Scrivora

Scrivora is a local-first dictation app for macOS. Speak, and your Mac writes.

The app records microphone audio, transcribes it locally, cleans the text, and pastes the result into the focused app. Core dictation is designed to work without a cloud speech API.

Scrivora is open-source software. You can inspect it, edit it, and build it yourself. Normal users do not need Xcode or Swift: download the DMG, open it, and drag Scrivora into Applications.

Source lives at https://github.com/rebel0789/scrivora. The website is live at https://scrivora.me.

Installation Guide

Option A: Manual Download

Download the macOS DMG from the GitHub release:

https://github.com/rebel0789/scrivora/releases/tag/v0.4.1

Then:

1. Open the DMG.
2. Drag Scrivora.app into Applications.
3. Open Scrivora from the menu bar and grant Microphone and Accessibility when macOS asks.

This is the visual drag-and-drop install path. It is the right path to use when you want to inspect the DMG window and onboarding flow.

Optional checksum check:

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Scrivora-0.4.1-preview-unnotarized.dmg

Compare the result with SHA256SUMS.txt on the GitHub release.

Option B: Homebrew

Homebrew is optional. It is the cleanest free install path when macOS is strict about unnotarized apps. Homebrew requires explicit trust for third-party casks.

brew tap rebel0789/scrivora https://github.com/rebel0789/scrivora
brew trust rebel0789/scrivora
brew install --cask scrivora

If Homebrew says the app already exists:

rm -rf "/Applications/Scrivora.app"
brew install --cask scrivora

The cask tries to remove quarantine from Scrivora.app only. It does not disable Gatekeeper globally.

macOS Says "App Is Damaged"

The free DMG is not Apple notarized yet. Some macOS versions show a warning such as "Apple could not verify Scrivora is free of malware" or "Scrivora is damaged." If that happens, remove quarantine from the downloaded DMG before opening it, then drag Scrivora into Applications again:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/Scrivora-0.4.1-preview-unnotarized.dmg
open ~/Downloads/Scrivora-0.4.1-preview-unnotarized.dmg

Then replace Scrivora.app in Applications from the DMG window and open it.

If you already copied the app and Terminal says Operation not permitted while removing quarantine from /Applications/Scrivora.app, delete the copied app and copy it again from the cleaned DMG. Do not disable Gatekeeper globally and do not run broad quarantine commands over your whole Applications folder.

What It Does

• macOS menu bar app.
• Hold Control, double-tap Control, and configurable global shortcut triggers.
• AVAudioEngine capture with 16 kHz mono audio processing.
• Local FluidAudio Parakeet V2/V3 transcription.
• Local whisper.cpp fallback for CLI or server-based transcription.
• App-aware text cleanup profiles.
• Clipboard paste into the focused app, with fallback behavior.
• Privacy controls for transcript storage and redacted export.
• Models screen with Parakeet V3 as the default local path and supported whisper.cpp downloads.
• Menu bar quick actions for dictation, model switching, latest transcript copy, History, updates, privacy mode, and data-folder access.
• Static website and update metadata templates for https://scrivora.me.
• Unit coverage for core settings, storage, model selection, cleanup, export, and trigger behavior.

Some internal Swift target names and migration paths still use the earlier project name for compatibility. The public app name, bundle ID, website, and release docs use Scrivora.

Requirements For Users

• macOS 14 or newer.
• A downloaded preview DMG, or a Developer ID signed and notarized DMG when the paid signing path is available.

No account. No card. No cloud speech API for core dictation.

Build From Source

Only developers need this path.

Requirements:

• Swift 6.1 or newer.
• Xcode 16 or newer if you want to package or sign a local app bundle.

Build and test:

swift test
swift build --product LocalVoiceFlowApp

Run with mock ASR when you want to test the UI without a large local model:

LOCALVOICEFLOW_USE_MOCK_ASR=1 swift run LocalVoiceFlowApp

Install a local development app bundle:

Scripts/install_app_bundle.sh
open /Applications/Scrivora.app

Local Models

Scrivora does not commit speech model weights to this repo.

Model downloads happen once, then Scrivora uses the local files. First-download speed depends on the upstream model host and the user's network. The app shows download progress, transfer speed, and time remaining so a slow CDN fetch does not look frozen.

FluidAudio Parakeet is the main local speech model path:

Scripts/download_fluidaudio_model.sh v3
Scripts/download_fluidaudio_model.sh v2

whisper.cpp is available as a local fallback:

Scripts/bootstrap_whisper_cpp.sh base.en-q5_1
Scripts/download_whisper_model.sh small.en-q5_1

Before bundling or mirroring models, verify the upstream license and redistribution terms for every model, binary, and generated artifact. See MODEL_LICENSES.md and THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Privacy Model

Scrivora is designed around local processing.

• Audio capture stays on the Mac for local speech transcription.
• Transcript history is disabled on a fresh install unless the user enables it.
• Stored transcripts can be exported with redaction.
• Offline Mode is available for model-backed transcription that is already present on the machine.
• User data is stored under ~/Library/Application Support/LocalVoiceFlow/.

Do not commit local model caches, transcripts, logs, recordings, app support data, signing material, keychains, or generated release artifacts.

Verification

Developer checks:

swift test
swift build --product LocalVoiceFlowApp
Scripts/audit_sensitive_files.sh
Scripts/stage_site.sh

Before attaching a public DMG, also run the clean-Mac install test, verify Microphone and Accessibility permissions from a fresh user profile, and confirm Gatekeeper accepts the signed artifact.

To check the DMG install view locally, mount the release artifact and inspect the Finder window:

open .build/release-artifacts/Scrivora-0.4.1-preview-unnotarized.dmg
open /Volumes/Scrivora

Drag Scrivora.app into Applications, then verify the copied app:

xattr -l /Applications/Scrivora.app
codesign --verify --deep --strict --verbose=2 /Applications/Scrivora.app
open /Applications/Scrivora.app

For the lowest-friction free install route on strict macOS systems, use the Homebrew cask path above. A warning-free DMG for everyone requires Developer ID signing and Apple notarization.

Website And Updates

The static website is prepared for:

https://scrivora.me

Source repository:

https://github.com/rebel0789/scrivora

GitHub Pages inputs live at the repo root and under releases/ and updates/. The production update endpoint is intended to be:

https://scrivora.me/updates/stable.json

Publish updates/stable.json with the GitHub Release assets. Free builds use that feed for release metadata and send users to the DMG release page. A Developer ID build can use the same feed for in-app replacement updates after the ZIP is signed, notarized, and generated from the exact uploaded app.

Release Status

Use RELEASE_STATUS.md as the current release source of truth.

Current release tracks:

• Source repo: public on GitHub under the MIT license.
• Website: live at https://scrivora.me.
• Mac app binary: free preview DMG now; notarized Developer ID build later.
• Update feed: https://scrivora.me/updates/stable.json serves release metadata. Free builds open the release page for download.

See:

• RELEASE_STATUS.md
• RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md
• OPEN_SOURCE_STRATEGY.md
• LICENSE
• LICENSE_PLAN.md
• MODEL_LICENSES.md
• THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md
• SECURITY.md
• CONTRIBUTING.md