VivaDicta

iOS & watchOS speech-to-text app with AI voice keyboard, on-device RAG, and chat with your notes - powered by Apple Foundation Models, WhisperKit, NVIDIA Parakeet, and 20+ AI providers
Website • App Store • Documentation

VivaDicta — Dictate Anywhere You Type

Started as "I don't want to pay for WisprFlow." Ended up building something more flexible — on-device transcription, 20+ AI providers, on-device RAG with chat, OAuth sign-in, CLI agent bridge, and full control over your voice-to-text pipeline.

VivaDicta records speech, transcribes it using on-device or cloud models, and optionally processes the text through an AI provider — including Apple Foundation Models for free, fully on-device AI. Its key feature is a system-wide AI voice keyboard that lets you dictate and AI-process text directly into any app — Messages, WhatsApp, Slack, email, or anything else. The keyboard can also rewrite existing text in any app — select text, apply an AI preset, and get the result in place. Chat with your notes - ask questions about one note or many, powered by on-device RAG pipeline. Smart Search finds notes by meaning with on-device semantic search. Sign in with your ChatGPT, Gemini, or GitHub Copilot account via OAuth, or route AI through CLI agents on your Mac with VivAgents. Supports 11 transcription providers, 20+ AI providers, and syncs across devices (iOS/iPadOS/macOS/watchOS) via CloudKit.

Screenshots

Transcription Detail Mode Configuration

AI Providers Transcription Models

Apple Watch App

Features

Transcription

On-device - WhisperKit (OpenAI Whisper), Parakeet (NVIDIA) - professional-grade models running entirely on your device
Cloud - OpenAI, Groq, Cohere, Deepgram, ElevenLabs, Gemini, Mistral, Soniox, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
100+ languages with automatic detection
Diarization - speaker-separated transcripts for meetings, interviews, and group conversations
Filler word removal, paragraph formatting, custom word replacements

AI Presets

40+ built-in presets across categories: Rewrite, Style, Communication, Summarize, Social Media, Writing, Learn & Study, Translate
AI Assistant - ask questions, fact-check, explain, reformat, or give instructions by voice
Auto-Translation - speak in one language, get output in another
Each result saved as a variation - compare different AI outputs side by side
Create custom presets with full prompt control, mark favorites for quick access

Chat & RAG

Single-note chat - ask questions about any transcription, extract action items, summarize
Multi-note chat - select multiple notes, find common themes, compare ideas across recordings
Smart Search Chat - ask a question in plain language, the AI searches your library semantically, reads relevant notes, and answers with source citations
Chat tools - cross-note semantic search and web search, with results injected into LLM context as tool calls
Fully on-device RAG pipeline - chunking, vector embedding, similarity search via LumoKit/VecturaKit - no server, no cloud, your data never leaves your device
Smart Search bar - semantic search across all notes by meaning, not just keywords. On-device vector matching with relevance scores
Citation-backed answers with tappable source references
Reminder Suggestions - AI extracts actionable items from notes, review and send to Apple Reminders
All chat modes work with Apple Foundation Models on-device (free, private) or any cloud AI provider

AI Providers

20+ providers: Apple Foundation Models (on-device, free), Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, GitHub Copilot, Groq, Mistral, Cerebras, Grok, OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, HuggingFace, Ollama, and more
OAuth sign-in for ChatGPT, Gemini, and GitHub Copilot - use your existing subscription, no API keys needed
Bring your own AI via any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint

VivAgents — CLI Agent Bridge

Route AI processing through CLI agents (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI) running on your Mac or a remote server
Use your existing CLI subscriptions instead of separate API keys
Per-agent toggles, health monitoring, and automatic fallback to API keys if the server is unavailable

VivaModes

Configurable profiles combining transcription provider, AI provider, model, preset, and language
Each mode remembers its settings — switch contexts with one tap
Clipboard context - AI uses copied text as context when processing your dictation (e.g., copy a message, then dictate your reply)

Custom AI Voice Keyboard

Custom AI voice Keyboard

System-wide voice keyboard - dictate into Messages, WhatsApp, Email, Notion, Slack, or any app
Full transcription + AI processing pipeline right from the keyboard
AI text processing in any app - select existing text in any app and rewrite, summarize, translate, or apply any preset without leaving it. The keyboard reads the text, sends it to the main app for AI processing via IPC, and replaces it in place
Swipe to switch between modes without leaving the app you're typing in

Personalization

Custom dictionary for names and terms (OpenClaw, Dr. Johnson, etc.)
Word replacements and shortcuts (e.g., "my email" → [email protected])
Audio recordings saved alongside transcriptions

