parakeet

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

3 scripts

Local speech-to-text via Handy app (push-to-talk) and NeMo CLI scripts. Parakeet V3: 25 languages, auto-detection, ~30x realtime on M4 Max, 6% WER. This skill should be used when transcribing audio files or dictating voice input.

4installs

Sourcetdimino/claude-code-minoan

Added on2026-02-22

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add tdimino/claude-code-minoan parakeet

SKILL.md Content

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Parakeet Dictation Skill

Local speech-to-text powered by NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B V3 (~600MB model, 100% offline).

Two Modes

1. Handy App (Primary — Push-to-Talk into Any Text Field)

Handy is a free, open-source Tauri app (Rust + React) providing push-to-talk dictation with Parakeet V3 built in. Inference via transcribe-rs (ONNX Runtime, int8 quantized).

bash

brew install --cask handy

Default hotkey: ⌥Space (Option-Space) on macOS, Ctrl-Space on Windows/Linux
Modes: Push-to-talk (hold) or toggle (press to start/stop)
Select Parakeet V3 in Settings → Models (auto-downloads ~478MB)
Grant microphone + accessibility permissions
Includes VAD (Silero), model management UI
Additional models: Whisper (Small/Medium/Turbo/Large), Moonshine, SenseVoice

Models stored at

~/Library/Application Support/com.pais.handy/models/

2. CLI Scripts (Claude Code File Transcription & Terminal Dictation)

CLI scripts remain for headless/terminal use within Claude Code. These use NeMo/PyTorch.

Performance

System	Speed	Engine
Handy (M4 Max)	~30x realtime	transcribe-rs / ONNX int8
Handy (Zen 3)	~20x realtime	transcribe-rs / ONNX int8
Handy (Skylake i5)	~5x realtime	transcribe-rs / ONNX int8
NeMo CLI (MPS)	Varies	NeMo / PyTorch

Accuracy: 6.05% WER (Word Error Rate)
Languages: 25 European languages with automatic detection (no prompting)
Privacy: 100% local processing, no cloud API
License: CC BY 4.0 (model), MIT (Handy app)

Commands

Transcribe Audio File

bash

/parakeet path/to/audio.wav
/parakeet ~/recordings/interview.mp3
/parakeet meeting.m4a

Supported formats:

.wav

,

.mp3

,

.m4a

,

.flac

,

.ogg

,

.aac

Live Dictation (Terminal)

bash

/parakeet
/parakeet dictate

Record from microphone until Enter is pressed, then transcribe.

Check Installation

bash

/parakeet check

Verify Parakeet is properly installed and model can load.

Setup

Handy (Push-to-Talk UI)

bash

brew install --cask handy

Launch from Applications, select Parakeet V3 model, configure hotkey.

CLI Scripts (Prerequisites)

Parakeet Dictate repo at
```
~/Programming/parakeet-dictate/
```
with Python venv

Install dependencies:

bash

cd ~/Programming/parakeet-dictate
uv venv && uv pip install -r requirements.txt

(Optional) Set custom path:

export PARAKEET_HOME=/path/to/parakeet-dictate

Implementation

When this skill is invoked:

For audio files: Run the transcription script

bash

cd ~/.claude/skills/parakeet/scripts && \
${PARAKEET_HOME:-~/Programming/parakeet-dictate}/.venv/bin/python transcribe.py "<filepath>"

For live dictation: Run the dictation script

bash

cd ~/.claude/skills/parakeet/scripts && \
${PARAKEET_HOME:-~/Programming/parakeet-dictate}/.venv/bin/python dictate.py

For checking setup: Run the check script

bash

cd ~/.claude/skills/parakeet/scripts && \
${PARAKEET_HOME:-~/Programming/parakeet-dictate}/.venv/bin/python check_setup.py

Model Caches

System	Cache Location	Size	Engine
Handy	`~/Library/Application Support/com.pais.handy/models/`	~478MB	transcribe-rs (ONNX int8)
NeMo CLI	`~/.cache/nemo/`	~1.2GB	NeMo / PyTorch

Model caches are separate. Handy's Parakeet V3 int8 model structure:

parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-int8/
├── encoder-model.int8.onnx
├── decoder_joint-model.int8.onnx
├── nemo128.onnx (audio preprocessor)
└── vocab.txt

Troubleshooting

"No module named nemo"

Use the Parakeet virtual environment. Scripts automatically use the correct Python.

"MPS not available"

Apple Silicon Metal acceleration requires PyTorch 2.0+. Falls back to CPU automatically.

"Permission denied: microphone"

Grant microphone access in System Preferences → Privacy & Security → Microphone.

Model download slow

The Parakeet model downloads on first use (~478MB for Handy, ~1.2GB for NeMo). Subsequent runs use cache.

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
`PARAKEET_HOME`	`~/Programming/parakeet-dictate`	Parakeet Dictate installation path

Dependencies

Handy:

brew install --cask handy

(standalone, no other deps)

CLI scripts require:

Parakeet Dictate repo at

$PARAKEET_HOME

(default:

~/Programming/parakeet-dictate

)

Python virtual environment at
```
$PARAKEET_HOME/.venv
```
NeMo toolkit with ASR support (
```
nemo_toolkit[asr]>=2.0.0
```
)
PyTorch 2.0+ (for MPS/CUDA acceleration)
soundfile and sounddevice for audio handling

parakeet

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Parakeet Dictation Skill

Two Modes

1. Handy App (Primary — Push-to-Talk into Any Text Field)

2. CLI Scripts (Claude Code File Transcription & Terminal Dictation)

Performance

Commands

Transcribe Audio File

Live Dictation (Terminal)

Check Installation

Setup

Handy (Push-to-Talk UI)

CLI Scripts (Prerequisites)

Implementation

Model Caches

Troubleshooting

"No module named nemo"

"MPS not available"

"Permission denied: microphone"

Model download slow

Configuration

Dependencies