desk-talk

Transcription for your desktop.

A modern GUI application that records what you say when you press a button down, and types what you said when you release it.

Important

⚠️ This video contains sound and is intended to be listened to with audio on. ⚠️

transcribe.mp4

Features

✨ Push-to-Talk Transcription - Hold a key, speak, release to paste
🎯 System Tray Integration - Runs quietly in the background
⚙️ Modern GUI Settings - Beautiful, easy-to-use configuration interface
📊 WPM Statistics - Track your words per minute with rolling averages
🔒 Secure API Storage - API keys stored safely in Windows Credential Manager
🎤 Multiple Audio Devices - Choose any microphone on your system
🌐 OpenAI or Local - Use OpenAI's Whisper API or run models locally
💾 Persistent Settings - All preferences saved between sessions

Setup

Make sure ffmpeg is installed and added to your PATH

Quickstart

1. Download and run the latest release
2. Click the tray icon in your system tray to open settings
3. Configure your settings:
   • Set your push-to-talk key (e.g., Scroll Lock)
   • Choose your microphone
   • Enter your OpenAI API key OR enable local transcription
4. Click "Start Transcription"
5. Hold your PTT key, speak, and release!

Note

You can manage your OpenAI API keys at https://platform.openai.com/api-keys

Using the GUI

System Tray

• Left-click the tray icon to open the settings window
• Right-click for quick Start/Stop/Quit options

Settings Tabs

General Tab:

• Configure push-to-talk key
• Select audio input device
• Toggle capitalization and spacing options
• Choose between paste mode (default) or typing mode

Transcription Tab:

• OpenAI Mode: Enter your API key for cloud transcription
• Local Mode: Download and run Whisper models on your computer
  • Available models: tiny-en, tiny, base-en, base, small-en, small, medium-en, medium, large-v1, large-v2, large-v3
  • Larger models = better accuracy but slower processing

Statistics Tab:

• View your current words per minute
• Track rolling average WPM (last 1000 samples)
• Monitor total words transcribed
• See total recording time

WPM Display

After each transcription, the console displays:

WPM: 132.4 (27 words over 12.25s) | Avg: 118.7

• Current WPM - Speed of this transcription
• Word count - Number of words spoken
• Duration - Time from key press to release
• Rolling average - Average of your last 1000 transcriptions

Building from Source

# Install Rust and dependencies
cargo build --release

# The executable will be in target/release/desk-talk.exe