Vocalinux

Voice dictation for Linux

Vocalinux turns speech into typed text in whatever app has focus. It is a free, AGPL-3.0-licensed desktop app for X11 and Wayland. After you download a model, local engines (whisper.cpp by default, plus OpenAI Whisper, Faster Whisper, VOSK, and Parakeet) run speech-to-text on your machine. An optional remote HTTP API is off unless you configure it.

No Voca account is required. Models download once. After that, speech-to-text stays on your machine.

Current release: v0.18.2. Patch: an audio-reactive overlay orb, Nix packaging with Vulkan GPU inference, held-keyboard startup safety for the dictation shortcut, and bundled-engine fixes for older CPUs. Details: docs/UPDATE.md.

Features

On-device after model download: Local engines; speech-to-text stays on your machine
X11 and Wayland: Text injection via xdotool, IBus, wtype, ydotool, or clipboard fallback
Several engines: whisper.cpp (default), OpenAI Whisper, Faster Whisper, VOSK, Parakeet, plus optional remote HTTP API or local VocaGateway from Settings (not on-device)
GPU acceleration: Vulkan for AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA with whisper.cpp
Toggle or push-to-talk: New installs default to hold Right Alt; existing configs keep their shortcut
System tray + settings: Searchable sidebar, Speech Model simple setup with Advanced as an island, status icons, audio feedback
Start on login: XDG autostart (desktop session, not a systemd service)
Packaging: install script, .deb / .rpm, AppImage, AUR, PyPI, Snap (--edge), Flatpak (release bundles and local build; not on Flathub)

Screenshots

Vocalinux in action. Full gallery on the website screenshots page.

Product

Real-time voice-to-text transcription	System tray with listening indicator
About & Updates in Settings	Log viewer for debugging

Settings

Speech Engine	Recognition	Audio
Performance	General	Advanced
Floating overlay while listening (green)	Floating overlay while processing (amber)

Install

Recommended (interactive installer)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VocaHQ/vocalinux/main/install.sh -o /tmp/vl.sh
bash /tmp/vl.sh

Prefer to review the script first: open /tmp/vl.sh before running it, or clone the repo and run ./install.sh locally.

The installer detects hardware, recommends an engine, downloads a default model (~74MB for whisper.cpp tiny), installs neural VAD when ONNX Runtime is available, and sets up desktop integration. Typical install time with whisper.cpp is about 1-2 minutes.

| Engine | When to use | |--------|-------------| | whisper.cpp (default) | Best default; Vulkan GPU on AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA | | Whisper (OpenAI) | PyTorch path; NVIDIA/CUDA | | Faster Whisper | CPU-friendly Whisper via CTranslate2 / INT8 | | VOSK | Low RAM / minimal footprint | | Parakeet | CPU; NVIDIA NeMo ASR via sherpa-onnx; 25 European languages | | Remote API | Offload to a server you configure |

Non-interactive options:

bash /tmp/vl.sh --auto                              # whisper.cpp defaults
bash /tmp/vl.sh --auto --engine=whisper             # OpenAI Whisper
bash /tmp/vl.sh --auto --engine=faster_whisper      # Faster Whisper (CPU)
bash /tmp/vl.sh --auto --engine=vosk                # VOSK only
bash /tmp/vl.sh --auto --engine=parakeet            # Parakeet (CPU)

For a specific release tag, see GitHub Releases or ./install.sh --tag=v0.18.2.

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S vocalinux

See docs/AUR.md.

AppImage

Download the x86_64 or aarch64 AppImage from Releases, mark it executable, and run it. Built against glibc 2.35 (Debian 12+, Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 36+, Arch, Tumbleweed). Host text-injection tools (xdotool on X11; wtype / ydotool / clipboard tools on Wayland) are still required. Current AppImages rebuild whisper.cpp with Vulkan and use the host GPU driver. Prefer the installer when you want system deps, a CUDA build, and models set up automatically.

Distro packages (.deb / .rpm)

Download the .deb (Debian 12+, Ubuntu 24.04+) or .rpm (Fedora) matching your CPU from Releases and install with sudo apt install ./vocalinux_.deb or sudo dnf install ./vocalinux-.rpm. Thin packages: Python and GTK come from the distro. No auto-update; CPU whisper.cpp. Details in docs/INSTALL.md.

