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Getting started

What you need, how early access builds install, and what the first run asks you to do.

Wrenscribe is in early access. These steps describe the Flatpak that early access members will receive; until then, join the waitlist to get it.

What you need

  • Linux with GNOME on Wayland. Wrenscribe is built and tested on Bazzite with GNOME 50.
  • Flatpak, which atomic distributions such as Bazzite, Silverblue and Aurora already have.
  • A microphone. Any headset or USB microphone that GNOME can see will do.
  • A graphics card with Vulkan support for the fastest cleanup. Without one, cleanup runs on the CPU and takes longer.
  • Room for the speech and cleanup models, which the first run downloads.

Install

flatpak install --user wrenscribe.flatpak
flatpak run io.github.iurman.Wrenscribe

Then log out and back in once. GNOME only loads new Shell extensions at login, and the pill and pasting live in one. Until you do, the window shows a banner saying so. Wrenscribe starts with your session from then on and switches its extension on by itself.

The first run

A short setup walks through four things:

  1. Models. Downloads the speech model (Parakeet) and the cleanup model (Gemma). This is the only time Wrenscribe needs the internet.
  2. Microphone. Pick the input and say something; the meter shows whether it hears you.
  3. Shortcut. Choose a two-key combination. GNOME asks you to confirm it, because shortcuts on Wayland go through a permission portal.
  4. Extension. Confirms the GNOME Shell extension is on.

Your first dictation

Click into any text box, hold your shortcut, say a sentence and let go. The pill at the bottom of the screen shows your levels while you talk and three dots while the text is cleaned up. Then the text is pasted where your cursor is.

A short tap instead of a hold starts hands-free recording. Tap again to finish, or press Escape to throw the recording away.

Next: How it works ->