How dictation works

The pipeline

Right-Option held → cpal captures mic audio
                  → whisper-rs transcribes (Apple Silicon GPU via Metal)
                  → local llama-server cleans up the raw transcript
                  → enigo pastes (⌘V) into the focused app

Every step runs on your Mac. No request leaves the device.

The hotkey

Right-Option (the right Option/Alt key) is the default. Hold it, speak, release.

While held, a small pill overlay appears showing a live waveform. Release the key and the pill turns into a spinner while Whisper transcribes and the LLM cleans up. Within a second or two the cleaned text is pasted at your cursor.

The hotkey is fixed for now. Rebinding is on the roadmap; until then, Right Option is what triggers dictation. Tap Escape while still holding Right Option to cancel a recording without pasting. Push-to-talk is the only supported mode (no toggle-on/toggle-off).

What you'll hear

Nothing. Fluister is silent. The pill is the only visual indicator.

What happens if a paste fails

If the focused app doesn't accept ⌘V (some web inputs, some games), Fluister logs the failure and copies the cleaned text to the clipboard. You can paste it manually.