Jump to: editors, terminals and coding agents · hotkey · microphone · permissions · AI cleanup · privacy and data · platforms and updates · pricing, trial and account · getting help.
Editors, terminals and coding agents
Does blabe work in VS Code, Cursor and other editors?
Yes. blabe pastes your words at the cursor in any app with a text field, so it works in the editor, its chat panel and its terminal. On a Mac, automatic sending works only in the terminals inside VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed and JetBrains IDEs, never in an editor’s chat panel or in your code. On Windows, blabe never presses Enter in an editor, and if it can’t confirm the field your cursor is in, it copies your words instead and the pill says so: press Ctrl+V to paste them.
Does it work in the terminal?
Yes. On a Mac, blabe pastes into any terminal. If the terminal has secure input on, for example Secure Keyboard Entry or a password prompt such as sudo’s, blabe copies your words instead and the pill says why: press ⌘+V to paste them.
On Windows, blabe presses Ctrl+V in Windows Terminal and the classic console, and Shift+Insert in Git Bash (mintty), PuTTY and Emacs, which don’t paste with Ctrl+V. From version 1.0.6, blabe also pastes into the classic console, but text with a line break is copied there instead, so it can’t run a command. To dictate into a terminal running as administrator, restart blabe as administrator.
Can blabe press Return for me in Claude Code or Codex?
On a Mac, yes, if you turn on Send automatically to coding agents in Settings → Dictation. It’s off by default. blabe then presses Return after it pastes into a coding agent it recognizes: Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Cursor Agent, Copilot CLI, OpenCode, Aider, Amp, Goose, Crush, Qwen Code or Droid in a terminal, or the Claude and Codex desktop apps. Choose agents, under the switch, narrows the list. You can also send a single dictation with Return: see Three ways to send.
On Windows, blabe can press Enter only in the Codex and Claude desktop apps’ message boxes, only after a paste it has confirmed, and only if you turn on sending in Settings → Dictation, where you choose which of the two apps get sends. It’s off by default.
Will blabe ever press Return at a shell prompt?
No. On a Mac, blabe presses Return in a terminal only when the tab that got the paste is running one of those agents in the foreground, the terminal shows fresh input after the paste, and only one agent could have received it. If it can’t tell, it pastes and stops, and you press Return yourself. Typing or dictating again before the send cancels it. On Windows, blabe never presses Enter in a terminal. See Coding agents for the details.
Does it work with tmux or over SSH?
Pasting works in both. On a Mac, in tmux, blabe looks up the selected pane without changing anything, and skips the send if it can’t identify the pane or the pane is in copy mode. In an SSH session the program running in your tab is ssh, which blabe never treats as a coding agent, so it pastes and leaves Return to you, even when an agent is running on the other machine.
Can I add my own command-line agent?
On a Mac, yes. In Settings → Dictation, open Choose agents and type the agent’s exact command name in Add custom…. blabe still sends only when that agent is in front and took the paste. Shells and runtimes such as zsh, ssh, node and python can’t be added. You can also set the list from Terminal: see Add your own agent. On Windows, sending covers only the Codex and Claude desktop apps.
How do I get project names and acronyms right?
Add your project, library and tool names in Settings → Words, and pin the ones that matter most. If blabe keeps hearing something else, add a fix, such as “Supabase” when it hears “super base”. To type an acronym, spell it: say “E-N-G-I” and blabe types “ENGI”. See Words, fixes and snippets.
Can I dictate file names and symbols?
With AI cleanup on, the model is told to write spoken symbols as symbols, so “dot env” becomes “.env”, and to follow spoken commands such as “new paragraph”. With AI cleanup off, a fix can do it for the symbols you say often: when blabe hears “dot env”, type “.env”. Either way, adding file, command and package names to Words helps them come out right. See AI cleanup and Fixes.
Can I save prompts I use a lot?
Yes, as snippets. In Settings → Snippets, save a short phrase and the text it stands for, such as the instructions you give before every code review. Say the phrase on its own and blabe pastes the saved text exactly. Snippets stay on your computer and are never sent to blabe’s server. See Snippets.
Hotkey
What is the hotkey, and can I change it?
On a Mac it’s Fn (🌐) by default. In Settings → General you can pick Right Option, Right Command or Right Control, or record your own: a single modifier key, a key with ⌃ or ⌘, an F-key, or a mouse button such as a middle click, Mouse 4 or Mouse 5. See Hotkey.
On Windows it’s Ctrl+Win by default. You can pick Right Ctrl or Right Shift, or record your own, such as a key with a modifier, F13 to F24, or a modifier with a mouse button. See Hotkey on Windows.
Fn opens the emoji picker. How do I stop that?
In System Settings → Keyboard, set “Press 🌐 key to” to Do Nothing. With Fn as your hotkey, Settings → General in blabe has an Open Keyboard Settings button that takes you there, and shows what it’s set to now.
Can I start and stop recording with a key press?
