Chirp-STT

Chirp is a Windows dictation app that runs fully locally using ParakeetV3 STT and is managed end-to-end with uv. Chirp does not require the ability to run executable files (like .exe) on Windows. It was designed so that if you're allowed to run Python on your machine, you can run Chirp.

Why ParakeetV3?

ParakeetV3 has indistinguishable accuracy from Whisper-large-V3 (multilingual WER 4.91 vs 5.05) but is 17x faster and only requires a CPU while Whisper models of comparable accuracy require GPU's.

https://huggingface.co/spaces/hf-audio/open_asr_leaderboard

Goals

• Provide fast, reliable, local-first dictation on Windows.
• GPU not needed or wanted.
• Corporate environment friendly - NO NEW EXECUTABLES (.exe) REQUIRED. If you can run python you can run chirp.

Features

• Local STT via Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 with optional int8 quantization.
• Global hotkey to toggle capture, clipboard paste injection, and configurable word overrides.
• Optional audio feedback cues and style prompting for post-processed text.
• CPU support by default with optional GPU providers when available.

Architecture

• src/chirp/main.py — CLI entrypoint and application loop.
• src/chirp/config_manager.py — configuration loading and Windows-specific paths.
• src/chirp/parakeet_manager.py — Parakeet backend integration and provider handling.
• src/chirp/setup.py — one-time setup routine that prepares local model assets.

Setup (Windows, uv-only)

1. Clone the repository to your user folder:

   cd ~
   git clone https://github.com/Whamp/chirp.git chirp-stt
   cd chirp-stt
   uv run python -m chirp.setup   # one-time setup and model downloading

2. (Optional) Add chirp command to your PATH for convenience:

   The repository includes a chirp.bat file that lets you run Chirp from anywhere by just typing chirp. This uses a batch file instead of PowerShell scripts, which works on corporate systems that block unsigned scripts.

   To enable it:

   1. Open System Properties → Environment Variables (search "environment" in Start menu)
   2. Under User variables, select Path and click Edit
   3. Click New and add: %USERPROFILE%\chirp-stt
   4. Click OK to save, then open a new terminal

   Now you can type chirp from any directory.

Running

• If you set up the PATH alias:

  chirp
  chirp --verbose
  chirp --help

• Or run directly from the chirp-stt directory:

  uv run python -m chirp.main

• Verbose/debug logging:

  uv run python -m chirp.main -- --verbose

• CLI help and options:

  uv run python -m chirp.main -- --help

Customization

• The config.toml has sensible defaults but is fully customizable.
• config.toml also allows for word_overrides ie. parra keet -> parakeet config.toml:

primary_shortcut = "ctrl+shift"                 # Hotkey that toggles recording; any combination supported by the `keyboard` library works (e.g. "ctrl+shift+space").
stt_backend = "parakeet"                        # Only "parakeet" is bundled today, but keeping this key lets us add more backends later if needed.
parakeet_model = "nemo-parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3"    # Deployed ONNX bundle name; keep as-is unless new models are added.
parakeet_quantization = ""                      # Set to "int8" to download/use the quantized model variant; leave blank for default fp16.
onnx_providers = "cpu"                          # ONNX runtime provider string (comma- or pipe-separated if your build supports multiple providers, e.g. "cuda" or "cpu|dml").
threads = 0                                     # 0 (or empty) lets ONNX decide; set a positive integer to pin thread usage.
language = "en"                                 # Optional ISO language code; leave blank to let Parakeet auto-detect.
post_processing = ""                            # Text prompt for the StyleGuide; see docs/post_processing_style_guide.md (e.g. "sentence case", "prepend: >>", "append: — dictated with Chirp").
paste_mode = "ctrl"                             # Non-Windows platforms honor this: "ctrl" -> Ctrl+V, "ctrl+shift" -> Ctrl+Shift+V. Windows types text directly today.
clipboard_behavior = true                       # Keeps clipboard history clean when true by clearing it after `clipboard_clear_delay` seconds.
clipboard_clear_delay = 0.75                    # Seconds to wait before clearing the clipboard (only if `clipboard_behavior` is true).
audio_feedback = true                           # Enables start/stop chime playback.
start_sound_path = ""                           # Leave blank to use bundled asset; default: src/chirp/assets/ping-up.wav
stop_sound_path = ""                            # Leave blank to use bundled asset; default: src/chirp/assets/ping-down.wav

# Word overrides map spoken tokens (case-insensitive) to replacement text.
[word_overrides]
parrakeat = "parakeet"
"parra keat" = "parakeet"  

Removal

• Delete the cloned chirp directory.
• That's it.

Acknowledgments

• NVIDA - https://huggingface.co/nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3
• Ilya Stupakov - https://huggingface.co/istupakov/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-onnx