Flatpak (any distro)

Install and auto-update via the self-hosted VocaHQ remote (flatpak update picks up each release):

flatpak install https://vocahq.github.io/vocalinux-flatpak/com.vocalinux.Vocalinux.flatpakref

The .flatpakref adds the vocahq remote and resolves the GNOME runtime through Flathub. Manually instead:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists vocahq https://vocahq.github.io/vocalinux-flatpak/vocahq.flatpakrepo
flatpak install vocahq com.vocalinux.Vocalinux

Or sideload a GitHub Release bundle (Vocalinux--x86_64.flatpak or -aarch64.flatpak) after the Flathub GNOME runtime is present — bundles do not auto-update:

flatpak install --user ./Vocalinux-<version>-x86_64.flatpak

Local build:

flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Platform//50 org.gnome.Sdk//50
flatpak-builder --user --install --force-clean build-dir \
  packaging/flatpak/com.vocalinux.Vocalinux.yml
flatpak run com.vocalinux.Vocalinux

Ships whisper.cpp with Vulkan. It is not on Flathub (submission flathub#9368 closed 2026-07-23 on policy grounds). Details: packaging/flatpak/README.md.

Snap (Ubuntu Snap Store)

Listing: snapcraft.io/vocalinux. stable is promoted from candidate after QA. Tagged releases also attach vocalinux__amd64.snap on GitHub.

sudo snap install vocalinux --edge
sudo snap connect vocalinux:audio-record   # if mic is not auto-connected
sudo snap connect vocalinux:raw-input      # global keyboard shortcuts (evdev)
sudo snap connect vocalinux:hardware-observe  # list keyboards (/proc/bus/input/devices)
sudo snap connect vocalinux:uinput         # native Wayland typing (ydotool)

v0.18.2 includes ydotool and the uinput plug. The Store still has to finish review of that plug, so snap info vocalinux may still show v0.16.2 (rev 7) on edge. That revision has no uinput plug; snap connect vocalinux:uinput fails until a 0.18.0+ revision is listed.

Until then, sideload the GitHub file:

sudo snap install --dangerous ./vocalinux_0.18.2_amd64.snap
sudo snap connect vocalinux:uinput

From source

git clone https://github.com/VocaHQ/vocalinux.git
cd vocalinux
./install.sh
or pick the engine up front
./install.sh --engine=whisper_cpp
./install.sh --engine=vosk
./install.sh --engine=parakeet --auto

After installation

vocalinux                 # if ~/.local/bin is on PATH
or
~/.local/share/vocalinux/venv/bin/vocalinux

You can also launch Vocalinux from your application menu.

Nightly builds

Daily builds from main appear on Releases. Use the latest stable or beta release for production; nightlies are untested.

Requirements

The distro must ship Python 3.11+ because Vocalinux uses distro PyGObject (python3-gi). Ubuntu 22.04 (Python 3.10) and Debian 11 (3.9) are below that floor. Distribution notes: docs/DISTRO_COMPATIBILITY.md.

Usage

Dictation

Push-to-talk (default on new installs): hold Right Alt (Option on Mac-layout keyboards) and speak
Speak into the microphone
Release to stop, or switch to Toggle mode in Settings (double-tap a key to start/stop)

Existing configs keep their saved shortcut.

Voice commands

English phrases always work. With a non-English recognition language, matching punctuation / line-break phrases in that language are also recognized (Italian virgola / punto, French virgule / point, etc.).

| Command | Action | |---------|--------| | "new line" | Line break | | "period" / "full stop" / "dot" | . | | "comma" | , | | "question mark" | ? | | "exclamation mark" | ! | | "delete that" | Delete last sentence | | "capitalize" | Capitalize next word |

CLI

vocalinux --help
vocalinux --version
vocalinux --debug
vocalinux --engine whisper_cpp    # default
vocalinux --engine whisper
vocalinux --engine faster_whisper
vocalinux --engine vosk
vocalinux --engine parakeet
vocalinux --engine remote_api
vocalinux --model medium
vocalinux --model medium.en-q5_0  # exact whisper.cpp variant
vocalinux --model large-v3-turbo
vocalinux --wayland
vocalinux --start-minimized

Autostart

Start on Login creates an XDG autostart desktop entry (~/.config/autostart/). It does not install a systemd unit. Enable from the first-run dialog, tray menu, or Settings.

