🎙️ ctrlSPEAK

Turn your voice into text with a triple-tap — minimal, fast, and macOS-native.

🚀 Overview

ctrlSPEAK is your set-it-and-forget-it speech-to-text companion. Triple-tap Ctrl, speak your mind, and watch your words appear wherever your cursor blinks — effortlessly copied and pasted. Built for macOS, it's lightweight, low-overhead, and stays out of your way until you call it.

ctrlspeak-demo.mp4

✨ Features

• 🖥️ Minimal Interface: Runs quietly in the background via the command line
• ⚡ Triple-Tap Magic: Start/stop recording with a quick Ctrl triple-tap
• 📋 Auto-Paste: Text lands right where you need it, no extra clicks
• 🔊 Audio Cues: Hear when recording begins and ends
• 🍎 Mac Optimized: Harnesses Apple Silicon's MPS for blazing performance
• 🌟 Top-Tier Models: Powered by NVIDIA NeMo and OpenAI Whisper
• 📜 History Browser: Review, search, and copy past transcriptions (press r in the UI)

🛠️ Get Started

• System: macOS 12.3+ (MPS acceleration supported)
• Python: 3.10
• Permissions:
  • 🎤 Microphone (for recording)
  • ⌨️ Accessibility (for shortcuts)
    Grant these on first launch and you're good to go!

📦 Installation

Using Homebrew (Recommended)

# Basic installation (MLX models only)
brew tap patelnav/ctrlspeak
brew install ctrlspeak

# Recommended: Full installation with all model support
brew install ctrlspeak --with-nvidia --with-whisper

# Check what models are available after installation
ctrlspeak --list-models

What each option does:

• --with-nvidia: Enables NVIDIA Parakeet and Canary models (recommended for best performance)
• --with-whisper: Enables OpenAI Whisper models (optional)

If you get "No module named 'nemo'" errors:

# Reinstall with NVIDIA support
brew reinstall ctrlspeak --with-nvidia

Manual Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/patelnav/ctrlspeak.git
cd ctrlspeak

Create and activate a virtual environment:

# Create a virtual environment
python -m venv .venv

# Activate it on macOS/Linux
source .venv/bin/activate

Install dependencies:

# Install core dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# For NVIDIA model support (optional)
pip install -r requirements-nvidia.txt

# For Whisper model support (optional)
pip install -r requirements-whisper.txt

🧰 Entry Points

• ctrlspeak.py: The full-featured star of the show
• live_transcribe.py: Continuous transcription for testing vibes
• test_transcription.py: Debug or benchmark with ease
• test_parallel_models.py: Compare Nemotron streaming vs Parakeet side-by-side

Workflow

1. Run ctrlSPEAK in a terminal window:

   # If installed with Homebrew
   ctrlspeak
   
   # If installed manually (from the project directory with activated venv)
   python ctrlspeak.py

2. Triple-tap Ctrl to start recording
3. Speak clearly into your microphone
4. Triple-tap Ctrl again to stop recording
5. The transcribed text will be automatically pasted at your cursor position

UI Controls

Once running, you can use these keyboard shortcuts in the terminal UI:

• r - View transcription history
• m - Switch speech recognition models
• d - Change audio input device
• l - View logs
• h - Show help
• q - Quit

Models

ctrlSPEAK uses open-source speech recognition models:

• Parakeet 0.6B (MLX) (default): mlx-community/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 model optimized for Apple Silicon. Recommended for most users on M1/M2/M3 Macs.
• Canary: NVIDIA NeMo's nvidia/canary-1b-flash multilingual model (En, De, Fr, Es) with punctuation, but can be slower. Requires requirements-nvidia.txt.
• Canary (180M): NVIDIA NeMo's nvidia/canary-180m-flash multilingual model, smaller and less accurate. Requires requirements-nvidia.txt.
• Whisper (optional): OpenAI's openai/whisper-large-v3 model. A fast, accurate, and powerful model that includes excellent punctuation and capitalization. Requires requirements-whisper.txt.
• Nemotron (Streaming) [Experimental]: NVIDIA's nvidia/nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b streaming model with real-time transcription. Text appears as you speak. Requires requirements-nvidia.txt.