Yes. In Settings → General, set Mode to Press to start, press again to stop. Press the hotkey once to start and again to stop. A recording stops by itself after 5 minutes, and blabe transcribes what it heard.
How do I cancel a dictation?
Press Esc while blabe is recording. The recording is thrown away and nothing is sent.
My hotkey clashes with a shortcut in my editor.
Record a different one. When you record a hotkey, blabe turns down everyday shortcuts such as ⌘+C or Ctrl+C, and on Windows, Settings → General warns you when Windows reports that another app also uses yours. blabe can’t see every app’s shortcuts, so if your editor reacts to the hotkey too, pick another.
Microphone
How do I choose a microphone?
In Settings → General → Microphone. On a Mac the default is Built-in microphone (recommended). You can also choose System default, which follows System Settings → Sound, or a specific microphone. A Mac without a built-in microphone records with the system default. On Windows the default is System default, or choose a specific microphone.
If the microphone you chose isn’t connected, blabe records with the system default. On Windows the pill says “Using default mic” while it does, and Settings lists your choice as “Saved microphone (not connected)”.
Is the microphone on all the time?
No. blabe records only while you dictate, for at most 5 minutes at a time, and the microphone is off between dictations. On a Mac, the orange microphone indicator shows only while blabe records.
What happens to a very short or silent recording?
Nothing is sent. blabe skips a recording under 0.3 seconds, or one with no sound loud enough to be speech. If the service hears no words in what you sent, the pill says “Didn’t catch that”.
Permissions
Which permissions does blabe need on a Mac?
Microphone, to hear you, and Accessibility, so it can notice your hotkey in any app, paste with ⌘V, press Return when you send to a coding agent and, with Learn from my edits on, notice when you fix a word it just pasted. It asks for Input Monitoring only if it still can’t hear the hotkey once Accessibility is on. blabe never records or stores what you type. See Permissions.
And on Windows?
Only the microphone. There’s no Accessibility or Input Monitoring step. Windows doesn’t let an ordinary app type into an app run as administrator, so there blabe copies your words to the clipboard instead. See Admin apps and copying.
A permission is on, but blabe still asks for it.
On a Mac, quit blabe, reset its permissions in Terminal, then open blabe and grant them again:
tccutil reset All com.montalvo.blabeAI cleanup
Does blabe rewrite what I say?
Only when AI cleanup is on. With it off, blabe uses the transcript: Clean up speech removes “um” and “uh”, and spelled-out letters, fixes and snippets apply, but nothing rewrites your sentences. You choose Off, Standard or Aggressive in Settings → Dictation. See AI cleanup.
What’s the difference between Standard and Aggressive?
Standard turns rambling speech into clear text: it cuts fillers, repeats and false starts, fixes grammar, and adds lists and paragraphs. Aggressive rewrites what you said into its shortest, clearest form. It aims to keep every point and how strongly you meant it, so check anything important before you send it.
Is my text sent to an AI model?
Only when AI cleanup is on, and never your audio. After transcription, blabe’s service sends the transcript and your Words directly to Alibaba’s Qwen3.8 27B model, run by Cerebras. If Cerebras is slow or fails, the service also sends the same request directly to OpenAI’s GPT-6 Luna and uses whichever answer comes first. Neither version is stored on blabe’s service, but OpenAI may keep what it receives to check for abuse, usually for up to 30 days. See who else handles your data.
What if AI cleanup fails?
If AI cleanup fails, blabe uses the transcript. Clean up speech, spelled-out letters, fixes and snippets still apply. The pill says “Pasted without AI cleanup”, and your dictation still goes through. With AI cleanup on, Copy Last Transcript in the blabe menu copies the original transcript, before AI cleanup.
Privacy and data
Does blabe keep my recordings or transcripts?
No. Your audio is held in memory and never written to disk. If a transcription fails, blabe can keep that one recording in memory so Retry Transcription can send it again. blabe’s service passes your audio to Microsoft to be transcribed (or, only after certain Azure errors, to xAI) and stores neither the audio nor the text. xAI keeps what it receives for 30 days by default, to check for abuse. The app keeps your last transcript in memory for Copy Last Transcript until you quit, and keeps no history.
What leaves my computer when I dictate?
Your audio, sent over HTTPS to blabe’s transcription service, with your sign-in, a random ID for this device, a random ID for the dictation so that a retry is never counted twice, your language if you pinned one, your Clean up speech and AI cleanup choices, and up to 50 of your Words. The service sends the audio and Words directly to Microsoft’s MAI-Transcribe 2 on Azure. Azure transcribes it in the US West region (westus). Only after certain Azure errors, the service may send the audio, your language and your Words once to xAI’s Grok Voice Transcribe 2.0 instead, which doesn’t guarantee a processing region. Your fixes, your snippets and your other settings stay on your computer. The privacy policy has the details.
Does the app collect analytics or telemetry?
