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Sten

Sten

On-device voice-to-text for Mac.

Requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, Apple Silicon.

Stop typing. Start talking. Voice-to-text for Mac, running entirely on-device — no cloud, no subscriptions, no leaving the keyboard. Works in every app, 25 languages, free forever.

Sten lives in your menu bar. Press a hotkey, speak, and your words are typed into whatever app is focused.

Usage

  1. Launch the app — it appears in the menu bar
  2. Complete the onboarding wizard (permissions + hotkey)
  3. Press your hotkey to start recording, press again to stop
  4. Text is typed into the active app

Transforms

Run every transcription through an AI Fix Speech command that fixes grammar, spelling, and misrecognized words. Powered by Tetra — enable Fix with Tetra in Sten's menu to turn it on. Enable Include Context to pass nearby text from the active app for context-aware corrections.

FAQ

Is it really free?

Yes.

Will you start charging later?

No. If you want to support me, buy a vlad.studio account.

How accurate is it?

It uses Parakeet TDT, a state-of-the-art model running on Apple's Neural Engine.

Install

Recommended — installs Sten and Tetra together, seeds starter commands, and walks you through an LLM provider (Groq is free):

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vladstudio/sten/main/install-with-tetra.sh)"

Just dictation (Sten alone, no AI)

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vladstudio/sten/main/install.sh)"

On first launch, Sten asks for Accessibility and Microphone access — required to capture keystrokes and audio.