VoiceInput

A macOS menu-bar voice input app. Hold Fn to record, release to inject the transcribed text into whatever field has focus — Slack, browser, IDE, anything.

• 🎙 Streaming transcription via Apple's Speech Recognition framework
• 🌐 Nine languages out of the box (Simplified/Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, Russian)
• 🤖 Optional LLM refinement (any OpenAI-compatible API) to fix homophone and mixed-language recognition errors
• 🎨 Frameless capsule HUD with live waveform driven by mic RMS
• 🪶 Menu-bar only — no Dock icon, no window clutter
• 🧠 CJK input-method aware paste (won't be eaten by Pinyin/Kana IMEs)

Install

Requires macOS 14+. Open Terminal (⌘+Space → "Terminal") and paste:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nickleefly/voice-input/main/install.sh | bash

Then:

1. When System Settings opens, toggle VoiceInput ON under Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
2. Quit VoiceInput from the menu bar (icon → Quit).
3. Relaunch from /Applications/VoiceInput.app.
4. Hold Fn to record, release to inject.

The installer downloads the latest release, strips macOS quarantine, re-signs the app locally so Accessibility permissions stick across launches, and clears any stale TCC grants left by earlier installs.

Usage

Action	How
Record	Hold Fn
Stop & inject	Release Fn
Change language	Menu bar icon → Language
Toggle LLM refinement	Menu bar icon → LLM Refinement
Configure LLM API	Menu bar icon → LLM Refinement → Settings…
Quit	Menu bar icon → Quit

LLM refinement (optional)

If you enable LLM refinement, VoiceInput sends the raw transcript to an OpenAI-compatible endpoint to correct obvious recognition errors (e.g. 配森 → Python, 杰森 → JSON). The system prompt is conservative — it won't rewrite or polish content that already looks correct.

Configure in the Settings window:

• API Base URL — e.g. https://api.openai.com/v1, or any compatible gateway (DeepSeek, Together, local Ollama, etc.)
• API Key
• Model — e.g. gpt-4o-mini

After release, the HUD briefly shows "Refining…" before pasting the refined text.

Troubleshooting

Pressing Fn does nothing. Open ~/.voiceinput-debug.log:

• ERROR: CGEvent.tapCreate returned nil → Accessibility permission isn't actually applied to the running binary. Re-run the installer — it re-signs locally and resets stale TCC entries, which is the fix in ~99% of cases.
• SUCCESS: Event tap created but no Fn DOWN lines → the key you're pressing isn't being delivered as Fn. On newer Macs, check System Settings → Keyboard → Press 🌐 key to is set to Do Nothing (or Change Input Source). Karabiner-Elements and similar remappers will also intercept Fn before this app sees it.

It worked, then suddenly stopped after a macOS update. macOS sometimes invalidates ad-hoc-signed app entries on update. Re-run the installer.

No microphone input / Speech Recognition fails. Check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and Speech Recognition — both must be ON for VoiceInput.

Paste doesn't appear in Chinese/Japanese/Korean apps. VoiceInput temporarily switches to ABC keyboard before pasting, then restores your IME. If you've remapped Cmd+V or the IME doesn't expose ABC as a fallback, paste may fail — let me know which app.

Build from source

Requires Swift 5.9+ and macOS 14+.

make build      # Build .app bundle
make run        # Build and launch
make install    # Install to /Applications
make clean      # Clean build artifacts

After install, grant Accessibility permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

Architecture

File	Role
FnKeyMonitor.swift	Global CGEvent tap; detects Fn via both flagsChanged (maskSecondaryFn) and keyDown/Up (keyCode 63), with debounced release
SpeechRecognitionManager.swift	Streaming Apple Speech Recognition + audio RMS metering for the waveform
FloatingWindowController.swift	Frameless capsule HUD (NSPanel + NSVisualEffectView .hudWindow)
WaveformView.swift	5-bar live waveform driven by mic RMS, with attack/release envelope and jitter
TextInjector.swift	Clipboard + simulated ⌘V; auto-switches CJK IMEs to ABC before pasting
LLMRefiner.swift	OpenAI-compatible refinement client with conservative correction prompt
StatusBarController.swift	Menu bar UI, language selection, LLM toggle, glue
SettingsWindowController.swift	API Base URL / Key / Model configuration

App runs in LSUIElement mode (menu-bar only, no Dock icon).

Origin

This app was bootstrapped with a single Claude Code prompt — see PROMPT.md for the full specification.

License

MIT