TypeNo

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A free, open source, privacy-first voice input tool for macOS.

A minimal macOS voice input app. TypeNo captures your voice, transcribes it locally, and pastes the result into whatever app you were using — all in under a second.

Official website: https://typeno.com

Special thanks to marswave ai's coli project for powering local speech recognition.

How It Works

1. Short-press Control to start recording
2. Short-press Control again to stop
3. Text is automatically transcribed and pasted into your active app (also copied to clipboard)
4. While recording, the overlay shows segmented preview text about once per second; after you stop, TypeNo still runs a final full-file transcription before pasting

That's it. No windows, no settings, no accounts.

Install

Option 1 — Download the App

• Download TypeNo for macOS
• Download the latest TypeNo.app.zip
• Unzip it
• Move TypeNo.app to /Applications
• Open TypeNo

TypeNo is signed and notarized by Apple — it should open without any warnings.

Install the speech engine

TypeNo uses coli for local speech recognition.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js (LTS recommended — install directly from nodejs.org for best compatibility)
• ffmpeg — required for audio conversion: brew install ffmpeg

npm install -g @marswave/coli

If Coli is missing, TypeNo will show an in-app setup prompt with the install command.

Node 24+: If you get a sherpa-onnx-node error, build from source:

npm install -g @marswave/coli --build-from-source

First Launch

TypeNo needs two one-time permissions:

• Microphone — to capture your voice
• Accessibility — to paste text into apps

The app will guide you through granting these on first launch.

Troubleshooting: Coli Model Download Fails

The speech model is downloaded from GitHub. If GitHub is inaccessible in your network, the download will fail.

Fix: Enable TUN mode (also called Enhanced Mode) in your proxy tool to ensure all system-level traffic is routed correctly. Then retry the install:

npm install -g @marswave/coli

Troubleshooting: Accessibility Permission Not Working

Some users find that enabling TypeNo in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility has no effect — a known macOS bug. The fix:

1. Select TypeNo in the list
2. Click − to remove it
3. Click + and re-add TypeNo from /Applications

Option 2 — Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/marswaveai/TypeNo.git
cd TypeNo
scripts/generate_icon.sh
scripts/build_app.sh

The app will be at dist/TypeNo.app. Move it to /Applications/ for persistent permissions.

Usage

| Action | Trigger | |---|---| | Start/stop recording | Short-press Control (< 300ms, no other keys) | | Start/stop recording | Menu bar → Record | | Watch incremental transcription | Overlay updates about once per second while processing | | Choose microphone | Menu bar → Microphone → Automatic / specific device | | Transcribe a file | Drag .m4a/.mp3/.wav/.aac to the menu bar icon | | Check for updates | Menu bar → Check for Updates... | | Quit | Menu bar → Quit (⌘Q) |

Design Philosophy

TypeNo does one thing: voice → text → paste. No extra UI, no preferences, no configuration. The fastest way to type is to not type at all.

Star History

License

GNU General Public License v3.0