Getting Started

Download & Install

v0.7.9

Open the .dmg and drag Handy to your Applications folder.

Or install via Homebrew (community-maintained cask):

brew install --cask handy

First Launch

Permissions

On macOS, Handy will ask for two permissions. Make sure to grant them.

  1. Microphone — needed to capture your voice
  2. Accessibility — needed to type transcribed text into other apps

Choosing a Model

On first launch, Handy will ask you to pick a speech-to-text model to download. All models run entirely on your device.

  • Parakeet V3 is recommended for English and European languages. It’s generally very fast on all machines, and very accurate.
  • Whisper is best for multilingual support with 99+ languages. Choose Medium for a good balance of transcription performance and transcription speed. Use Small if you’re on a less powerful machine.

See the models page for the full list of models and supported languages.

Once your model finishes downloading, Handy is ready to go. You’ll see it appear in your system tray / menu bar.

Your First Transcription

  1. Click into any text field (a browser, editor, chat app, anywhere you can type)
  2. Press the default shortcut (Option + Space) to start recording
  3. Speak naturally
  4. Press the shortcut again (or release if using push-to-talk)
  5. Your words appear in the text field

That’s it. Handy transcribes your speech locally and pastes the result wherever your cursor is.

Shortcuts

ActionShortcut
TranscribeOption + Space
Transcribe with Post-ProcessingOption + Shift + Space
CancelEscape

You can remap shortcuts in Handy's settings by clicking on a shortcut and pressing your preferred key combination. On macOS, a lot of people like using the fn key

Next Steps