macOS menu bar app

Voice to polished text,
right at your cursor.

Hold a hotkey, speak naturally, release — ready-to-send text appears wherever your cursor is. No app switching. No copy-pasting.

$ curl -sSL …/install.sh | sh

Requires Python 3.10+ · macOS 12+ · OpenAI & Anthropic API keys

Features

Built for people who write a lot

Best-in-class transcription meets best-in-class enhancement — under your own API keys.

⌨

Works everywhere

Terminal, IDE, browser, Slack, email, Notion — anywhere there's a text cursor.

‣

Your API keys

No middleman servers. API calls go directly from your machine to OpenAI and Anthropic.

▸

One-line install

Install with a single curl command. Updates with pip. Fits in your dotfiles.

≈

Neural VAD

Silero VAD trims silence with a neural network. Works on whispers and noisy environments.

✎

Custom prompts

Override any mode with your own prompt files. Add context.txt with your name and writing style.

↺

Hot-reload config

~/.vaani/config.yaml is watched for changes. Edit and save — no restart needed.

ℝ

Encrypted history

Transcription history stored in a local SQLite database with AES-256 encryption.

⋅

Keychain storage

API keys stored in macOS Keychain — never written to disk in plaintext.

Pipeline

From voice to polished prose in ~2 seconds

Every step runs in the background. The menu bar icon shows your current state.

🎤

Mic capture

sounddevice

→

⎜

VAD trim

Silero VAD

→

▴

Gain norm

RMS-based

→

✎

Transcribe

Whisper API

→

✨

Enhance

Claude Haiku

→

⏵

Paste

pynput

Enhancement modes

Match your tone to the context

Switch modes from the menu bar. Each mode sends a different system prompt to Claude.

Minimal

Least changes possible. Fix grammar, remove filler words, preserve your original wording.

Professional

Formal rewrite for business emails, reports, and async communication. No contractions.

Casual

Friendly, conversational tone. For Slack, DMs, and informal writing.

Code

Code-aware formatting, shell command recognition, and code generation from speech.

Funny

Witty, humorous rewrite that still delivers your core message.

Override any mode with your own prompt file in ~/.vaani/prompts/modes/

Comparison

Where Vaani fits in

Same output quality as subscription tools — at a fraction of the cost.

Tool	Price	AI Enhancement	Custom Prompts	Your API keys
Vaani	~$0.50/mo API costs	✓ 5 modes + custom	✓ File-based	✓
Wispr Flow	$15/mo	✓ Context-adaptive	✗	✗
SuperWhisper	$8.49/mo or $249	✓ Multi-model	✓ GUI-based	~ Optional
Whisper Dictation	Free	✗	✗	✓ Local only
macOS Dictation	Free	✗	✗	—

Privacy

No Vaani servers. Ever.

All cloud calls go directly from your machine to OpenAI and Anthropic under your own account.

Audio

Sent to OpenAI

Under your API key. Subject to OpenAI's data retention policy.

Transcribed text

Sent to Anthropic

Under your API key. Subject to Anthropic's data retention policy.

API keys

macOS Keychain only

Never written to disk in plaintext. Stored in the system credential store.

History

Local SQLite + AES-256

Stored on your machine. Encrypted with Fernet. Nothing leaves your disk.

Voice to polished text,right at your cursor.