Dictate anywhere. Open a terminal with a key.

What it does

The shortcuts

Four keys, the same idea on both systems. All of them can be changed.

On Windows, Win+Space and Ctrl+Win+Space belong to Windows' own input switcher and cannot be registered, which is why the terminal keys use Ctrl+Shift. If another program already uses a combination (an input method often takes Ctrl+Space), Settings → Shortcuts says Windows refused it: change the key in %APPDATA%\whisper-terminal\settings.toml and press "Rebind shortcuts".

On Linux, GNOME registers them itself; on other desktops some cannot, and ~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --doctor says which and how to assign them by hand.

Before you download

Download

Install

Pick your system. Both install in your user folder, with no administrator rights; only the Linux libraries of step 2 ask for sudo.

Windows · Linux

Windows

The installer is per user: no administrator rights, nothing outside your own folders. The portable zip further down is the same program without an installer.

A first preview that has never run on a real PC: these steps say what it is built to do. Tell us where it differs.

1. Check the download. In PowerShell, in the folder where you saved it (usually Downloads: cd $HOME\Downloads gets you there):

$expected = "b890c69fcf991409ee90ec908596cc56bb6985548dd8cfd0b8b9e3fe8439fae4"
(Get-FileHash .\WhisperTerminal-0.1.0-windows-x86_64-setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256).Hash -eq $expected

It must print True. If it prints False, do not run it: download it again.

2. Optional but recommended: install Git for Windows so the terminals open Git Bash. Without it they open PowerShell.

3. Run the installer.

Double-click it. Windows will probably say "Windows protected your PC" (SmartScreen) because the program is not signed yet: choose "More info", then "Run anyway". The installer asks for a folder (on a first install it suggests %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\WhisperTerminal) and, on its last page, offers to start Whisper Terminal now (ticked) and to start it when you sign in to Windows (not ticked).

4. Start it and see what it does.

From the last page of the installer, or Whisper Terminal in the Start menu. A small icon appears in the notification area (click ^ if Windows hides it) and the terminals open once: that is what starting it does (when it starts at login it starts quietly, with only the icon). Right-click the icon for the menu (Start dictation, Terminals, History, Settings, Quit). Then press Ctrl+Space in any program, speak, and press it again: the first dictation starts downloading a speech model (a progress line shows in Settings), so dictate again when it finishes.

The portable zip instead of the installer

Check it like step 1, with the zip's name and its SHA-256 from the card above:

$expected = "c86b90eeb6fbe8f4e4398a454ee570f92a299ad7df8c26c12840a40f71817eb3"
(Get-FileHash .\WhisperTerminal-0.1.0-windows-x86_64.zip -Algorithm SHA256).Hash -eq $expected

Then unpack it in a folder you own (right-click, "Extract All") and double-click whisper-terminal.exe inside the folder, or in PowerShell:

Expand-Archive .\WhisperTerminal-0.1.0-windows-x86_64.zip -DestinationPath $HOME
Start-Process "$HOME\WhisperTerminal-0.1.0-windows-x86_64\whisper-terminal.exe"

SmartScreen may show up here too, at the first start. To have it start with your session, turn on "Start at login" in Settings → System.

Remove it

If you used the installer: Settings → Apps → Installed apps (on Windows 10: Apps & features) → Whisper Terminal → Uninstall (or run uninstall.exe in the install folder). It quits the program, deletes its files, the Start-menu entry and the start-at-login value, and asks whether to also delete your settings, history and downloaded models (the default answer is No).

If you used the zip: right-click the tray icon and choose Quit; if you turned on "Start at login" (Settings → System), turn it off first; then delete the folder.

Your settings (%APPDATA%\whisper-terminal) and your history, recordings, models and logs (%LOCALAPPDATA%\whisper-terminal) stay until you delete them. To delete them, with the app quit:

Remove-Item -Recurse "$env:APPDATA\whisper-terminal", "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\whisper-terminal"

If something does not work

Save what this PC looks like to the program, in the folder that has whisper-terminal.exe (the install folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\WhisperTerminal unless you chose another, or the unpacked zip's folder; --doctor does not start the app):

.\whisper-terminal.exe --doctor | Out-File doctor.txt

Send doctor.txt and the log (%LOCALAPPDATA%\whisper-terminal\whisper-terminal.log, and wt-stt.log beside it, from the speech engine) to support@vibedout.app, with what you pressed and what you expected. If a shortcut says Windows refused it, tell us which key. whisper-terminal.exe --status and whisper-terminal.exe --stt probe help too.

