Show HN: Ghost Pepper – Local hold-to-talk speech-to-text for macOS (github.com)

Article summary

Ghost Pepper is a free and open-source speech-to-text application for macOS that runs entirely on the user's device, with no data sent to the cloud. It uses local voice models and supports features like hold-to-talk and meeting transcription. The app is designed to be private and secure, with optional cloud features that can be enabled with the user's own API keys. Ghost Pepper is built using open-source models and is available for download or can be built from source.

Main themes

• Speech-to-text technology
• Local data processing
• Privacy and security
• Open-source software
• macOS applications

What commenters say

• Some users appreciate the emphasis on local speed and privacy in Ghost Pepper, but wonder how it compares to similar existing solutions like Hex and Handy.
• Parakeet is considered a more accurate and faster speech-to-text model than Whisper, and some users are successfully using it with Ghost Pepper or other applications.
• The need for a cleanup model is debated, with some users finding that high-quality speech models like Parakeet or Cohere Transcribe can eliminate the need for additional processing.
• Some users are interested in using Ghost Pepper or similar applications on mobile devices, where native dictation options may not be fully local or accurate.
• The development of Ghost Pepper is seen as redundant by some users, given the existence of established alternatives like Handy, which also offers local and open-source speech-to-text capabilities.
• The use of automatic LLM post-processing can help improve the accuracy of speech-to-text models, especially for models like Parakeet V3 that may repeat words or make recognition errors.
• Some users are successfully using Handy with Parakeet V3 and a custom prompt to post-process, but may encounter occasional bugs or issues with the application.