whis 0.6.1

Voice-to-text CLI using OpenAI Whisper API
whis-0.6.1 is not a library.

Introduction

The terminal-native voice-to-text tool. Record, transcribe, paste — all from your shell. Supports hotkey mode, presets, and pipes nicely with AI assistants.

Quick Start

cargo install whis
whis setup cloud   # or: whis setup local
whis

Usage

# Record once
whis                           # Press Enter to stop — text copied!

# Hotkey mode (background)
whis listen                    # ctrl+alt+w toggles recording
whis listen -k "super+space"   # Custom hotkey
whis stop                      # Stop background service
whis status                    # Check if running

# From file or stdin
whis -f audio.mp3
whis --stdin --format mp3      # Read from stdin (for piping)

# Output options
whis --print                   # Print to stdout instead of clipboard
whis -d 10                     # Record for 10 seconds (non-interactive)
whis -v                        # Verbose output

# Presets
whis --as email                # Use preset (auto-enables post-processing)
whis presets                   # List all
whis presets new xyz           # Create new preset
whis presets edit xyz          # Edit in $EDITOR

# Post-process with LLM
whis --post-process            # Clean up with Ollama

# Configuration
whis config                    # Show current settings
whis config provider openai    # Set provider
whis config language en        # Set language hint
whis models                    # List available models

Environment Variables

API keys can be set via environment variables instead of whis setup:

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
MISTRAL_API_KEY=...
GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_...
DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=...
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=...
OLLAMA_URL=http://localhost:11434   # Default
OLLAMA_MODEL=qwen2.5:1.5b           # Default post-processing model

Requirements

  • API key from OpenAI, Mistral, Groq, Deepgram, or ElevenLabs — or use local Whisper (no API key needed)
  • FFmpeg (sudo apt install ffmpeg or brew install ffmpeg)
  • Linux (X11/Wayland), macOS, or Windows

For hotkey mode (one-time setup on Linux):

sudo usermod -aG input $USER
echo 'KERNEL=="uinput", GROUP="input", MODE="0660"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-uinput.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger
# Logout and login again

Prefer a GUI?

See whis-desktop — same functionality, with system tray.

License

MIT