README

Handy



A free, open source, and extensible speech-to-text application that works completely offline.

Handy is a cross-platform desktop application that provides simple, privacy-focused speech transcription. Press a shortcut, speak, and have your words appear in any text field. This happens on your own computer without sending any information to the cloud.

 Why Handy?

Handy was created to fill the gap for a truly open source, extensible speech-to-text tool. As stated on handy.computer:

- Free: Accessibility tooling belongs in everyone's hands, not behind a paywall
- Open Source: Together we can build further. Extend Handy for yourself and contribute to something bigger
- Private: Your voice stays on your computer. Get transcriptions without sending audio to the cloud
- Simple: One tool, one job. Transcribe what you say and put it into a text box

 How It Works

1. Press a configurable keyboard shortcut: hold it to record and release to stop, or tap it to toggle recording on and off (Hold-only and Toggle-only modes are also available)
2. Speak your words while the shortcut is active
3. Release and Handy processes your speech using Whisper
4. Get your transcribed text pasted directly into whatever app you're using

The process is entirely local:

- Silence is filtered using VAD (Voice Activity Detection) with Silero
- Transcription uses your choice of models:
  - Whisper models (Small/Medium/Turbo/Large) with GPU acceleration when available
  - Parakeet V3 - CPU-optimized model with excellent performance and automatic language detection
- Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

 Quick Start

 Installation

1. Download the latest release from the releases page or the website
   - macOS: Also available via Homebrew cask: brew install --cask handy
   - Windows: Also available via winget: winget install cjpais.Handy \
     Note: The Homebrew cask and winget package are not maintained by the Handy developers.
   - Debian/Ubuntu: Install the downloaded .deb with APT so required dependencies are installed automatically:
     bash
     sudo apt install ./Handy_.deb
     
     Do not use dpkg -i unless the dependencies are already installed. If you already used it, run sudo apt --fix-broken install.
2. Install the application
3. Launch Handy and grant necessary system permissions (microphone, accessibility)
4. Configure your preferred keyboard shortcuts in Settings
5. Start transcribing!

 Development Setup

For detailed build instructions including platform-specific requirements, see BUILD.md.

 Sponsors


  We're grateful for the support of our sponsors who help make Handy possible:
  
  
    
  
        
  
    
  
        
  
    
  
        
  
    
  


 Integrations



Control Handy from Raycast — start/stop recording, browse transcript history, manage dictionary, switch models and languages.

Source · by @mattiacolombomc

 Debug Mode

Handy includes an advance

Top issues

Discussions

Latest release

This is a substantial release, and it marks Handy being roughly feature complete as we move towards V1.

In this release, there are some big features like transcribing audio files, auto language detection for all of the transcription models we support, a brand new onboarding flow, and starting to redesign some of the UI. There are a ton more quality of life improvements and small little details that hopefully you'll enjoy as well.

The coming releases will be addressing issues and stability. From here on out, you shouldn't expect too many new features from Handy, but you should expect the