Real-time voice-to-text transcription with hotkey support

Maivi (My AI Voice Input) is a cross-platform desktop application that turns your voice into text using state-of-the-art AI models. Simply press Alt+Q (Option+Q on macOS) to start recording, and press again to stop. Your transcription appears in real-time and is automatically copied to your clipboard.

• 🎤 Hotkey Recording - Toggle recording with Alt+Q (Option+Q on macOS)
• ⚡ Real-time Transcription - See text appear as you speak
• 📋 Clipboard Integration - Automatic copy to clipboard
• 🪟 Floating Overlay - Live transcription in a sleek overlay window
• 🔄 Smart Chunk Merging - Advanced overlap-based merging eliminates duplicates
• 💻 CPU-Only - No GPU required (though GPU acceleration is supported)
• 🌍 High Accuracy - Powered by NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B model (~6-9% WER)
• 🚀 Fast - ~0.36x RTF (processes 7s audio in 2.5s on CPU)

Download the latest executable for your platform from the Releases page:

Quick Start:

Linux/macOS:

# Download and make executable
chmod +x maivi-linux  # or maivi-macos
# Run
./maivi-linux  # or ./maivi-macos

Windows:

• Download maivi-windows.exe
• Double-click to run (or run from command prompt)

First Run Notes:

• The first time you run Maivi, it will download the AI model (~600MB)
• On macOS, you may need to grant permissions: System Settings → Privacy & Security
• FFmpeg installation will be offered if not already installed (optional)

Alternatively, install from PyPI:

pip install maivi --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu

See Installation section for more details.

CPU-only (Recommended - much faster, 100MB vs 2GB+):

pip install maivi --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu

Or with GPU support (if you have NVIDIA GPU):

pip install maivi --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu121

Standard install (may download large CUDA files):

pip install maivi

Linux:

sudo apt-get install portaudio19-dev python3-pyaudio

macOS: Grant Maivi microphone, Accessibility, and Input Monitoring permissions the first time you run it (System Settings → Privacy & Security). No additional Homebrew packages are required for audio capture.

Windows:

• PortAudio is usually included with PyAudio

GUI Mode (Recommended):

maivi

Press Alt+Q (Option+Q on macOS) to start recording, press Alt+Q again to stop. The transcription will appear in a floating overlay and be copied to your clipboard.

CLI Mode:

# Basic CLI
maivi-cli

# With live terminal UI
maia-cli --show-ui

# Custom parameters
maia-cli --window 10 --slide 5 --show-ui

Controls:

• Alt+Q (Option+Q on macOS) - Start/stop recording (toggle mode)
• Esc - Exit application

Maia uses a sophisticated streaming architecture:

1. Sliding Window Recording - Captures audio in overlapping 7-second chunks every 3 seconds
2. Real-time Transcription - Each chunk is transcribed by the NVIDIA Parakeet model
3. Smart Merging - Chunks are merged using overlap detection (4-second overlap)
4. Live Updates - The UI updates in real-time as transcription progresses

Chunk 1: "hello world how are you"
Chunk 2: "how are you doing today"
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
          Overlap detected → merge!

Result: "hello world how are you doing today"

This approach ensures:

• ✅ No words cut mid-syllable
• ✅ Context preserved for better accuracy
• ✅ Seamless merging without duplicates
• ✅ Fast processing (no queue buildup)

maia-cli --window 7.0 --slide 3.0 --delay 2.0

• --window: Chunk size in seconds (default: 7.0)
  • Larger = better quality, slower processing
• --slide: Slide interval in seconds (default: 3.0)
  • Smaller = more overlap, higher CPU usage
  • Rule: Must be > window × 0.36 to avoid queue buildup
• --delay: Processing start delay in seconds (default: 2.0)

# Speed adjustment (experimental)
maia-cli --speed 1.5

# Custom UI width
maia-cli --show-ui --ui-width 50

# Disable pause detection
maia-cli --no-pause-breaks

# Stream to file (for voice commands)
maia-cli --output-file transcription.txt

For developers who want to build executables:

# Install build dependencies
pip install maivi[build]

# Build executable
pyinstaller --onefile \
  --name maivi \
  --add-data "src/maivi:maivi" \
  --hidden-import=nemo \
  --hidden-import=nemo.collections.asr \
  --hidden-import=PySide6 \
  src/maivi/__main__.py

Executables are automatically built via GitHub Actions for each release. See .github/workflows/build-executables.yml for the full build configuration.

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/MaximeRivest/maivi.git
cd maivi

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .[dev]

# Run tests
pytest

maia/
├── src/maia/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── __main__.py           # GUI entry point
│   ├── core/
│   │   ├── streaming_recorder.py
│   │   ├── chunk_merger.py
│   │   └── pause_detector.py
│   ├── gui/
│   │   └── qt_gui.py
│   ├── cli/
│   │   ├── cli.py
│   │   ├── server.py
│   │   └── terminal_ui.py
│   └── utils/
├── tests/
├── docs/
├── pyproject.toml
├── README.md
└── LICENSE

This is expected behavior when there are long pauses (5+ seconds of silence). The system adds "..." gap markers to indicate the pause.

Check that processing time < slide interval:

• Processing: window_seconds × 0.36 (RTF)
• Should be < slide_seconds
• Default: 7 × 0.36 = 2.52s < 3s ✅

The first run downloads the NVIDIA Parakeet model (~600MB) from HuggingFace. If download fails:

• Check internet connection
• Verify HuggingFace is accessible
• Clear cache: rm -rf ~/.cache/huggingface/

If the GUI crashes on Linux:

# Check Qt installation
python -c "from PySide6 import QtWidgets; print('Qt OK')"

# Fall back to CLI mode
maia-cli --show-ui

Memory:

• Model: ~2GB RAM
• Audio buffer: ~1MB
• Total: ~2.5GB RAM

CPU:

• Idle: <5% CPU
• Recording: 30-40% of 1 core
• Transcription: 100% of 1 core (during processing)

Latency:

• First transcription: 2s (start delay)
• Updates: Every 3s (slide interval)
• Completion: 1-3s after recording stops

Accuracy:

• Model WER: ~5-8%
• Overlap merging: <1% word loss
• Total effective WER: ~6-9%

v0.2 - Platform Support:

• Test and verify macOS support
• Test and verify Windows support
• Platform-specific installers (.app, .exe)

v0.3 - Features:

• Configurable hotkeys via GUI
• Multi-language support
• Custom model selection
• Voice commands support

v0.4 - Optimization:

• GPU acceleration (CUDA)
• Export formats (JSON, SRT)
• Text editor integration
• Plugin system

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

• Built with NVIDIA NeMo ASR toolkit
• Uses Parakeet TDT 0.6B model
• GUI powered by PySide6

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

• 📫 Create an issue
• 💡 Feature requests
• 🐛 Bug reports

Made with ❤️ by Maxime Rivest