yap-dictation 0.1.3

Talk is cheap. Voice dictation for the terminal.

Speak → Whisper transcribes → text appears.
Linux · macOS · Windows

Install

uv pip install yap-dictation

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/xuefei-wang/yap.git
cd yap
uv pip install .

pip install also works if you don't use uv.

Windows users: uv pip install yap-dictation[windows]

You also need ffmpeg installed (apt install ffmpeg / brew install ffmpeg / winget install ffmpeg).

Usage

yap           # Record -> transcribe -> type into active window
yap -c        # Copy to clipboard instead
yap --llm     # Also correct with an LLM

Speak, press Enter to stop. Text is typed into the active window.

If no typing tool is found, yap copies to clipboard as a fallback.

Options

Flag / Env Var	Description
-c, --clipboard	Copy to clipboard instead of typing
-l, --llm	Correct transcription with an LLM
--model MODEL	Whisper model (default: small.en, env: WHISPER_MODEL)
--lang LANG	Language code e.g. en, zh, ja (env: YAP_LANG)
-s, --serve	Start the web UI server
--port PORT	Port for web UI server (default: 8765)

Web UI

For a graphical interface, start the web server:

uv pip install yap-dictation[web]   # one-time setup
yap --serve

Opens a browser page with a record button, transcription display, and settings.

Keyboard shortcuts: Space to toggle recording, Ctrl+Shift+C to copy transcription.

Two transcription modes available in the web UI:

• Browser Speech — free, uses your browser's built-in speech recognition (Chrome, Edge, Safari)
• Local Whisper — private, uses the same local Whisper model as the CLI

Note: Browser Speech sends audio to your browser vendor's servers for processing.

LLM correction (optional)

Use --llm to send transcription through an LLM for grammar, punctuation, and misheard word fixes.

Setup

Run yap config to choose your provider:

yap config

Available providers:

Provider	Requires
claude-code	Claude Code CLI installed
claude	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env var
openai	OPENAI_API_KEY env var
gemini	GEMINI_API_KEY env var

yap config also lets you choose which model to use per provider. Defaults: Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-4o Mini, Gemini 2.0 Flash.

Configuration is saved to ~/.config/yap/config.json.

Whisper models

Model	Speed	Accuracy
tiny.en	~1s	Good
base.en	~2s	Better
small.en	~4s	Great (default)
medium.en	~8s	Best

For non-English languages, use models without .en suffix (e.g. small, medium):

yap --model small --lang zh

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• ffmpeg — audio recording (apt install ffmpeg / brew install ffmpeg / winget install ffmpeg)
• faster-whisper — installed automatically
• Linux: PulseAudio or PipeWire (with pipewire-pulse) for audio capture
• Linux: xdotool or wtype (typing), xclip or wl-copy (clipboard)
• macOS: works out of the box (uses osascript + pbcopy)
• Windows: ffmpeg (winget install ffmpeg or choco install ffmpeg), install extras with uv pip install yap-dictation[windows]

License

GPL-3.0