Note: The nvidia/parakeet-tdt-1.1b model is also available for testing, but it is not recommended for general use as it lacks punctuation and is slower than the 0.6b model. Requires requirements-nvidia.txt.

The models are automatically downloaded from HuggingFace the first time you use them.

Listing Supported Models

To see a list of all supported models, use the --list-models flag:

ctrlspeak --list-models

This will output a list of the available model aliases and their corresponding Hugging Face model names.

Apple Silicon (MLX) Acceleration

For users on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3 Macs), an optimized version of the Parakeet model is available using Apple's MLX framework. This is the default model and provides a significant performance boost.

Model Selection

You can select a model using the --model flag. You can use either the full model name from HuggingFace or a short alias.

Short Names:

• parakeet: Parakeet 0.6B optimized for Apple Silicon (MLX). (Default)
• canary: NVIDIA's Canary 1B Flash model.
• canary-180m: NVIDIA's Canary 180M Flash model.
• whisper: OpenAI's Whisper v3 model.
• nemotron: NVIDIA's Nemotron streaming model. [Experimental]

Full Model URL:

You can also provide a full model URL from Hugging Face. For example:

ctrlspeak --model nvidia/parakeet-tdt-1.1b

This will download and use the specified model.

# Using Homebrew installation
ctrlspeak --model parakeet  # Default
ctrlspeak --model canary         # Multilingual with punctuation
ctrlspeak --model canary-180m    # The smaller Canary model
ctrlspeak --model canary-v2
ctrlspeak --model whisper        # OpenAI's model
ctrlspeak --model parakeet-mlx   # MLX-accelerated model
ctrlspeak --model nemotron       # Streaming (experimental)

# Using manual installation
python ctrlspeak.py --model parakeet
python ctrlspeak.py --model canary
python ctrlspeak.py --model canary-180m
python ctrlspeak.py --model canary-v2
python ctrlspeak.py --model whisper
python ctrlspeak.py --model parakeet-mlx
python ctrlspeak.py --model nemotron

Transcription History

ctrlSPEAK automatically saves your transcriptions locally for later review.

History Browser

Access the interactive history browser by pressing r in the terminal UI:

• View past transcriptions - Browse all saved transcriptions with timestamps
• Copy to clipboard - Press Enter or c to copy any previous transcription
• Delete entries - Press Delete or d to remove unwanted entries
• Navigate - Use arrow keys to browse through your history
• See statistics - View total entries, word count, and recording time

Data Storage

History is stored locally in a SQLite database:

• Location: ~/.ctrlspeak/history.db
• What's stored: Timestamp, transcription text, model used, duration, language
• Permissions: File is created with user-only access (700)

Privacy Controls

You have full control over your transcription history:

# Disable history saving
ctrlspeak --no-history

# Use custom database location
ctrlspeak --history-db ~/my-custom-path/history.db

# Delete all history data
rm ~/.ctrlspeak/history.db

Command Line Options

ctrlspeak [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --model MODEL           Select speech recognition model (default: parakeet)
  --list-models           Show all available models
  --no-history            Disable transcription history saving
  --history-db PATH       Custom path for history database
  --source-lang LANG      Source language code (default: en)
  --target-lang LANG      Target language code (default: en)
  --debug                 Enable debug logging
  --check-only            Verify configuration without running
  --check-compatibility   Check system compatibility

Examples:
  ctrlspeak                                    # Run with defaults
  ctrlspeak --model whisper                    # Use Whisper model
  ctrlspeak --no-history                       # Disable history
  ctrlspeak --history-db ~/backup/history.db  # Custom DB location
  ctrlspeak --debug                            # Enable debug mode

Models Tested

1. Parakeet 0.6B (NVIDIA) - nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 (Default)
2. Parakeet 1.1B (NVIDIA) - nvidia/parakeet-tdt-1.1b
3. Canary (NVIDIA) - nvidia/canary-1b-flash
4. Canary (NVIDIA) - nvidia/canary-180m-flash
5. Canary (NVIDIA) - nvidia/canary-1b-v2
6. Whisper (OpenAI) - openai/whisper-large-v3
7. Nemotron (NVIDIA) - nvidia/nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b [Experimental, Streaming]

