GitHub - AlgorithmicResearchGroup/fnscribe

Source: https://github.com/AlgorithmicResearchGroup/fnscribe

Private, reliable dictation for macOS.

Hold a shortcut, speak, and release—or use hands-free mode for longer thoughts. FnScribe transcribes your voice locally and inserts the result into the app you are using. It lives in the menu bar and stays out of the way until you need it.

Download

[](https://github.com/AlgorithmicResearchGroup/fnscribe#download)

Download for Apple Silicon · Download for Intel Mac

FnScribe requires an Apple Silicon or 64-bit Intel Mac running macOS 13 Ventura or later.

1. Open the downloaded DMG and drag **FnScribe** to **Applications**. 2. Open FnScribe from your Applications folder. It appears in the menu bar, not the Dock. 3. Click the menu-bar microphone and grant **Microphone** and **Keyboard access** when prompted. 4. Hold the `fn`/Globe key, speak, and release to insert the transcription into the currently focused app.

How to use it

[](https://github.com/AlgorithmicResearchGroup/fnscribe#how-to-use-it) The default push-to-talk shortcut is the `fn`/Globe key. To change it, click the menu-bar microphone, click the shortcut button, and press a new key combination.

For hands-free dictation, press `fn + Space` once to start and again to stop. You can also turn a push-to-talk recording into hands-free mode by pressing Space while continuing to hold `fn`. Press `Escape` at any point to cancel without inserting text. The compact flowbar shows the active stage and provides Stop and Cancel controls. Recordings stop automatically after two minutes.

The settings panel lets you choose a microphone and launch FnScribe at login. Smart cleanup is enabled by default. It removes conservative fillers (`um`, `uh`, and `erm`) and understands explicit formatting such as `comma`, `period`, `question mark`, `new line`, and `new paragraph`. Repeated `number one`, `number two` or `bullet` phrases become lists. Say `scratch that` to discard the current clause; for short value corrections, say `two, actually three`, or use `actually make that` for an explicit replacement.

The personal dictionary supplies local recognition hints and preserves exact spelling and capitalization. Each entry has a **Write as** value and an optional **Common mishearing** replacement—for example, `FnScribe` and `fn scribe`. Dictionary entries are stored only in FnScribe's local settings file, with owner-only file permissions, and are never transmitted.

If automatic insertion ever fails, use **Copy Last Transcript** or **Paste Last Transcript** from the menu-bar menu. That recovery transcript exists only in memory and disappears when FnScribe quits. If smart cleanup changed the last dictation, **Original** copies the unmodified transcription for recovery.

The menu-bar icon shows what FnScribe is doing:

- Microphone: ready

- Square: recording

- Three dots: starting, transcribing, or inserting

- Exclamation mark: permission or microphone attention needed

FnScribe currently transcribes English speech.

Private by design

[](https://github.com/AlgorithmicResearchGroup/fnscribe#private-by-design) Speech recognition runs entirely on your Mac using a bundled Whisper model. Audio and transcripts are held only in memory: there is no account, cloud service, transcription history, or notes database.

For broad compatibility, automatic insertion uses a short-lived, concealed clipboard entry and immediately restores the previous clipboard when it has not changed in the meantime. The transcript remains available only in memory for recovery; choosing **Copy Last Transcript** is the only persistent clipboard action.

FnScribe needs:

- **Microphone access** to record while you hold the shortcut

- **Accessibility (Keyboard access)** to detect the shortcut and insert text into the active app

Troubleshooting

[](https://github.com/AlgorithmicResearchGroup/fnscribe#troubleshooting) If FnScribe cannot record or insert text, click its menu-bar icon and check that both permissions show **Granted**. You can also review them in **System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone** and **Accessibility**.

If macOS no longer recognizes a permission after you move the app, quit FnScribe, keep it in Applications, and grant the permission again.

Build from source

[](https://github.com/AlgorithmicResearchGroup/fnscribe#build-from-source) Building requires Rust 1.85 or newer, CMake, Clang, and the Tauri CLI:

cargo install tauri-cli --version '^2' --locked ./scripts/build-app.sh # Native Mac architecture ./scripts/build-app.sh x64 # Intel Mac

Architecture-specific app bundles are written beneath `target/<rust-target>/release/bundle/macos/FnScribe.app`. To notarize and create an Intel installer, run `./scripts/notarize-app.sh x64`; the resulting file is `target/release/bundle/dmg/FnScribe-x64.dmg`.

For development:

./scripts/download-model.sh cargo tauri dev

The opt-in delivery regression harness exercises the production insertion path against any focused control without adding application-specific runtime logic. See `scripts/DELIVERY_TESTING.md` for the native, terminal, browser, and Electron test matrix.