SpeakoFlow: free voice dictation and an AI assistant for Windows, macOS, and Linux

You think faster than you type.

A free, local voice assistant for your desktop. Dictation, writing, and an AI assistant, all by voice.

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All releases  ·  Website  ·  Documentation

Get told when there's a new version: click Watch → Custom → Releases at the top of this page.

Contents

• What is SpeakoFlow?
• Why SpeakoFlow
• Features
• Default hotkeys
• Install
• Build from source
• Tech stack
• Privacy
• Troubleshooting
• Roadmap
• Contributing
• License
• Credits

What is SpeakoFlow?

SpeakoFlow turns your voice into text, right where you're working. Press a hotkey and talk, and your words are typed into whatever app you're using. Say "Hey Flow" to turn what you say into a finished reply or email, or open a floating assistant panel to chat by voice and get answers read back to you.

Speech-to-text runs locally on your machine, so your voice never leaves your device. The AI assistant runs on any model you choose, from a fully offline built-in model to your own local server or a cloud provider with your own key. You decide how much stays on your machine.

I built it while studying alone for exams. I was paying for dictation software that stopped at typing: it could hear me, but it couldn't help me.

Why SpeakoFlow

Most dictation tools stop at typing. Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, and Handy all turn speech into text well. None of them can look at what you are working on and write the reply for you.

SpeakoFlow does both. It's also the only one of the four that's free, open source, and runs on all three desktop platforms.

• Compared with Wispr Flow. Wispr Flow is closed source, transcribes in the cloud, has no Linux build, and caps its free tier at 2,000 words per week ($15/month after that). SpeakoFlow is MIT licensed, transcribes on your own machine, and has no cap. Full breakdown: SpeakoFlow vs Wispr Flow.
• Compared with Superwhisper. Superwhisper is a capable closed-source app on macOS, Windows, and iOS, with Pro at $8.49/month or $249.99 for a lifetime licence. SpeakoFlow is free, MIT licensed, and also runs on Linux.
• Built on Handy. SpeakoFlow's dictation core comes from Handy, the more established project and a genuinely good pure-dictation tool. SpeakoFlow takes that core further: spoken-instruction writing, on-device translation, text-to-speech, personal memory, and a screen-aware assistant.

If all you need is dictation, Handy is a solid choice. If you want your computer to answer you, keep reading. See also: the best free and open-source Wispr Flow alternatives.

Features

Generate with Flow: say "Hey Flow" and it writes the reply

Begin a dictation with "Hey Flow" and SpeakoFlow acts on what you said instead of transcribing it. Describe the email, reply, or draft you want and it writes the finished text and pastes it where your cursor is. The trigger phrase is renameable, and it works in any app that accepts text. This is the part plain dictation tools don't do.

Screen vision: ask about what's on your screen

Ask a question about whatever you're looking at and the assistant answers with that context: the error in your terminal, the contract in your browser, the chart in your spreadsheet. Combined with Generate with Flow, it can write a reply based on what's on screen rather than on what you dictate. It only captures when you ask it to, the capture goes only to the model provider you chose, and only a small thumbnail is kept locally.

Dictation: type into any app with your voice

Press a hotkey and talk. Words type into any app, live as you speak or all at once when you stop. Transcription runs on your GPU or CPU with whisper.cpp or Parakeet, fully offline.

Assistant panel: a floating voice chat over your work

A floating always-on-top chat you open with a hotkey. Ask by voice or text, get streaming answers, and have them read back aloud. Collapses to a pill when you don't need it.

Translate: speak any language, get clean English, offline

Speak another language and get clean English, on your device, with a Whisper model. No cloud round-trip.

AI cleanup: strip filler and set the tone

Remove filler words and fix grammar in a tone you choose: Professional, Friendly, Concise, or your own custom instruction.

Web search, profiles, and personal memory

Optional web search so the assistant can look things up for current, factual answers. Profiles switch it between personas, each with its own voice and reply length. Personal memory is on-device and optional, so it learns how you like to work. It's off until you turn it on, and you can edit or erase it at any time.

Everything lives in Settings, and every hotkey is rebindable.

Full documentation for each: Generate with Flow, screen vision, dictation, the assistant panel, languages and translation, AI cleanup, web search, profiles, and memory.

Default hotkeys

Hold the shortcut to talk and release to type it out, or switch Recording behavior to Tap in Settings so one press starts and the next press stops. Tap is the hands-free option. The choice applies to every recording shortcut, and all shortcuts are rebindable.

Every shortcut and its default, on all three platforms: Keyboard shortcuts.

Install

Download the latest build for Windows, macOS, or Linux from the Releases page. A short setup wizard helps you pick a transcription model and, optionally, a local model for the assistant.

Windows

Download the .exe installer and run it. Windows may show a SmartScreen notice because the installer isn't signed by a known publisher yet. Choose More info → Run anyway.

Linux

• Arch Linux. Install from the AUR:

  yay -S speakoflow-bin
  # or
  paru -S speakoflow-bin
  

• Debian, Ubuntu 24.04+, Mint 22+, Pop!_OS, Tuxedo OS. Download the .deb and install it. This registers the app icon and menu entry properly, which the AppImage can't do on its own:

  sudo apt install ./SpeakoFlow_*_amd64.deb
  

  The .deb is built on Ubuntu 24.04, so it needs that era of glibc. On an older release, use the AppImage instead.
• Any other distribution, including Fedora and openSUSE. Download the AppImage, make it executable (chmod +x), and run it. Note that an AppImage doesn't integrate with your desktop by itself, so it won't show an icon in your file manager or app menu; tools like Gear Lever or AppImageLauncher add that if you want it.

The AppImage and .deb are both built for x86_64 and ARM64. There's no .rpm yet, because the packaging doesn't bundle the speech engine correctly, and shipping one that installs but can't transcribe would be worse than not shipping it.

macOS

Download the .dmg and drag SpeakoFlow into Applications. macOS then needs Microphone and Accessibility permissions (System Settings → Privacy & Security) so SpeakoFlow can hear you and type into other apps.

Because the app isn't Apple-signed yet, macOS blocks the first launch and needs one Terminal command to clear it. Full explanation below, or in the install docs.