Saylark – Open-source voice dictation for Mac, like Wispr Flow
Saylark, a new free and open-source dictation tool for macOS, allows users to hold a function key, speak, and release to have text appear at their cursor, with the ability to send directly to Claude, Codex or ChatGPT.
The app allows users to hold the Fn key (or Right Option/Command), speak, and release to have their words appear exactly as they said them at the cursor position. A unique feature is the ability to press Return mid-take to send the message directly to Claude, Codex, or ChatGPT desktop apps.
The app runs entirely on the user's Mac, utilizing the Parakeet speech model (0.6B parameters) on the Neural Engine through FluidAudio. This means no speech data leaves the device, addressing privacy concerns that plague many cloud-based dictation services. The app is free under the MIT license and requires no account creation or telemetry.
Exact Text Processing
Unlike many dictation tools that use AI to rewrite or polish text, Saylark focuses on accuracy and literal transcription. The app removes fillers (um, uh, er, hmm), collapses stutter repeats (the the becomes the), and converts new line and new paragraph commands into actual line breaks. A customizable dictionary allows users to specify how technical terms, names, and jargon should be spelled.
Your exact words. There is no AI rewriting step. Saylark removes fillers (um, uh, er, hmm) and stutter repeats ("the the"), turns "new line" and "new paragraph" into line breaks, and applies your dictionary.
Privacy and Reliability
Privacy is a core design principle of Saylark. All speech recognition happens locally on the Mac, with audio written to disk during recording to prevent data loss in case of crashes. The app's only network use is downloading the speech models (about 600 MB initially, plus 100 MB for the dictionary model) on first launch. After that, dictation works completely offline.
The app maintains a history of takes in its Home window, where users can replay, copy, or re-transcribe them. Audio is deleted after 30 days by default, with options to set retention periods from 1 day to forever. Saylark also preserves the user's clipboard by temporarily storing its contents and restoring it after pasting dictated text.
Advanced Features
Saylark includes several advanced features for power users. The dictionary is stored as a plain text file, allowing it to be edited in any text editor or maintained programmatically by AI assistants. The app suggests a method where users can have their coding agent analyze their communications and automatically add terms to the dictionary that might otherwise be misspelled.
For developers, Saylark offers command-line tools that can be built from source, enabling transcription of audio files and management of the dictionary without the GUI. The app requires macOS 26 or later and a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later), with Intel Macs not supported. First-time users must grant several macOS permissions for Input Monitoring, Accessibility, and Microphone access.
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