Ghost Pepper
100% local hold-to-talk speech-to-text for macOS
Overview
Ghost Pepper is a free, open-source speech-to-text app for macOS that runs entirely on-device. Hold Control to record, release to transcribe and paste — it works system-wide with no cloud connection needed. Powered by WhisperKit for speech recognition and a local Qwen LLM for intelligent cleanup, it automatically removes filler words and self-corrections. Ghost Pepper lives in the menu bar, supports multiple Whisper and LLM model sizes, and lets you customize cleanup prompts to fit your workflow.
Minimum macOS: 14.0 (Sonoma)
Architecture: Apple Silicon
Key Features
- Hold-to-talk interface with global Control key shortcut
- Fully local processing — no data leaves your Mac
- WhisperKit-powered speech recognition with multiple model sizes
- Local Qwen LLM cleanup removes filler words and self-corrections
- Menu bar app with no dock icon
- Customizable cleanup prompts and microphone selection
- Launch at login support
- Free and open source (MIT License)
Tags
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