ainstype

ainstype is a macOS menubar app for local, on-device speech-to-text. Hold a hotkey (Right Cmd by default), speak, release — and your words are transcribed and pasted straight into whatever app you're using.

Transcription runs fully locally via WhisperKit (CoreML on Apple Silicon), so your audio never leaves your Mac. There's no account, no subscription, and no cloud round-trip. A WhisperKit model ships pre-bundled, so there's nothing to download on first run.

This is my first open-source project — built as a free alternative to the paid dictation tools every developer seems to be subscribed to. It supports a custom dictionary for domain-specific terms, configurable language and hotkey via a simple config file, and launch-at-login. Released under the MIT license.