Transcribe From Your Terminal

The whisnap CLI transcribes audio and video files from the command line. Local by default. Pipe-friendly. No cloud required.

Terminal

$ whisnap recording.mp3

Transcribing recording.mp3...

The quarterly review meeting covered three main topics: the product roadmap for Q3, hiring targets, and the infrastructure migration timeline.

Download Whisnap

Installation

One toggle in the app. Done.

  1. 1

    Open Whisnap

    Make sure you have Whisnap installed and running on your Mac.

  2. 2

    Settings → Advanced → CLI Tool

    Toggle on "CLI Tool". You'll be prompted for your admin password — this creates a symlink at /usr/local/bin/whisnap.

  3. 3

    Run it

    $ whisnap --version

Usage

Simple syntax. Sensible defaults.

$ whisnap <FILE> [flags]

Flags

--cloud, -cCloud

Use cloud transcription instead of local. Requires being signed in via the Whisnap app.

--model <ID>, -m

Override the model to use (e.g. small-q5_1, large-v3). Cannot be combined with --cloud.

--json, -j

Output structured JSON instead of plain text.

--verbose, -v

Print progress and diagnostics to stderr.

--list-models

Show all models — downloaded and available — with their sizes.

--version

Print the whisnap CLI version.

--help

Show help text with examples.

Supported Formats

Audio and video. For video files, the audio track is extracted automatically.

Audio

WAVMP3FLACM4A / AACOGG

Video

MP4MOVMKVWebM

Examples

Real commands. Copy and run.

Basic transcription
$ whisnap recording.mp3 # plain text output to stdout
JSON output
$ whisnap meeting.m4a --json # structured JSON with timestamps
Specific model
$ whisnap lecture.wav --model large-v3 # use a specific local model
Cloud transcriptionCloud
$ whisnap video.mp4 --cloud # route to cloud (requires sign-in)
Pipe to clipboard
$ whisnap interview.mp3 | pbcopy # transcript straight to your clipboard

Local or Cloud

Default is local. Cloud is opt-in.

Local

Free · no flags needed

  • ✓On-device processing — zero network calls
  • ✓Works offline
  • ✓Choose model with --model
  • ✓Audio never leaves your machine

Cloud

$10/month · pass --cloud

  • ✓Higher accuracy via AI transcription
  • ✓No local model download required
  • ✓Requires sign-in via the Whisnap app
  • ✓7-day free trial

Get the CLI

Download Whisnap. Enable the CLI from Settings → Advanced. Free local transcription, no credit card.

Download Whisnap

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Developers

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Download

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