voculinux/README.md

Vocalinux

Voice dictation for Linux

Website · Install · Docs · Releases

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: v0.16.2. Stability patch on the 0.16 series (KDE leftover IBus, Wayland/IBus shortcuts, BackSpace for "delete that", installer glslc, release integrity pins). Series highlights include the in-app update checker, Right Alt push-to-talk for new installs, searchable languages, unused-model cleanup, and the family tone picker. 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
• 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, 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

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=v0.16.2.

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.

Flatpak (any distro)

GitHub Releases attach Vocalinux-<version>-x86_64.flatpak and Vocalinux-<version>-aarch64.flatpak. After the Flathub GNOME runtime is present:

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

Bundles do not auto-update. 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 still a manual promote after QA.

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:uinput         # native Wayland typing (ydotool)

The v0.16.2 store snap (latest/edge rev 7) has no uinput plug. snap connect vocalinux:uinput fails with snap "vocalinux" has no plug named "uinput", and dictation only reaches XWayland apps. After snap info vocalinux shows a revision that lists uinput under plugs, sudo snap refresh vocalinux then connect uinput for native GNOME/GTK/Qt windows.

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

OS	Linux (Ubuntu 24.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 42+, Arch, openSUSE Tumbleweed)
Python	3.11 or newer
Display	X11 or Wayland
Hardware	Microphone; GPU optional (Vulkan)

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

1. Push-to-talk (default on new installs): hold Right Alt (Option on Mac-layout keyboards) and speak
2. Speak into the microphone
3. 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.

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
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, in-app update checker, Parakeet and Faster Whisper engines, Snap recipe.

Planned:

• Application-specific voice commands
• Debian/Ubuntu package (.deb)
• 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	Status
Linux	VocaLinux	vocalinux.com	VocaHQ/vocalinux	Available now (v0.16.2)
macOS	VocaMac	vocamac.com	VocaHQ/vocamac	Beta (v0.9.0)
Windows	VocaWin	vocawin.com	VocaHQ/vocawin	Unsigned beta (v0.1.0-beta.1)
Phone	VocaPhone	vocaphone.vocahq.com	VocaHQ/vocaphone	Android beta / iOS TestFlight
Gateway	VocaGateway	vocagateway.vocahq.com	VocaHQ/vocagateway	Beta · optional · not on-device

VocaWin is unsigned. SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher. It is not a Microsoft Store ship.

Talk to us: Discord · X @vocahq · hello@vocahq.com

Contributing

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

• Report a bug
• Request a feature
• Discussions

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.

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