Your voice. Your machine. Your text.
Suniye is open-source dictation for macOS. Speech recognition runs locally — nothing leaves your machine. Hold one key, speak, release.
brew install --cask kishanhitk/tap/suniye 
Suniye
How it works
Hold your hotkey
Press and hold Fn/Globe — or any shortcut you choose. A small indicator pops up.
Speak naturally
Talk at your normal pace. Your voice is captured through your mic and stays on your Mac.
Text appears
Release the key. Your words turn into text on your Mac and appear at your cursor.
Built for real work
Runs on your Mac
Speech recognition happens entirely on your Mac. Choose from a built-in library of models — no internet needed to turn your voice into text. No server. No cloud.
Instant results
No trip to the cloud. Your voice becomes text in an instant — the model is always loaded and ready to go.
Works in any app
Your words appear right at your cursor — Mail, Slack, Notes, your browser, your editor. Everywhere you type.
AI cleanup, on your Mac
Optional cleanup tidies grammar and punctuation using Apple's built-in AI or a model on your Mac — no cloud needed. Or connect your own provider. Off by default.
One simple shortcut
Default is Fn/Globe. Change it to any key combo you like. Hold to talk, release to get your text. No menus, no buttons.
Open source, MIT licensed
Full source on GitHub. Read every line. No tracking, no surprises. Build it yourself if you want.
Choose your model
Ten speech models. Pick the trade-off you want — speed, accuracy, or languages.
Every model runs entirely on your Mac. Download more than one and switch instantly from the app — no restart, nothing sent to a server.
25 European languages
English
Chinese · English · Japanese · Korean · Cantonese
English
Multilingual
Multilingual
Multilingual
English
English
English
Magic Format
Cleanup that can stay entirely on your Mac.
Optionally tidy up punctuation, capitalization, and formatting after each dictation. It stays off until you turn it on.
Apple Intelligence
On your Mac · no setup
Uses Apple's built-in AI on supported Macs. Nothing leaves your machine, nothing to set up, no cost.
A model on your Mac
On your Mac · works offline
Runs a small AI model right on your Mac (about 3.4 GB). Download it once, then clean up text even with no internet.
Your own provider
Optional · uses the internet
Connect your own AI provider — like Gemini or GPT — with your own key. Only text is sent, and only if you pick this option.
Your audio is never sent anywhere. Magic Format only ever works on the text you dictated, and only the last option uses the internet.
Every word you dictate could be training data.
Unless it never leaves your machine.
The problem
Cloud dictation services process your voice on remote servers. Your private notes, medical records, business plans — all passing through infrastructure you don't control. That audio can be stored, analyzed, and used to train models without your explicit consent.
Suniye's approach
Speech models run directly on your Mac — pick one from the built-in library. Voice is processed in memory, transcribed locally, and never touches a network. The only network calls Suniye makes are to check for app updates and download models.
Even the optional cleanup can stay on your Mac, using Apple's built-in AI or a local model. Only if you pick the online option does your text (never your audio) leave the Mac — and it's off by default.
More in the box
Floating indicator
A draggable capsule shows live audio levels while you talk. Park it in any corner — or hide it when idle.
History & dashboard
Every dictation is saved on your Mac with word counts and timing. Copy or delete from a simple dashboard.
Any microphone
Built-in, USB, or Bluetooth — switch freely. Suniye tunes itself to each device automatically.
Automatic updates
New versions arrive on their own. Stay on stable releases, or opt in to early builds to try new features first.
Launch at login
Start Suniye quietly in the background so it's ready the moment you press your key.
Safe insertion
Your text lands at the cursor and your clipboard is kept intact. Optionally press Return to send automatically.
Learns from your edits
Correct a misheard name right after dictating and Suniye quietly adds it to your vocabulary — undoable, marked with a ✨, and easy to switch off.
How it compares
Local-first, by design.
| Suniye | Cloud dictation | Built-in dictation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio stays on your Mac | — | some | |
| Choice of speech models | — | — | |
| Works in many languages | |||
| AI cleanup that can run on your Mac | cloud | — | |
| Inserts into any app | some | ||
| Open source | — | — | |
| No tracking | varies | varies | |
| Price | Free | Subscription | Free |
"Cloud dictation" and "built-in dictation" describe common categories — capabilities vary by product.
Questions
Is my dictation really private? +
Yes. Your voice is captured and turned into text entirely on your Mac — it never touches the internet. The only times Suniye goes online are to check for updates and to download a model the first time.
Does the optional AI cleanup see my audio? +
Never. Cleanup only works on the text, never the audio. By default it runs right on your Mac, using Apple's built-in AI or a local model. Only if you turn on the online option does your text get sent to the provider you choose — and it's off by default.
What languages can it understand? +
It depends on the model you pick. Some cover 25 European languages, others handle Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, and Cantonese, and the largest understand a broad mix. Several English-only models are smaller and faster.
Does it work offline? +
Yes — once you've downloaded a model, dictation needs no internet at all. The only thing that ever goes online is the optional cleanup provider, if you choose to turn it on.
Apple Silicon or Intel? +
Both work for dictation. The on-Mac cleanup model needs an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later), and Apple's built-in AI needs a Mac that supports it. The online cleanup option works on any Mac.
How much space does it need? +
A speech model is anywhere from about 118 MB to 1.7 GB, so you can pick one that fits. The optional on-Mac cleanup model adds about 3.4 GB.
Can I install with Homebrew? +
Yes — it's the easiest way. Run brew install --cask kishanhitk/tap/suniye. Homebrew downloads the latest release, moves Suniye into your Applications folder, and clears the macOS quarantine for you, so there's nothing extra to do on first launch. Updates still arrive automatically inside the app.
Homebrew asks me to trust the tap — is that expected? +
Yes. Homebrew 6 asks you to approve any third-party tap before it runs, because a tap can run code on your Mac. Running the full command — brew install --cask kishanhitk/tap/suniye — trusts just this one cask. If you'd like to read it first, run brew cat kishanhitk/tap/suniye.
Why does macOS say the app is damaged? +
This only affects the direct .dmg download. Suniye isn't signed with a paid Apple developer certificate, so macOS quarantines it the first time. Run the command shown above to allow it — or install with Homebrew, which clears the quarantine for you. You can also build it yourself from the source on GitHub.
Is it free? +
Completely. Free and open-source under the MIT license. No subscription, no account, no tracking.
Try Suniye
Install with Homebrew, download the latest release, or build from source. Requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. Pick a speech model from the built-in library on first launch.
brew install --cask kishanhitk/tap/suniye Alpha — expect rough edges