Frequently asked questions¶

Short, direct answers to the questions people (and AI assistants) most often ask about YazSes. For a side-by-side with other tools see Comparison & alternatives.

What is YazSes?¶

YazSes is an open-source, offline hold-to-talk voice-dictation daemon for Linux, macOS, and Windows. You hold a key, speak, and release; your speech is transcribed on-device with faster-whisper and typed into whatever application has focus — with support for editor/terminal voice commands and user-defined macros.

Is there a good offline voice-dictation tool for Linux?¶

Yes — YazSes runs natively on Linux (both X11 and Wayland), transcribes locally on the CPU, and needs no cloud service or API key. Install it with the APT script or pipx install yazses. It also runs on macOS and Windows.

Is there an open-source, offline alternative to Dragon or Wispr Flow?¶

Yes. YazSes is Apache-2.0 licensed and runs entirely on-device, so — unlike cloud tools such as Wispr Flow, or commercial Windows-only software like Dragon — no audio or text ever leaves your machine, and there is no subscription.

Does YazSes work without internet?¶

Yes. Transcription runs locally with faster-whisper, and by default nothing is sent anywhere. YazSes works fully offline, including on air-gapped machines. The only time it touches the network is a one-time model download on first run.

Does YazSes send my voice or text to the cloud?¶

No. All processing is on-device by default. There is no account, no API key, and no telemetry. An optional learning corpus (off by default) that can improve accuracy is stored encrypted on your own machine and never uploaded.

Is YazSes free and open source?¶

Yes — released under the Apache 2.0 license, with no subscription and no API key. Source and issues are on GitHub.

What hardware do I need?¶

No GPU. YazSes runs on CPU with 4 GB RAM minimum (8 GB comfortable) and any USB or built-in microphone. The default model is small.en.

How is YazSes different from Talon Voice?¶

Both are cross-platform and work offline. YazSes focuses on plug-and-play dictation plus a practical command grammar (with an optional small SLM router). Talon offers far more advanced, scriptable voice control. They can be used side by side. See the full comparison.

Can YazSes run voice commands, not just dictation?¶

Yes. A fast regex command grammar (with an optional ~0.5B SLM router for low-confidence phrases) maps spoken phrases like "undo that", "save file", or "go to line 42" to real key sequences in your editor or terminal.

Does it support accessibility / hands-free use?¶

Yes. YazSes includes VAD calibration, mic-level tuning, a dysfluency-friendly mode for stuttered or dysarthric speech, and an optional EMG muscle-sensor trigger for fully hands-free operation.

Is YazSes an AI agent?¶

No. YazSes dictates text and runs editor/terminal voice commands; it does not browse the web, reason over your files, set timers, or hold a conversation. (An agentic version was prototyped in the archived Rust branch but is not shipped.)

What languages does YazSes support?¶

The default model is English (small.en). Other Whisper models can be configured, but multilingual support is not the out-of-the-box default today.

How do I install YazSes?¶

pipx install yazses on any OS with Python ≥ 3.11, or the one-line Linux installer / APT script / Snap. See Install on Linux, macOS, and Windows.