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Install

whispers targets Linux Wayland desktops and supports a few different installation paths depending on whether you want stable release bundles, the latest main branch, local rewrite, CUDA, or Vulkan.

Requirements

  • Linux with Wayland
  • wl-copy (usually provided by wl-clipboard)
  • Access to /dev/uinput for paste injection
  • Rust 1.85+ for Cargo installs and source builds
  • CUDA toolkit only when you build with the cuda feature yourself
  • Vulkan loader plus a GPU driver when you use a Vulkan-enabled build
  • Vulkan headers and glslc when you build with the vulkan feature yourself

If /dev/uinput is not ready, run whispers setup. It can configure the dedicated uinput group and matching udev rule automatically.

On Arch with AMD graphics, the runtime Vulkan driver package is usually vulkan-radeon. Source builds also need vulkan-headers and shaderc. vulkan-tools is useful for confirming the driver with vulkaninfo, but it is not required by whispers.

Arch Linux (paru)

Portable / non-CUDA

# published GitHub release bundle
paru -S whispers-bin

# latest main branch build
paru -S whispers-git

CUDA-enabled

# published GitHub release bundle with CUDA support
paru -S whispers-cuda-bin

# latest main branch build with CUDA support
paru -S whispers-cuda-git

Vulkan-enabled

# latest main branch build with Vulkan support
paru -S whispers-vulkan-git

The whispers-vulkan-bin package should only be published after the matching GitHub release contains a whispers-vulkan-* tarball.

Package matrix

Package Source Feature set
whispers-bin Published GitHub release bundle local-rewrite,osd
whispers-git Latest main branch build local-rewrite,osd
whispers-cuda-bin Published GitHub CUDA release bundle cuda,local-rewrite,osd
whispers-cuda-git Latest main branch build with CUDA cuda,local-rewrite,osd
whispers-vulkan-git Latest main branch build with Vulkan vulkan,local-rewrite,osd

Cargo

crates.io

# default install (OSD enabled)
cargo install whispers

# add local rewrite support
cargo install whispers --features local-rewrite

# add CUDA + local rewrite
cargo install whispers --features cuda,local-rewrite

# add Vulkan + local rewrite
cargo install whispers --features vulkan,local-rewrite

# no OSD
cargo install whispers --no-default-features

GitHub source install

If you want the current repository version instead of the latest crates.io publish:

cargo install --git https://github.com/OneNoted/whispers --features local-rewrite

For a source install with Vulkan support:

cargo install --git https://github.com/OneNoted/whispers --features vulkan,local-rewrite

Local whisper_cpp tuning

Vulkan and CUDA builds use [transcription].use_gpu = true to request whisper.cpp GPU acceleration. CPU thread count is controlled separately:

[transcription]
use_gpu = true
threads = 0

threads = 0 means auto and is capped to 8 logical CPUs. Set a positive value if you want to force a specific whisper.cpp worker count.

After install

Generate a config, download an ASR model, and walk through optional rewrite/cloud setup:

whispers setup

Default config path:

~/.config/whispers/config.toml

Canonical example config:

Keybinding examples

Hyprland:

bind = SUPER ALT, D, exec, whispers

Sway:

bindsym $mod+Alt+d exec whispers

The first invocation starts recording. The next invocation stops recording, transcribes, and pastes into the currently focused app.

Release bundles

Tagged releases publish portable, CUDA-enabled, and Vulkan-enabled Linux x86_64 tarballs. The AUR *-bin packages install those published release artifacts rather than building from source on your machine.