Linux · GPL 3.0 · Free API tiers

Dictate anywhere on Linux, at cursor speed.

Press Alt+Space, speak, press it again. Groq Whisper transcribes, Gemini cleans up the grammar, and the text lands wherever your cursor already is.

any text field, anywhere
Alt+Space starts. Speak. Alt+Space again.

Two key presses, two API calls.

Nothing else leaves the machine. A small background daemon, xhispertoold, holds the virtual keyboard so the text can land in any window.

01

Alt+Space

Starts recording. The status (recording...) types itself at your cursor.

02

Speak

Groq Whisper transcribes in real time once you stop.

03

Alt+Space again

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite fixes grammar and filler words without rephrasing your sentence.

04

Typed at cursor

Result lands via a virtual uinput keyboard. Silence cancels automatically, nothing gets pasted.

What Gemini actually fixes

Wording stays yours. Only the noise gets cut.

The polish prompt is deliberately narrow: fix obvious errors, do not restructure sentences, do not add tone.

Raw transcription

um so basically the the deploy script needs to check for uh the env file before it runs right so we dont crash on missing keys

Typed at cursor

So the deploy script needs to check for the env file before it runs, so we don't crash on missing keys.

Local-first, cross-app, open source.

No accounts, no telemetry. Two free-tier API keys and it runs entirely on your own machine.

Cross-app dictation

Works in browser, terminal, IDE, chat, email, any text field, any window. No browser extension, no accessibility API integration required.

Local-first

Audio stays on your machine. Only the audio blob leaves, for transcription and polishing, nothing else.

Dictation history

Every dictation saved with a timestamp, raw and polished versions, re-copyable from a GUI popup or the terminal.

Open source

GPL 3.0 for the wrapper, MIT for the xhisper core it's built on.

Free APIs, generous tiers

Groq Whisper and Gemini both ship free tiers wide enough for daily dictation. No credit card required to start.

Install

One script. Deps, keys, build, shortcut.

# clone and run the installer git clone https://github.com/anirudhprashant/tuxspeak.git cd tuxspeak ./install-xhisper.sh
ServiceWhat it doesFree key
GroqSpeech-to-text (Whisper)console.groq.com/keys
GeminiText polishing (Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite)aistudio.google.com/apikey

Press Alt+Space.
Speak. Done.

Star on GitHub