A free, open source, and extensible speech-to-text application that works completely offline.

Handy is a cross-platform desktop application that provides simple, privacy-focused speech transcription. Press a shortcut, speak, and have your words appear in any text field. This happens on your own computer without sending any information to the cloud.

Why Handy?

Handy was created to fill the gap for a truly open source, extensible speech-to-text tool. As stated on handy.computer:

• Free: Accessibility tooling belongs in everyone's hands, not behind a paywall
• Open Source: Together we can build further. Extend Handy for yourself and contribute to something bigger
• Private: Your voice stays on your computer. Get transcriptions without sending audio to the cloud
• Simple: One tool, one job. Transcribe what you say and put it into a text box

Handy isn't trying to be the best speech-to-text app—it's trying to be the most forkable one.

How It Works

1. Press a configurable keyboard shortcut to start/stop recording (or use push-to-talk mode)
2. Speak your words while the shortcut is active
3. Release and Handy processes your speech using Whisper
4. Get your transcribed text pasted directly into whatever app you're using

The process is entirely local:

• Silence is filtered using VAD (Voice Activity Detection) with Silero
• Transcription uses your choice of models:
  • Whisper models (Small/Medium/Turbo/Large) with GPU acceleration when available
  • Parakeet V3 - CPU-optimized model with excellent performance and automatic language detection
• Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux