Handy

Handy

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A free, open source, and extensible speech-to-text application that works completely offline.

Handy is a cross-platform desktop application that provides simple, privacy-focused speech transcription. Press a shortcut, speak, and have your words appear in any text field. This happens on your own computer without sending any information to the cloud.

Why Handy?

Handy was created to fill the gap for a truly open source, extensible speech-to-text tool. As stated on handy.computer:

Free: Accessibility tooling belongs in everyone's hands, not behind a paywall

Open Source: Together we can build further. Extend Handy for yourself and contribute to something bigger

Private: Your voice stays on your computer. Get transcriptions without sending audio to the cloud

Simple: One tool, one job. Transcribe what you say and put it into a text box

How It Works

Press a configurable keyboard shortcut: hold it to record and release to stop, or tap it to toggle recording on and off (Hold-only and Toggle-only modes are also available)

Speak your words while the shortcut is active

Release and Handy processes your speech using Whisper

Get your transcribed text pasted directly into whatever app you're using

The process is entirely local:

Silence is filtered using VAD (Voice Activity Detection) with Silero

Transcription uses your choice of models:

Whisper models (Small/Medium/Turbo/Large) with GPU acceleration when available

Parakeet V3 - CPU-optimized model with excellent performance and automatic language detection

Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Installation

Download the latest release from the releases page or the website

macOS: Also available via Homebrew cask: brew install --cask handy

Windows: Also available via winget: winget install cjpais.Handy \

Note: The Homebrew cask and winget package are not maintained by the Handy developers.

Debian/Ubuntu: Install the downloaded .deb with APT so required dependencies are installed automatically:

     sudo apt install ./Handy_*.deb

Do not use dpkg -i unless the dependencies are already installed. If you already used it, run sudo apt --fix-broken install.

Install the application

Launch Handy and grant necessary system permissions (microphone, accessibility)

Configure your preferred keyboard shortcuts in Settings

Start transcribing!

Development Setup

For detailed build instructions including platform-specific requirements, see BUILD.md.

Sponsors

We're grateful for the support of our sponsors who help make Handy possible:

Integrations

Control Handy from Raycast — start/stop recording, browse transcript history, manage dictionary, switch models and languages.

Source · by @mattiacolombomc

Debug Mode

Handy includes an advanced debug mode for development and troubleshooting. Access it by pressing:

macOS: Cmd+Shift+D

Windows/Linux: Ctrl+Shift+D

CLI Parameters

Handy supports command-line flags for controlling a running instance and customizing startup behavior. These work on all platforms (macOS, Windows, Linux). Largely this is a beta feature.

Remote control flags (sent to an already-running instance via the single-instance plugin):

handy --toggle-transcription    # Toggle recording on/off
handy --toggle-post-process     # Toggle recording with post-processing on/off
handy --cancel                  # Cancel the current operation

Startup flags:

handy --start-hidden            # Start without showing the main window
handy --no-tray                 # Start without the system tray icon
handy --debug                   # Enable debug mode with verbose logging
handy --help                    # Show all available flags

Flags can be combined for autostart scenarios:

handy --start-hidden --no-tray

macOS tip: When Handy is installed as an app bundle, invoke the binary directly: bash /Applications/Handy.app/Contents/MacOS/Handy --toggle-transcription

Transcription hook

Advanced users on macOS and Linux can rewrite text right before Handy pastes it. Put an executable at hooks/transcription in Handy's app data folder (~/Library/Application Support/com.pais.handy/ on macOS, ~/.local/share/com.pais.handy/ on Linux). Handy writes the text to its stdin, after any LLM post-processing, and pastes its stdout. One trailing newline is removed, and empty output pastes nothing. If the hook fails or runs longer than 30 seconds, the original text is pasted.

The hook doesn't get your shell's PATH: on macOS, Handy started from the Dock or Finder only sees /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin. Use absolute paths for anything else, such as /opt/homebrew/bin/opencc.

Example that prefixes # when Terminal is the frontmost app (macOS):

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.pais.handy/hooks
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.pais.handy/hooks
cat > transcription << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
app=$(osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of first application process whose frontmost is true')
if [ "$app" = "Terminal" ]; then echo "# $(cat)"; else cat; fi
EOF
chmod +x transcription

Known Issues & Current Limitations

This project is actively being developed and has some known issues. We believe in transparency about the current state:

Bluetooth Headset Microphones (macOS)

Using a Bluetooth headset microphone on macOS may temporarily reduce playback quality or volume while recording because Bluetooth switches to bidirectional audio. Keep your headphones as the output device and select your Mac's built-in or an external microphone in Handy to avoid this.

fn and Globe Key Shortcuts (macOS)

Shortcuts that include the fn (Globe) key only work on Apple keyboards — your Mac's built-in keyboard or an Apple external keyboard. They will never trigger on a third-party keyboard, even while it is connected to the same Mac.

This is a hardware limitation rather than a Handy bug. fn is not part of the standard USB HID keyboard specification: Apple reports it through a vendor-specific usage that macOS honors only from Apple devices, while third-party keyboards handle their Fn key entirely in firmware and send nothing to the computer. There is no event for Handy to listen for.

If you switch between a MacBook keyboard and an external one, pick a shortcut built from standard modifiers (ctrl, option, shift, command) or a regular key instead.

Linux Notes

Text Input Tools:

For reliable text input on Linux, install the appropriate tool for your display server:

X11: Install xdotool for both direct typing and clipboard paste shortcuts

Ubuntu 26.04: Has Wayland display server by default. wtype does not work, you need to install ydotool and configure systemd as described here.

Wayland: Install wtype (preferred) or dotool for text input to work correctly

dotool setup: Requires adding your user to the input group: sudo usermod -aG input $USER (then log out and back in)

Without these tools, Handy falls back to enigo which may have limited compatibility, especially on Wayland.

Wayland Support (Linux):

Limited support for Wayland display server

Requires wtype or dotool for text input to work correctly (see Linux Notes below for installation)

Other Notes:

Runtime library dependency (libgtk-layer-shell.so.0):

Handy links gtk-layer-shell on Linux. If startup fails with error while loading shared libraries: libgtk-layer-shell.so.0, install the runtime package for your distro:

For building from source on Ubuntu/Debian, you may also need libgtk-layer-shell-dev.

The recording overlay is disabled by default on Linux (Overlay Position: None) because certain compositors treat it as the active window. When the overlay is visible it can steal focus, which prevents Handy from pasting back into the application that triggered transcription. If you enable the overlay anyway, be aware that clipboard-based pasting might fail or end up in the wrong window.

Handy picks the WebKit renderer on Linux from the linked WebKitGTK version: 2.54 and newer keep the compositor on shared memory (WEBKIT_DMABUF_RENDERER_FORCE_SHM=1), older releases disable DMA-BUF rendering (WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1). Explicit values for either variable are preserved. For rendering workarounds, see Troubleshooting → Configure the WebKit renderer.

If Handy fails to start reliably on Linux, see Troubleshooting → Linux Startup Crashes or Instability.

Global keyboard shortcuts (Wayland): On Wayland, system-level shortcuts must be configured through your desktop environment or window manager. Use the CLI flags as the command for your custom shortcut.

GNOME:

Open Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts

Click the + button to add a new shortcut

Set the Name to Toggle Handy Transcription

Set the Command to handy --toggle-transcription

Click Set Shortcut and press your desired key combination (e.g., Super+O)

KDE Plasma:

Open System Settings > Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts

Click Edit > New > Global Shortcut > Command/URL

Name it Toggle Handy Transcription

In the Trigger tab, set your desired key combination

In the Action tab, set the command to handy --toggle-transcription

Sway / i3:

Add to your config file (~/.config/sway/config or ~/.config/i3/config):

  bindsym $mod+o exec handy --toggle-transcription

Hyprland:

Add to your config file (~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf):

  bind = $mainMod, O, exec, handy --toggle-transcription

You can also trigger Handy externally via Unix signals or the CLI flags, which lets Wayland window managers or other hotkey daemons keep ownership of keybindings:

Example Sway config:

  bindsym $mod+o exec pkill -USR2 -n handy
  bindsym $mod+p exec handy --toggle-post-process

pkill here simply delivers the signal—it does not terminate the process.

Behavior change: older releases also accepted SIGUSR1 for toggling transcription with post-processing. WebKitGTK — the webview engine embedded in Handy on Linux — uses SIGUSR1 internally to coordinate JavaScript garbage collection, so listening for it caused phantom recordings and interrupted dictations every few minutes (#1660). Handy no longer listens for SIGUSR1 on Linux; the post-processing toggle is still available via handy --toggle-post-process. Remove any pkill -USR1 bindings: the signal is now delivered straight to WebKit's internal handler and can crash the app.

Overlay & Pasting Issues (Linux):

The recording overlay window can interfere with pasting transcribed text into target applications on Linux (X11)

Solution: Open Settings > Advanced and set "Overlay Position" to "None" to disable the overlay

Enable "Audio Feedback" (also in Advanced) if you still want audible confirmation of recording state

Users who upgrade from older versions or import settings from other platforms may need to manually apply this change

Verify Release Signatures

Handy release artifacts are signed with Tauri's updater signature format. The public key is stored in src-tauri/tauri.conf.json under plugins.updater.pubkey.

To verify a release manually, set ARTIFACT to the filename you downloaded, save the pubkey value from src-tauri/tauri.conf.json to handy.pub.b64, then decode the public key and matching .sig file from base64 and verify the artifact with minisign:

# Replace with the file you downloaded
ARTIFACT="Handy_0.8.1_amd64.AppImage"

python3 - "$ARTIFACT" <<'PY'
import base64, pathlib, sys

artifact = sys.argv[1]

pub = pathlib.Path("handy.pub.b64").read_text().strip()
pathlib.Path("handy.pub").write_bytes(base64.b64decode(pub))

sig = pathlib.Path(f"{artifact}.sig").read_text().strip()
pathlib.Path(f"{artifact}.minisig").write_bytes(base64.b64decode(sig))
PY

minisign -Vm "$ARTIFACT" \
  -p handy.pub \
  -x "$ARTIFACT.minisig"

On success, minisign prints:

Signature and comment signature verified

Do not use gpg for these .sig files.

Previous Clipboard Content Is Pasted Instead of the Transcription

If the transcription is correct in History but Handy inserts text you copied earlier, see issue #502. With the standard clipboard paste method, Handy restores your previous clipboard after a fixed delay. Under load, the receiving application may read the clipboard only after that restoration.

Open Handy's settings window and press Cmd+Shift+D (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+D (Windows/Linux) to reveal Debug.

On macOS and Windows, try Reliable Paste (Beta) in Debug with a clipboard paste method selected. It uses clipboard read notifications to delay restoration instead of relying on the standard fixed delay. Test it in the application where the problem occurs; it is still experimental.

If Reliable Paste is disabled or unavailable, increase Paste Delay (After) in Debug and test again. This controls the wait before restoring your previous clipboard. Paste Delay (Before) controls the wait before sending the paste keystroke and addresses a different part of the operation. These delay settings apply to the standard paste path, not Reliable Paste.

If the problem persists, add your Handy version, operating system, receiving application, paste method, Reliable Paste setting, and before/after delays to the existing issue. Redact private dictated text before sharing logs.

Manual Model Installation (For Proxy Users or Network Restrictions)

If you're behind a proxy, firewall, or in a restricted network environment where Handy cannot download models automatically, you can manually download and install them. The URLs are publicly accessible from any browser.

Step 1: Find Your App Data Directory

Open Handy settings

Navigate to the About section

Copy the "App Data Directory" path shown there, or use the shortcuts:

macOS: Cmd+Shift+D to open debug menu

Windows/Linux: Ctrl+Shift+D to open debug menu

The typical paths are:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.pais.handy/

Windows: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\com.pais.handy\

Linux: ~/.config/com.pais.handy/

Step 2: Create Models Directory

Inside your app data directory, create a models folder if it doesn't already exist:

# macOS/Linux
mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.pais.handy/models

# Windows (PowerShell)
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:APPDATA\com.pais.handy\models"

Step 3: Download Model Files

Download the models you want from below

Whisper Models (single .bin files):

Small (487 MB): https://blob.handy.computer/ggml-small.bin

Medium (492 MB): https://blob.handy.computer/whisper-medium-q4_1.bin

Turbo (1600 MB): https://blob.handy.computer/ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin

Large (1100 MB): https://blob.handy.computer/ggml-large-v3-q5_0.bin

Parakeet Unified EN 0.6B (single .gguf file, recommended):

Q8_0 (731 MB): https://huggingface.co/handy-computer/parakeet-unified-en-0.6b-gguf/resolve/main/parakeet-unified-en-0.6b-Q8_0.gguf

Step 4: Install Models

For Whisper Models (.bin files):

Simply place the .bin file directly into the models directory:

{app_data_dir}/models/
├── ggml-small.bin
├── whisper-medium-q4_1.bin
├── ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin
└── ggml-large-v3-q5_0.bin

For GGUF Models (.gguf files):

Place the .gguf file directly into the models directory, exactly like the Whisper .bin files above. Handy also picks up models already present in the shared Hugging Face cache (~/.cache/huggingface/hub), so a copy downloaded by another tool works without being moved.

Important Notes:

Do not rename the .bin or .gguf files—use the exact filenames from the download URLs

After placing the files, restart Handy to detect the new models

Step 5: Verify Installation

Restart Handy

Open Settings → Models

Your manually installed models should now appear as "Downloaded"

Select the model you want to use and test transcription

Custom Whisper Models

Handy can auto-discover custom Whisper GGML models placed in the models directory. This is useful for users who want to use fine-tuned or community models not included in the default model list.

How to use:

Obtain a Whisper model in GGML .bin format (e.g., from Hugging Face)

Place the .bin file in your models directory (see paths above)

Restart Handy to discover the new model

The model will appear in the "Custom Models" section of the Models settings page

Important:

Community models are user-provided and may not receive troubleshooting assistance

The model must be a valid Whisper GGML format (.bin file)

Model name is derived from the filename (e.g., my-custom-model.bin → "My Custom Model")

Linux Startup Crashes or Instability

If Handy fails to start reliably on Linux — for example, it crashes shortly after launch, never shows its window, or reports a Wayland protocol error — try the steps below in order.

1. Install (or reinstall) gtk-layer-shell

Handy uses gtk-layer-shell for its recording overlay and links against it at runtime. A missing or broken installation is the most common cause of startup failures and can manifest as a crash or a hang well before any window is shown. Make sure the runtime package is installed for your distro:

If it is already installed and you still see startup problems, try reinstalling it (e.g. sudo pacman -S gtk-layer-shell again) in case the library files were corrupted by a partial upgrade.