Performance Comparison

Model	Framework	Load Time (s)	Transcription Time (s)	Output Example (test.wav)
parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3	MLX (Apple Silicon)	0.97	0.53	"Well, I don't wish to see it any more, observed Phoebe, turning away her eyes. It is certainly very like the old portrait."
	NeMo (NVIDIA)	15.52	1.68
parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2	MLX (Apple Silicon)	0.99	0.56	"Well, I don't wish to see it any more, observed Phebe, turning away her eyes. It is certainly very like the old portrait."
	NeMo (NVIDIA)	8.23	1.61
canary-1b-flash	NeMo (NVIDIA)	32.06	3.20	"Well, I don't wish to see it any more, observed Phoebe, turning away her eyes. It is certainly very like the old portrait."
canary-180m-flash	NeMo (NVIDIA)	6.16	3.20	"Well, I don't wish to see it any more, observed Phoebe, turning away her eyes. It is certainly very like the old portrait."
whisper-large-v3	Transformers (OpenAI)	5.44	2.53	"Well, I don't wish to see it any more, observed Phoebe, turning away her eyes. It is certainly very like the old portrait."

Testing performed on a MacBook Pro (M2 Max) with a 7-second audio file (test.wav). Your results may vary.

Note: Whisper model uses translate mode to enable proper punctuation and capitalization for English transcription.

Streaming vs Batch Tradeoffs

The Nemotron model uses real-time streaming transcription where text appears as you speak. This provides instant feedback but has accuracy tradeoffs compared to batch models like Parakeet:

• Streaming (Nemotron): Text appears incrementally during speech. Lower accuracy due to limited context - may miss or misinterpret phrases.
• Batch (Parakeet, etc.): Transcription happens after recording stops. Higher accuracy because the model has the full audio context.

For most users, Parakeet MLX (default) provides the best balance of speed and accuracy.

Permissions

The app requires:

• Microphone access (for recording audio)
• Accessibility permissions (for global keyboard shortcuts)

You'll be prompted to grant these permissions on first run.

Troubleshooting

• No sound on recording start/stop: Ensure your system volume is not muted
• Keyboard shortcuts not working: Grant accessibility permissions in System Settings
• Transcription errors: Try speaking more clearly or using the other model

Credits

Contributors

• @swanhtet1992 - Transcription history feature

Sound Effects

• Start sound: "Notification Pluck On" from Pixabay
• Stop sound: "Notification Pluck Off" from Pixabay

License

MIT License

Release Process

This outlines the steps to create a new release and update the associated Homebrew tap.

1. Prepare the Release:

• Ensure the code is stable and tests pass.
• Update the version number in the following files:
  • VERSION (e.g., 1.2.0)
  • __init__.py (__version__ = "1.2.0")
  • pyproject.toml (version = "1.2.0")
• Commit these version changes:

  git add VERSION __init__.py pyproject.toml
  git commit -m "Bump version to X.Y.Z"

2. Tag and Push:

• Create a git tag matching the version:

  git tag vX.Y.Z

• Push the commits and the tag to the remote repository:

  git push && git push origin vX.Y.Z

3. Update Homebrew Tap:

• The source code tarball URL is automatically generated based on the tag (usually https://github.com/<your-username>/ctrlspeak/archive/refs/tags/vX.Y.Z.tar.gz).
• Download the tarball using its URL and calculate its SHA256 checksum:

  # Replace URL with the actual tarball link based on the tag
  curl -sL https://github.com/<your-username>/ctrlspeak/archive/refs/tags/vX.Y.Z.tar.gz | shasum -a 256

• Clone or navigate to your Homebrew tap repository (e.g., ../homebrew-ctrlspeak).
• Edit the formula file (e.g., Formula/ctrlspeak.rb):
  • Update the url line with the tag tarball URL.
  • Update the sha256 line with the checksum you calculated.
  • Optional: Update the version line if necessary (though it's often inferred).
  • Optional: If requirements.txt or dependencies changed, update the depends_on and install steps accordingly.
• Commit and push the changes in the tap repository:

  cd ../path/to/homebrew-ctrlspeak # Or wherever your tap repo is
  git add Formula/ctrlspeak.rb
  git commit -m "Update ctrlspeak to vX.Y.Z"
  git push

4. Verify (Optional):

• Run brew update locally to fetch the updated formula.
• Run brew upgrade ctrlspeak to install the new version.
• Test the installed version.