Apple Watch App

Record voice notes directly on Apple Watch - audio transfers to iPhone via WatchConnectivity
Background transcription - notes are processed before you open the iPhone app
Watch face complications for one-tap recording
Control Center button and Action Button support for start/stop toggle
Viva Mode picker - switch modes right on the watch

Sync & Extensions

iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac — transcriptions, presets, custom dictionary, and API keys
Home and Lock screen widgets and Control Center control to quickly record a note
Live Activity for recording status
Share Extension and Action Extension for importing audio files from other apps

Key Technical Highlights

On-device RAG pipeline - chunked vector indexing, semantic search, and LLM synthesis via LumoKit/VecturaKit
Apple Foundation Models for free, private on-device AI processing
On-device STT via WhisperKit and NVIDIA Parakeet (CoreML / Apple Neural Engine)
Swift 6 with strict concurrency
Modular Swift Package architecture - layered, dependency-inverted modules with protocol-based DI
SwiftUI + Liquid Glass
SwiftData with CloudKit sync
watchOS companion app with WatchConnectivity file transfer and background transcription
Cross-process IPC using Darwin Notifications between 6 targets
7-stage text processing pipeline with customizable transforms
App Intents — Siri and Shortcuts integration
CoreSpotlight — indexed transcriptions for iOS spotlight search
OAuth for ChatGPT, Gemini, and GitHub Copilot
VivAgents client for routing AI through CLI agents on Mac/remote server
iCloud Keychain for secure cross-device API key sync

Architecture

graph LR
    R[Recording] --> T[Transcription] --> AI[AI Processing] --> S[Storage]
    S --> RAG[RAG Index]
    RAG --> Chat[Chat & Search]
R -.- R1[AVAudioRecorder<br/>AVAudioEngine]
    T -.- T1[WhisperKit · Parakeet<br/>Cloud STT providers]
    AI -.- AI1[AIService<br/>20+ providers]
    S -.- S1[SwiftData<br/>+ CloudKit]
    RAG -.- RAG1[LumoKit/VecturaKit<br/>on-device vectors]
    Chat -.- Chat1[Single · Multi · Smart Search]

Module structure

The app composes a ring of local Swift Package modules (Modules/) under layered, dependency-inverted boundaries: dependencies point inward, consumers depend on protocols (any NetworkService, any AITextProvider, …), and the app target is the composition root that wires the Default* implementations. The transcription stack (TranscriptionCore / CloudTranscription / LocalTranscription / TranscriptionKit) and the AI stack (AICore / AIProviders / AIKit) are two instances of the same shape.

Solid arrow = production code dependency. Mocks targets always depend on their own + TestUtilities and are omitted for clarity.

VivaDicta module dependency graph: the app target on top, TranscriptionKit and AIKit orchestrators and seven core leaf packages below it, transcription and AI adapters below them, and TranscriptionCore, Networking and AICore at the bottom. Networking has six dependents.

Collapsed view: 21 packages drawn as 9 nodes. Core leaves ×7 = Keychain · Presets · AudioRecording · Analytics · TextProcessing · AppGroup · DesignSystem; Transcription ×2 = CloudTranscription · LocalTranscription; AI adapters ×3 = AIProviders · LocalLLM · OAuth. The app target also depends directly on every core package (composition root). Not drawn: OAuth → Keychain, AIKit → Keychain, TranscriptionKit → Networking, AIKit → Networking, and the external WhisperKit / FluidAudio and LiteRT-LM SDKs. Badges count dependents in the full graph.

Full graph (Mermaid, all 21 packages)

