Lib.rs

whis

Your voice, piped to clipboard.
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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-cli
whis setup         # Interactive wizard
whis

Usage

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

# Background service (hotkey mode)
whis start                     # Start service (ctrl+alt+w toggles recording)
whis stop                      # Stop background service
whis status                    # Check if running

# Transcribe from file
whis -f recording.wav          # Transcribe a WAV file

# 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 preset                    # List all
whis preset new                # Print template for new preset
whis preset edit xyz           # Edit preset in $EDITOR

# Post-process with LLM (presets define the transformation)
whis --post-process

# Configuration
whis config                    # Show current settings
whis config provider openai    # Set provider
whis config language en        # Set language hint
whis model                     # 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/Parakeet (no API key needed)
• Linux (X11/Wayland), macOS, or Windows

For hotkey mode (Linux):

# Option 1: Compositor keybinding (no permissions needed)
# GNOME: Settings > Keyboard > Custom Shortcuts → whis toggle
# Sway:  bindsym Ctrl+Alt+w exec whis toggle

# Option 2: Direct capture
sudo usermod -aG input $USER
# Logout and login, then: whis start

Prefer a GUI?

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

License

MIT