No. The app has no analytics, telemetry or crash reporting of its own, and it never uploads its logs. On a Mac, blabe asks blabe.dev whether a newer version exists at most once a day on its own, and when you choose Check for Updates… (from 1.0.23; earlier versions ask only right after a dictation). On Windows, the copy from the download page, from version 1.0.6 on, asks blabe.dev at most once a day whether a newer version exists, sending its version number and no account or device ID; older copies never check. The Microsoft Store updates the Store copy and shows install and app-health statistics, such as crash counts, in its developer dashboard.
Does blabe work without an internet connection?
No. blabe sends your audio to its service to be transcribed, so it needs the internet. Without a connection the pill says “No internet”, and blabe keeps the recording so you can choose Retry Transcription in the blabe menu once you’re back online.
Do I need an API key or a speech provider account?
No. Transcription is included with blabe. Start the free trial, or sign in with the license key from your purchase, and there’s nothing else to set up.
Where does blabe keep my settings, Words and snippets?
On your computer. On a Mac, your Words, fixes and snippets are in ~/Library/Application Support/com.montalvo.blabe/, and your other settings are in blabe’s preferences. On Windows, the direct download keeps them in %APPDATA%\blabe. The Microsoft Store copy normally keeps them in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\blabe.blabe_1wdw4w3fm6gqy\LocalCache\Roaming\blabe. On Mac and Windows, Export… and Import… in Settings → Words and Settings → Snippets move them to another computer as a file.
Platforms and updates
Which systems does blabe run on?
macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon or Intel, and Windows 11 on x64 PCs, from the download page or the Microsoft Store. Windows 10 and Windows on Arm aren’t supported, and there’s no Linux app.
Can I install it with Homebrew?
Yes, on a Mac:
brew install --cask telenel/blabe/blabeblabe then updates itself the same way as a download from this site.
How does blabe update?
On a Mac, Install updates automatically in Settings → General is on by default. When an update is ready and blabe has been idle for five minutes, it shows a short notice, then restarts. Turn the setting off and the blabe menu offers updates instead. On Windows, the Microsoft Store keeps its copy up to date. The copy from the download page updates itself from version 1.0.6 on: it checks blabe.dev for a newer version at most once a day on its own, and when you choose Check for Updates…, sending the app’s version and no account or device ID. When an update is ready and blabe has been idle for five minutes, it shows a short notice, then restarts. Versions 1.0.4 and 1.0.5 don’t update themselves: download the installer from the download page once and open it.
Windows warns that the installer is from an unknown publisher. Is that expected?
Yes. The Windows installer from the download page isn’t code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher. To continue, click More info, then Run anyway.
How do I check the installer’s SHA-256?
In PowerShell, in the folder you saved the installer from the download page to, run:
Get-FileHash .\blabe-setup-*.exe -Algorithm SHA256Compare the result with the SHA-256 under Check your download on the download page. Capital letters don’t matter.
Microsoft Store or the download: which should I pick?
Either. It’s the same app with the same subscription, $7.99 a month or $69 a year, bought on Pricing. Both update themselves (the download from version 1.0.6 on); the download isn’t code-signed yet. Install one, not both.
Pricing, trial and account
How much does blabe cost?
$7.99 a month or $69 a year, in US dollars, for one person on up to 3 devices, Macs and Windows PCs together. Every feature is included, and so is transcription, with no separate bill. Polar sells the subscription and handles payment and tax. See Pricing.
How does the free trial work?
Free 2-day trial, no sign-up, up to 30 minutes of audio, and no card or email; one per device. After the trial, new dictation stops until you subscribe; text already transcribed is kept.
All free trials share a daily transcription capacity, so on a busy day trial dictation can pause until the next day starts at midnight UTC. See the free trial in the terms.
Is there a limit on how much I can dictate?
Personal use is covered under fair use. A fair-use safeguard guards against automated or extreme use: if you ever reach it, new dictation pauses and blabe asks you to contact support, which extends it for normal personal use. Automated or bulk transcription isn’t included. The free trial has its own limit, above.
How many devices can I use?
Up to 3 with one subscription, in any mix of Macs and Windows PCs. Sign in on each with the same license key. Signing out doesn’t free a device’s place: deactivate a device you no longer use in your Polar customer portal. See Up to 3 devices.
How do I cancel or switch plans?
In your Polar customer portal you can cancel, switch between monthly and yearly, or update your card. After you cancel, blabe keeps working until the end of the period you paid for. Uninstalling blabe doesn’t cancel your subscription.
Can I get a refund?
Try blabe free for 2 days first, then decide. Cancel anytime and you won’t be charged again. Where the law gives you a refund, you’ll get one. Questions about a charge? Email support@blabe.dev with your Polar order reference, and no card details. Details are in the terms.
Getting help
How do I report a bug?
Email support@blabe.dev with your blabe version, shown in Settings, your macOS or Windows version, and what happened, with the pill’s message if there was one. If support asks for more detail, export a support bundle: Help → Export Support Bundle… in the blabe menu on a Mac, or Export Support Bundle… in the blabe menu on Windows. It saves a redacted file on your computer, without your words, keys or audio. Look through it, and attach it only if you want to: blabe never sends it for you. See Support.