VoiceBarDictate (Native macOS Menu Bar Dictation)

Native SwiftUI/AppKit menu bar app for push-to-talk dictation using OpenAI speech-to-text.

Features

• Menu bar app (MenuBarExtra)
• Global hotkey: Control + Option + Space
• Press once to start recording, press again to stop and transcribe
• Uses OpenAI Audio Transcriptions API (/v1/audio/transcriptions)
• Pastes transcript into the active app using synthetic Cmd+V
• API key stored in macOS Keychain
• Low idle CPU usage (no always-on audio processing)
• Optional start-at-login toggle (when running from the signed .app bundle)

Run

cd VoiceBarDictate
swift run

Run Without Terminal (Dockless Menu Bar App)

Build a real .app bundle (agent app), then launch it from Finder. The app runs in the menu bar only and does not show in the Dock.

PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER=com.yourcompany.VoiceBarDictate \
OPEN_APP=1 \
./scripts/build-app-bundle.sh

After launch, use the menu bar icon and choose Quit from the menu to exit.

Optional local self-signed certificate:

SIGNING_MODE=selfcert \
CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="VoiceBarDictate Local Self Sign" \
PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER=com.yourcompany.VoiceBarDictate \
OPEN_APP=1 \
./scripts/build-app-bundle.sh

Xcode Signing (Local)

This repository is a pure Swift package, so code signing values are applied locally (Xcode/xcodebuild), not persisted in Package.swift.

No Apple Developer membership is required for local self-signing.

1. Install full Xcode and point xcode-select at it:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

2. Build with default ad-hoc signing (recommended if you do not have an Apple Developer account):

PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER=com.yourcompany.VoiceBarDictate \
./scripts/xcode-build-signed.sh

3. Optional: use your own local self-signed cert from Keychain:

SIGNING_MODE=selfcert \
CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="My Local Mac Dev Cert" \
PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER=com.yourcompany.VoiceBarDictate \
./scripts/xcode-build-signed.sh

4. Optional overrides:
   • SIGNING_MODE (auto default; values: adhoc, selfcert, apple)
   • DEVELOPMENT_TEAM (only needed for SIGNING_MODE=apple)
   • CONFIGURATION (default: Debug)
   • DERIVED_DATA_PATH (default: .build/XcodeDerivedData)

Use .env For API Key (Dev)

If a .env file exists, the app uses OPENAI_API_KEY from that file and skips Keychain API key access.

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env and set OPENAI_API_KEY
swift run

Setup

1. Launch the app (from swift run or Xcode).
2. Open Settings from the menu bar menu.
3. Paste your OpenAI API key.
4. If your OpenAI project has regional residency, set the API Base URL:
   • EU: https://eu.api.openai.com
   • US: https://us.api.openai.com
5. Grant microphone permission when prompted.
6. On startup, the app asks for Accessibility permission automatically.
7. After Accessibility is enabled, the app relaunches itself once so paste injection is fully active.
8. To run at login, open Settings and enable Start at login.

Notes

• If you run this via Terminal (swift run), macOS may attribute privacy prompts to Terminal.
• For regular daily use, open Package.swift in Xcode and run it from Xcode so permissions are tied to the app/debug target.