dbdude-v2t

Website: https://dbdude-v2t.dbdude.net/

Local, privacy-first voice-to-text for your desktop. Hold a hotkey to record, release to transcribe, and text appears at your cursor - in any application.

Features

• System-wide input - types into any focused window (browser, editor, terminal, etc.)
• Fully local - runs Whisper models on your machine, no cloud, no API keys, your audio never leaves your computer
• Multiple models - choose from tiny to large-v3 depending on your hardware
• GPU accelerated - CUDA detection on Windows, X11 Ubuntu, and Omarchy; Apple Silicon (MLX) on macOS. The Ubuntu 26.04 launcher currently uses CPU
• Custom mappings - correct misheard words, expand abbreviations, add programming symbols
• Mapping packs - bundled Punctuation and Programmer packs for common replacements
• System tray app - runs in the background with status icons (idle/recording/transcribing)
• Configurator GUI - settings, model selection, audio device selection
• Continuous mode - toggle on for long-form dictation

Dictation punctuation

All platform versions omit the automatic final period for a single sentence, regardless of its length. Multiple sentences keep punctuation and have their sentence starts capitalized. Sentence detection uses the recognizer's punctuation and accounts for common abbreviations; ambiguous abbreviations may still need correction. Question marks and exclamation marks are preserved.

Enable the Punctuation mapping pack, or add individual custom mappings, to use question mark → ?, exclamation point / bang → !, and dot → .. Spoken dot preserves an explicitly requested period even for a single sentence. Punctuation attached by the recognizer to a spoken command is replaced along with the command, so bang! produces !; bang bang still produces !!. Windows and macOS custom formatting rules continue to run after sentence formatting.

Restart the app after updating the Python code. Mapping-only edits can be loaded with Reload Mapping Files.

Platforms

Keyboard Shortcuts

macOS uses Fn instead of Alt+Shift.

Installation

Choose your platform and preferred level of detail. Each guide is self-contained.

macOS (Apple Silicon)

• docs/installation-macos-beginners.md — step-by-step installation, first dictation, updates, and troubleshooting.
• docs/installation-macos-technical.md — commands, dependencies, models, permissions, updates, and diagnostics.

Windows

• docs/installation-windows-beginners.md — step-by-step installation, first dictation, updates, and troubleshooting.
• docs/installation-windows-technical.md — commands, dependencies, models, permissions, updates, and diagnostics.

Ubuntu with X11/Xorg

• docs/installation-ubuntu-x11-beginners.md — step-by-step installation, first dictation, updates, and troubleshooting.
• docs/installation-ubuntu-x11-technical.md — commands, dependencies, models, permissions, updates, and diagnostics.

Ubuntu 26.04 with Wayland

• docs/installation-ubuntu-26-04-wayland-beginners.md — step-by-step installation, first dictation, updates, and troubleshooting.
• docs/installation-ubuntu-26-04-wayland-technical.md — commands, dependencies, models, permissions, updates, and diagnostics.

Omarchy (Arch Linux + Hyprland)

• docs/installation-omarchy-beginners.md — step-by-step installation, first dictation, updates, and troubleshooting.
• docs/installation-omarchy-technical.md — commands, dependencies, models, permissions, updates, and diagnostics.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later - Free and open source. You may use, modify, and redistribute it, including commercially; distributed versions must also be released under the GPL.

Copyright (c) 2025-2026 Michael Foster / DBDude Inc.