Linux

Seven steps, and only the second asks for sudo. Everything else stays in your user folder.

1. Check your glibc: the first line must end in 2.43 or more.

ldd --version | head -1

If it is lower, the program does not start (it says version GLIBC_2.43 not found) and there is no point in going on.

2. Install the libraries it uses. On Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives:

sudo apt install libxkbcommon-x11-0 libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers alsa-utils

On Fedora:

sudo dnf install libxkbcommon-x11 vulkan-loader mesa-vulkan-drivers alsa-utils

On GNOME the tray icon needs the AppIndicator extension (Ubuntu ships it on; on Fedora it is a separate install). Without it the app works, without an icon.

3. Verify, unpack and link the command, in the folder where you saved the file (usually ~/Downloads):

echo "3fb6e1dfbf3686ec4e5fe30c4ac187475e1d5b417085bd32fce20450647c78f8  whisper-terminal-linux-x86_64.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c - \
  && mkdir -p ~/.local/opt ~/.local/bin \
  && tar -xzf whisper-terminal-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C ~/.local/opt \
  && ln -sf ~/.local/opt/whisper-terminal/bin/whisper-terminal ~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal

The first command must say "OK". If it says "FAILED", do not unpack anything: download again. If you already had it installed, quit it first with ~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --quit. If you move the folder later, repeat the last line of step 3 (and step 7), then step 6.

4. A launcher in the application list (in bash or zsh):

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
cat > ~/.local/share/applications/app.vibedout.WhisperTerminal.desktop <<EOF
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Version=1.0
Name=Whisper Terminal
Comment=Dictate anywhere and open overlay terminals
Exec="$HOME/.local/bin/whisper-terminal"
Icon=utilities-terminal
Terminal=false
Categories=Utility;
Keywords=dictation;voice;speech;whisper;terminal;overlay;
StartupWMClass=app.vibedout.WhisperTerminal
StartupNotify=false
X-GNOME-UsesNotifications=true
EOF

This one does show in the list. The package does not carry one, which is why it is written here.

5. See what works on your machine:

~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --doctor

--doctor does not start the app: it marks what is missing with FAIL (keys, tray, model) and says how to fix it. On a fresh install it is normal to see FAIL on "autostart" (you have not turned it on), "dictation model" (the recommended model downloads at the first dictation), "claude" (if you do not have Claude Code) and "skills" (they are linked at the first start). The default keys are in the shortcuts table above.

6. Start it now, in the tray with no window, and make it start with your session:

setsid -f ~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --background
~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --autostart on

The second command creates an autostart entry that is not shown in the application list (on purpose: it is a different file from the launcher of step 4). ~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --autostart off removes it.

7. Optional: use the model that comes in the package, with nothing to download (English only):

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/whisper-terminal/models
ln -s ~/.local/opt/whisper-terminal/share/whisper-terminal/models/ggml-base.en.bin ~/.local/share/whisper-terminal/models/ggml-base.en.bin

Then pick it in Settings → Speech. If you had already downloaded that model, the command leaves it as it is.

Remove it

~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --quit
~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --autostart off
~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --shortcuts remove
~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal --skills unlink
[ -L ~/.local/share/whisper-terminal/models/ggml-base.en.bin ] && rm ~/.local/share/whisper-terminal/models/ggml-base.en.bin
rm -f ~/.local/bin/whisper-terminal ~/.local/share/applications/app.vibedout.WhisperTerminal.desktop
rm -rf ~/.local/opt/whisper-terminal

This stops it, removes its GNOME shortcuts and the skill links, and deletes the program. Your settings (~/.config/whisper-terminal), your history and downloaded models (~/.local/share/whisper-terminal) and its log (~/.local/state/whisper-terminal) stay until you delete them.