Handy
1 min read
Handy is a free, open-source (MIT) speech-to-text app: press a shortcut, speak, and the transcription is pasted into whatever text field is focused. Everything runs locally — no audio leaves the machine. It's built with Tauri (Rust) and runs on Linux, macOS and Windows.
How it works
• Push-to-talk — hold the configurable shortcut to record, release to transcribe and paste. Alternatively toggle mode (press to start, press again to stop).
• Models — Whisper models (Small / Medium / Turbo / Large, GPU-accelerated) or Parakeet V3 (fast on CPU, automatic language detection).
• VAD — Silero voice activity detection filters out silence before transcription.
• Post-processing — optional cleanup pass over the transcript, toggleable.
Install
shell
brew install --cask handy # macOS
winget install cjpais.Handy # Windows
On Linux, grab the .deb / AppImage from the releases page.
CLI flags
A running instance can be remote-controlled, which makes it easy to bind to a window-manager hotkey (e.g. in Hyprland):
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--toggle-transcription | Start/stop recording |
--toggle-post-process | Toggle post-processing |
--cancel | Cancel the current recording |
--start-hidden | Start without showing the window |
--no-tray | Don't show a tray icon |
--debug | Enable debug mode |