Linux
Linux is where it started.
Most dictation apps treat Linux as a port, or skip it. Wrenscribe was built on a Linux desktop, for daily use on that desktop, and the hard parts of Wayland were solved first.
How it fits into GNOME
Wayland keeps apps from reading keys or typing into other windows. That is good for security, and it is why dictation on Linux is hard. Here is how Wrenscribe works within those rules.
Shortcuts through the portal
Hold-to-talk uses GNOME's GlobalShortcuts portal. Wrenscribe never reads your keyboard device directly, so it does not ask to join the input group and installs no udev rules.
A Shell extension, inside the Flatpak
The pill and the paste come from a small GNOME Shell extension. It ships inside the app, which puts it in place itself; GNOME picks it up at your next login.
Pasting that respects the focused app
The extension sends Ctrl+V, or Ctrl+Shift+V in a terminal, through a virtual keyboard and restores your clipboard afterwards. If the extension is missing, the RemoteDesktop portal takes over, and as a last resort the text is left on the clipboard with a note on the pill.
No focus stealing
The pill is drawn by GNOME Shell itself, so it never becomes a window and never takes focus from what you are typing in.
Audio through PipeWire
Wrenscribe records 16 kHz mono through the PulseAudio protocol that PipeWire provides. Muting Discord while you dictate goes through the same audio server.
Your GPU, through Vulkan
The cleanup model runs on llama.cpp with Vulkan, so it is not tied to one GPU vendor; it was tuned on AMD graphics. Without a usable GPU it runs on the CPU, more slowly.
Where it runs
Honest about the edges. Native macOS and Windows hosts are on the roadmap too.
| Desktop | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|
| GNOME 50 on Wayland | Built and tested here (Bazzite, Fedora Atomic) | Supported |
| Other GNOME distributions | Same Shell, portals and Flatpak, not tested yet | Early access |
| KDE Plasma | Needs its own shortcut, overlay and paste path | Planned |
| wlroots compositors (Sway, Hyprland) | Needs its own shortcut, overlay and paste path | Planned |
| X11 sessions | Not targeted | Not planned |
Installing
Early access builds are a single Flatpak bundle. There is nothing to layer onto an atomic system.
$ flatpak install --user wrenscribe.flatpak $ flatpak run io.github.iurman.Wrenscribe # then log out and back in once, so GNOME loads the extension
The first run walks through the model downloads, a microphone check and choosing your shortcut. More in Getting started.
Waitlist
First builds go to Linux users.
Leave your email and you will hear from us once, when there is a Flatpak to install.