolved in this order (later overrides earlier):

1. Config file
2. macOS Keychain (for Gemini API key)
3. 1Password CLI (for Gemini API key, if gemini.op_reference is set)
4. Environment variables
5. CLI flags

Environment variables

Variable	Config key	Description
GOOGLE_CLOUD_API_KEY	gemini.api_key	Gemini/Vertex AI API key
GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT	gemini.project	GCP project ID
GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION	gemini.location	GCP region
GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI	gemini.use_adc	Set to 1 to use Vertex AI instead of AI Studio
GOOGLE_CLOUD_STORAGE_BUCKET	gemini.gcs_bucket	GCS bucket for staging large audio files (Vertex AI only)
GEMINI_API_KEY	gemini.api_key	Alternative to GOOGLE_CLOUD_API_KEY
WHOTALKSITRON_BACKEND	defaults.backend	Default backend
WHOTALKSITRON_LOG_LEVEL	defaults.log_level	Default log level
WHOTALKSITRON_CONFIG	—	Override config file path
WHOTALKSITRON_SPEAKERS_DIR	—	Override speakers directory

Config file reference

[defaults]
backend = "auto"        # auto, gemini, pyannote, whisper
log_level = "info"
log_format = "text"     # text or json
progress = false

[gemini]
api_key = ""
use_adc = false         # true = Vertex AI via ADC
project = ""            # GCP project (Vertex AI)
location = ""           # GCP region (Vertex AI)
gcs_bucket = ""         # GCS bucket for large files (Vertex AI)
model = "gemini-2.5-flash"
keychain_service = "vertex-apikey"  # macOS Keychain service name
keychain_account = "vertex"         # macOS Keychain account name
op_reference = ""                   # 1Password secret reference

[pyannote]
whisper_model = "large-v3"
diarization_model = "pyannote/speaker-diarization-3.1"
device = "auto"         # auto, cpu, cuda, mps

[whisper]
endpoint = "http://localhost:1234/v1"
model = "whisper-large-v3"

[speakers]
match_threshold = 0.7   # cosine similarity threshold for voiceprint matching

[output]
timestamp_format = "HH:MM:SS"

[logging]
file = "~/.config/whotalksitron/whotalksitron.log"
file_max_bytes = 10_485_760   # 10MB, range: 1MB-1GB
file_backup_count = 5         # range: 1-10

Backends

Backend	Requires	Diarization	Notes
gemini	Gemini or Vertex AI credentials	Yes	Best quality, handles any format
pyannote	--with local, torch, GPU recommended	Yes	Fully local, slower
whisper	Ollama or LM Studio running locally	No	Transcription only

Backend is selected automatically in the order above based on what credentials are available. Override with --backend.

Speakers directory

Enrolled speaker data lives at ~/.config/whotalksitron/speakers/. Each speaker is stored per podcast:

~/.config/whotalksitron/speakers/
  my-show/
    alice/
      samples/
        sample-<uuid>.wav
      embedding.npy
      meta.toml

Development

Requires: Python 3.11+, uv, just

git clone <repo-url>
cd whotalksitron
uv sync --all-extras --group dev
just test          # run tests
just lint          # lint
just ensureci-sandbox  # full local CI (no network)

See docs/gcloud.md for Vertex AI setup.

License

Apache-2.0