graph BT
  classDef core fill:#0e2a16,stroke:#7ee787,color:#7ee787
  classDef adapter fill:#332306,stroke:#ffa657,color:#ffa657
  classDef orchestrator fill:#3b0e26,stroke:#f778ba,color:#f778ba
  classDef app fill:#3b0d0d,stroke:#ff7b72,color:#ff7b72
  classDef external fill:#1c2128,stroke:#8b949e,color:#8b949e
%% Core
  Networking[Networking]:::core
  Keychain[Keychain]:::core
  Presets[Presets]:::core
  TranscriptionCore[TranscriptionCore]:::core
  AICore[AICore]:::core
  AudioRecording[AudioRecording]:::core
  Analytics[Analytics]:::core
  TextProcessing[TextProcessing]:::core
  AppGroup[AppGroup]:::core
  DesignSystem[DesignSystem]:::core
  TestUtilities[TestUtilities]:::core
%% Adapters
  OAuth[OAuth]:::adapter
  CloudTranscription[CloudTranscription]:::adapter
  LocalTranscription[LocalTranscription]:::adapter
  AIProviders[AIProviders]:::adapter
  LocalLLM[LocalLLM]:::adapter
%% Orchestrators
  TranscriptionKit[TranscriptionKit]:::orchestrator
  AIKit[AIKit]:::orchestrator
%% App
  VivaDicta[VivaDicta app + extensions]:::app
%% External
  WhisperKit[WhisperKit / FluidAudio]:::external
  LiteRT[LiteRT-LM / LiteRTFoundation]:::external
OAuth --> Keychain
  OAuth --> Networking
  CloudTranscription --> TranscriptionCore
  CloudTranscription --> Networking
  LocalTranscription --> TranscriptionCore
  LocalTranscription --> WhisperKit
  AIProviders --> AICore
  AIProviders --> Networking
  LocalLLM --> AICore
  LocalLLM --> LiteRT
TranscriptionKit --> TranscriptionCore
  TranscriptionKit --> CloudTranscription
  TranscriptionKit --> LocalTranscription
  TranscriptionKit --> Networking
  AIKit --> AICore
  AIKit --> AIProviders
  AIKit --> Keychain
  AIKit --> OAuth
  AIKit --> Networking
VivaDicta --> TranscriptionKit
  VivaDicta --> AIKit
  VivaDicta --> CloudTranscription
  VivaDicta --> LocalTranscription
  VivaDicta --> OAuth
  VivaDicta --> AIProviders
  VivaDicta --> LocalLLM
  VivaDicta --> TranscriptionCore
  VivaDicta --> AICore
  VivaDicta --> Keychain
  VivaDicta --> Networking
  VivaDicta --> Presets
  VivaDicta --> AudioRecording
  VivaDicta --> AppGroup
  VivaDicta --> Analytics
  VivaDicta --> TextProcessing
  VivaDicta --> DesignSystem

| Layer | Modules | |-------|---------| | Core (no module deps; protocols + value types) | Networking · Keychain · Presets · TranscriptionCore · AICore · Analytics · TextProcessing · AudioRecording · AppGroup · DesignSystem | | Adapters (protocol + Default impl + Mock) | OAuth · CloudTranscription · LocalTranscription · AIProviders · LocalLLM | | Orchestrators (compose adapters) | TranscriptionKit · AIKit | | App (composition root) | VivaDicta + keyboard / widget / share / action / watch targets |

Full breakdown, mocks, and the AI request flow: Module Architecture.

Main app ↔ extensions IPC via AppGroupCoordinator (Darwin Notifications + Shared UserDefaults):

graph LR
    K[Keyboard Extension] <-->|Darwin Notifications<br/>Shared UserDefaults| M[Main App]
    W[Widget + Live Activity] <--> M
    WA[Watch App] <-->|WatchConnectivity<br/>transferFile + sendMessage| M
    SE[Share Extension] <--> M
    AE[Action Extension] <--> M

On-device RAG pipeline:

graph LR
    N[Notes] -->|chunk + embed| VI[Vector Index<br/>LumoKit/VecturaKit]
    Q[User Query] -->|embed| VS[Vector Search]
    VI --> VS
    VS -->|top-k chunks| LLM[LLM Synthesis<br/>Apple FM / Cloud AI]
    LLM --> A[Answer + Citations]

Core components:

| Component | Role | |-----------|------| | AppGroupCoordinator | Cross-process communication using Darwin Notifications (custom keyboard, widgets, share, action extensions) | | PhoneWatchConnectivityService | WatchConnectivity file reception, mode syncing, background transcription via WatchAudioProcessor | | WatchAppCoordinator | Darwin notifications between watch app and watch widget extension (Control Center, Action Button) | | RecordViewModel | Recording lifecycle, dual audio paths (normal + keyboard prewarm) | | TranscriptionManager | Routes to on-device or cloud STT, post-processing pipeline | | AIService | AI text processing, 20+ providers, OAuth, VivAgents, mode/API key management | | PresetManager | Built-in + custom presets, CloudKit sync | | RAGIndexingService | On-device vector indexing, chunking, semantic search via LumoKit/VecturaKit | | SmartSearchChatViewModel | Smart Search Chat - semantic retrieval + LLM synthesis with source citations | | ChatViewModel | Single-note chat with cross-note search capability | | MultiNoteChatViewModel | Multi-note chat with theme extraction and comparison | | AudioPrewarmManager | Continuous audio engine for keyboard extension low-latency recording |

See the documentation for detailed diagrams and flows.