2. Disable the GTK layer shell overlay (HANDY_NO_GTK_LAYER_SHELL)

If installing the library does not help, you can skip gtk-layer-shell initialization entirely as a workaround. On some compositors (notably KDE Plasma under Wayland) it has been reported to interact poorly with the recording overlay. With this variable set, the overlay falls back to a regular always-on-top window:

HANDY_NO_GTK_LAYER_SHELL=1 handy

3. Configure the WebKit renderer (WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER / WEBKIT_DMABUF_RENDERER_FORCE_SHM)

Handy picks the renderer at startup from the WebKitGTK build it links, because the DMA-BUF renderer crashes on some GPU/driver combinations but the non-composited fallback loses pixels on the 2.54 series:

WebKitGTK 2.54 and newer: the compositor stays enabled and is forced onto shared memory with WEBKIT_DMABUF_RENDERER_FORCE_SHM=1. 2.54 composites only the damaged region of every frame, so the previous workaround (WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1) left transparent windows — such as the recording overlay — showing only their animated parts (#2166).

Older releases: DMA-BUF rendering is disabled with WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1, which can cause blank windows but matches the previous behavior.

Explicit environment-variable values are preserved, including in the Nix package:

# Force the legacy non-composited renderer (2.54: partial frames may reappear)
WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 handy

# Keep the compositor on shared memory (the 2.54 default below)
WEBKIT_DMABUF_RENDERER_FORCE_SHM=1 handy

# Let WebKit use DMA-BUF when supported (may reintroduce the GPU/driver crashes)
WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=0 handy

Fully quit Handy, including its tray instance, before testing a value. Running a second instance with --toggle-transcription does not change the running process's environment.

Making a workaround permanent

Set the variable in the environment of the launcher that actually starts Handy. Shell profile exports may not apply to desktop-menu or autostart launches. If you launch Handy from a .desktop file, you can prefix the Exec= line, e.g.:

Exec=env HANDY_NO_GTK_LAYER_SHELL=1 handy

Handy's built-in autostart rewrites its generated desktop entry, so editing that entry is not a durable workaround. For autostart, use an appropriate session/service environment, or disable Handy's built-in autostart and manage your own startup entry with the required variable.

If a workaround helps you, please open an issue describing your distro, desktop environment, and session type — that information helps us narrow down the underlying bug.

Empty recording overlay on Hyprland / Omarchy

If the recording overlay is empty or bordered, fully quit Handy and launch a native installation with Wayland enabled:

env -u HANDY_NO_GTK_LAYER_SHELL GDK_BACKEND=wayland handy

If this works, apply GDK_BACKEND=wayland only to Handy's launcher. This workaround does not work with the 0.9.6 AppImage, which forces X11.

Vulkan Overlays and Capture Tools on Windows (HANDY_KEEP_VULKAN_IMPLICIT_LAYERS)

On Windows, Handy asks the Vulkan loader to skip implicit layers to avoid crashes caused by overlay and capture hooks (#2049). GPU acceleration remains enabled; this does not change system-wide settings.

To opt out for GPU selection or debugging tools, fully quit Handy (including the tray icon), then run both commands in the same PowerShell window:

$env:HANDY_KEEP_VULKAN_IMPLICIT_LAYERS = "1"
& "$env:ProgramFiles\Handy\handy.exe"

Adjust the executable path if needed. This override only applies to apps launched from that PowerShell session, not the Start menu. Handy also preserves any existing VK_LOADER_LAYERS_DISABLE value.

How to Contribute

Check existing issues at github.com/cjpais/Handy/issues

Fork the repository and create a feature branch

Test thoroughly on your target platform

Submit a pull request with clear description of changes

Join the discussion - reach out at [email protected]

The goal is to create both a useful tool and a foundation for others to build upon—a well-patterned, simple codebase that serves the community.

Related Projects

Handy CLI - The original Python command-line version

handy.computer - Project website with demos and documentation

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Handy is open-source software, but the Handy name, logo, icon, and brand assets are not open-source. Unofficial forks, rewrites, and redistributions must use their own branding and must not imply endorsement or affiliation.

Acknowledgments

Whisper by OpenAI for the speech recognition model

ggml for an amazing cross-platform tensor library

Silero for great lightweight VAD

Tauri team for the excellent Rust-based app framework

Community contributors helping make Handy better