HN Showcase
Back to browse
GitHub Repository

Turn any audio into text and any text into speech — menu bar app with system/app audio capture, live subtitles, OCR, and translation.

7 starsSwift

SpeechDock – Transcribe any audio on your Mac, not just your microphone

by yohasebe·Feb 19, 2026·2 points·0 comments
Visit ProjectView on HN

AI Analysis

●●SolidSolve My ProblemCozy

System audio transcription without API keys—but Whisper Desktop and Otter do this already, better-known.

Strengths
  • •Real gap filled: most STT apps only capture microphone input; system audio capture is genuinely useful for podcasts and online calls.
  • •Works offline with macOS native STT/TTS; cloud providers optional—respects privacy-first stance.
  • •Polished macOS integration: menu bar access, global hotkeys, OCR text-to-speech, AppleScript automation show care.
Weaknesses
  • •Crowded category: Otter, Whisper Desktop, Descript, Zy all transcribe system audio with polish and network effects.
  • •No differentiation beyond 'works offline'—once you add cloud providers for better accuracy, cost/UX must compete with Otter or Claude's Audio API.
Category
Productivity
Target Audience

macOS users who transcribe meetings, lectures, or media content

Similar To

Otter.ai · Whisper Desktop · Descript

Post Description

I built a menu bar app for macOS that does STT and TTS. There are many such apps, but what frustrated me was that most only transcribe microphone input.

SpeechDock can capture and transcribe system-wide audio or audio from a specific app — video calls, online lectures, podcasts, anything your Mac can play. It also does the reverse: select any text on screen (or capture it via OCR) and have it read aloud.

Key points:

- Works out of the box with macOS native STT/TTS — no API keys needed - Optionally connect OpenAI, Gemini, ElevenLabs, or Grok for higher accuracy - Real-time subtitle overlay with translation (80+ languages) - Global hotkeys — use from anywhere without switching apps - AppleScript support for automation - Open source (Apache 2.0)

Requires macOS 14+. Built with Swift/SwiftUI.

GitHub: https://github.com/yohasebe/speechdock Docs: https://yohasebe.github.io/speechdock/

Similar Projects