Building

Requirements:

Xcode 26+
iOS 18+ / watchOS 10+ deployment targets

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/n0an/VivaDicta.git
cd VivaDicta
Open in Xcode
open VivaDicta.xcodeproj
Or build from command line
xcodebuild build \
  -scheme VivaDicta \
  -workspace ./VivaDicta.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace \
  -destination generic/platform=iOS \
  CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO

Note: On-device transcription models (WhisperKit, Parakeet) are downloaded on first use. Cloud AI providers work via API keys, OAuth sign-in (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot), or VivAgents server connection.

Project Structure

VivaDicta/
├── VivaDicta/              # Main app target
│   ├── Views/              # SwiftUI views + view models
│   ├── Models/             # SwiftData models (Transcription, Preset, etc.)
│   ├── Services/           # Core services
│   │   ├── AIEnhance/      # AIService, prompts, VivAgents CLI bridge
│   │   ├── Analytics/      # AnalyticsService, MetricKit performance monitoring
│   │   ├── LiveTranslation/# Live translation
│   │   ├── OAuth/          # OAuth sign-in flows
│   │   ├── RAG/            # RAGIndexingService, vector search, chunking
│   │   ├── Reminders/      # AI reminder extraction
│   │   └── Transcription/  # TranscriptionManager, STT routing
│   ├── AppIntents/         # Siri / Shortcuts intents
│   ├── Shared/             # AppGroupCoordinator, shared utilities
│   └── VivaDicta.docc/     # DocC documentation catalog
├── VivaDictaKeyboard/      # Custom keyboard extension
├── VivaDictaWidget/        # Widget + Live Activity
├── ShareExtension/         # Share extension
├── ActionExtension/        # Action extension
├── VivaDictaWatch Watch App/ # watchOS companion app
├── VivaDictaWatchWidget/   # Watch complications + Control Center control
├── VivaDictaTests/         # Unit tests (Swift Testing)
├── Modules/                # Local Swift Package modules (layered, dependency-inverted)
│   ├── AICore/             # AI kernel: AITextProvider, AIProvider enum, errors, filters
│   ├── AIProviders/        # Per-LLM clients + AITextProvider wrappers
│   ├── AIKit/              # AIProviderRegistry, TextEnhancer, CLIServerEnhancer
│   ├── Networking/         # NetworkService + DefaultNetworkService
│   ├── Keychain/           # KeychainService
│   ├── OAuth/              # OAuth managers (ChatGPT / Gemini / Copilot)
│   ├── TranscriptionCore/  # TranscriptionService protocol + value types
│   ├── CloudTranscription/ # Cloud STT provider services
│   ├── LocalTranscription/ # WhisperKit / Parakeet wrappers
│   ├── TranscriptionKit/   # Cloud/local transcription routing
│   ├── AudioRecording/     # AudioRecordingService + AudioFileService
│   ├── Presets/            # Preset domain + management
│   ├── Analytics/            # AnalyticsService protocol + AnalyticsEvent + AnalyticsMocks
│   ├── TextProcessing/      # TextFormatter, TranscriptionOutputFilter, LanguageDetector (pure)
│   └── AppGroup · DesignSystem · TestUtilities
├── documentation/          # Architecture docs, references
└── .github/workflows/      # CI: build check, Claude review, GitGuardian

Documentation

Documentation - recording pipeline, transcription system, AI processing, RAG & chat, text pipeline, preset system, AppGroupCoordinator, review request architecture
RAG Architecture - on-device vector indexing, semantic search, and retrieval pipeline
Chat Architecture - single-note, multi-note, Smart Search Chat, and tool system
Text Processing Pipeline - 7-stage pipeline from raw audio to formatted text
DocC Reference - generated DocC documentation
Website Docs - user-facing guides with screenshots

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

Fork the repository
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
Commit your changes
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/my-feature)
Open a Pull Request

The CI will run a build check on your PR automatically.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d22f06b3-78f6-4eaf-9026-f11c0ea7bf57

Made with ❤️ by Anton Novoselov

n0an/VivaDicta: iOS & watchOS speech-to-text app with AI voice keyboard, on-device RAG, and chat with your notes - powered by Apple Foundation Models, WhisperKit, NVIDIA Parakeet, and 20+ AI providers

VivaDicta

Screenshots

Features

Key Technical Highlights

Architecture

Module structure

Building

Open in Xcode

Or build from command line

Project Structure

Documentation

Contributing

License

Reading Mode

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