Configuration

Stored at ~/.config/vocalinux/config.json. Prefer the Settings dialog for day-to-day changes. Settings → Speech Model starts with a simple setup; expand Advanced for engine, size, and specialization. Set post_processing.script_path to an executable to transform each transcription result (stdin → stdout) before it is injected; leave empty to disable.

Neural VAD (Silero) is used when onnxruntime is available; install via pip install "vocalinux[vad]" for manual/PyPI installs. The installer attempts this automatically.

Documentation

| Document | Description | |----------|-------------| | Installation | Installer, AppImage, AUR, Flatpak, Snap, running | | Manual / PyPI install | Package lists and pip workflows | | Troubleshooting | Common failures | | User guide | Dictation, engines, models, tips | | Update guide | Upgrade steps and release notes | | Changelog | Release history pointers | | Support | Where to get help | | Distribution compatibility | Distro matrix and session notes | | Remote HTTP API | Offload transcription to a server | | Local VocaGateway (optional) | Start a local gateway from Settings; not on-device | | Contributing | Dev setup, style, PR process | | Security | Supported versions and vulnerability reporting | | Docs index | Full documentation map |

Privacy and security

Local engines process audio on-device after you download a model; no Voca account required
Optional remote API is off by default and only used when you configure a server
Model downloads are checked against pinned checksums

Report vulnerabilities privately per SECURITY.md.

Development

git clone https://github.com/VocaHQ/vocalinux.git
cd vocalinux
./install.sh --dev
source venv/bin/activate
pytest
python -m vocalinux.main --debug

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the two-venv layout, just recipes, and PR guidelines.

Roadmap

Shipped: graphical settings, multi-language support, whisper.cpp default, Vulkan GPU, Wayland/IBus, Flatpak packaging, AppImage, .deb / .rpm packages, in-app update checker, Parakeet and Faster Whisper engines, Snap recipe.

Planned:

[ ] Application-specific voice commands
[ ] User-customizable voice command map
[ ] Flathub publication (not currently listed; see #167)

Voca ecosystem

Vocalinux is part of VocaHQ. On-device speech-to-text first, one app per platform. Optional VocaGateway is self-hosted and not on-device.

| Platform | Project | Website | GitHub | |----------|---------|---------|--------| | Linux | VocaLinux | vocalinux.com | VocaHQ/vocalinux | | macOS | VocaMac | vocamac.com | VocaHQ/vocamac | | Windows | VocaWin | vocawin.com | VocaHQ/vocawin | | Phone | VocaPhone | vocaphone.vocahq.com | VocaHQ/vocaphone | | Gateway | VocaGateway | vocagateway.vocahq.com | VocaHQ/vocagateway |

Talk to us: Discord · X @vocahq · [email protected]

Contributing

Bug reports, docs, and code are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md and good first issues.

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who has contributed code, docs, or fixes:

Repository mirrors

GitHub is the primary forge for issues, PRs, CI, and releases.

| Role | URL | |------|-----| | Primary | https://github.com/VocaHQ/vocalinux | | Read-only mirror (Codeberg) | https://codeberg.org/jatinkrmalik/vocalinux |

Open issues and pull requests on GitHub only.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0), aligning with the other VocaHQ distribution projects.

You may use, study, modify, and redistribute the software under AGPL-3.0. If you run a modified version as a network service, AGPL also requires that you make the corresponding source available.

Star Chart

Optional Orukeet model

With the Parakeet engine installed, Settings → Speech Model → Parakeet also offers orukeet-v0.1.0. It uses the existing local sherpa-onnx recognizer for 25 European languages; the recommended Parakeet model and default whisper.cpp engine stay unchanged.

The download comes from a pinned revision of oruk/orukeet on Hugging Face. Vocalinux checks every file against its bundled SHA-256 pins and checks the publisher's release manifest against those same pins. The manifest download participates in Hugging Face's normal model-download accounting. Cached recognition works offline and does not send audio or usage events. The model occupies about 641 MiB; its CC BY-SA 4.0 weights license and NVIDIA attribution are included.

VocaHQ/vocalinux: Free, open-source, 100% offline voice dictation for Linux. Speak and type anywhere via whisper.cpp, Whisper & VOSK engines, GPU-accelerated, works on X11 + Wayland!