Voice Notes (Local Whisper)

pending

by Imran Khan Ahmedani

Record voice notes and meetings with local Whisper transcription, speaker identification, and AI-powered meeting summaries.

Updated 5d agoMITDiscovered via Obsidian Unofficial Plugins
View on GitHub

Voice Notes (Local Whisper)

Record voice notes and meetings with local Whisper transcription, speaker identification, and AI-powered meeting summaries.

Features

  • Dictation mode - real-time voice-to-text at your cursor position
  • Full voice notes - record, transcribe, and save with audio playback
  • Meeting mode - capture system audio + mic with live transcript sidebar
  • Speaker labels - instant "Me" vs "Speaker" identification (macOS with ScreenCaptureKit)
  • AI meeting notes - summaries, action items, and key decisions
  • Fully local - no cloud transcription service, your audio never leaves your machine

Requirements

  • A Whisper transcription server running locally or via Docker
  • macOS (Apple Silicon recommended) or any OS with Docker
  • See voice-notes-server for server setup

Quick start

  1. Install this plugin from Obsidian Community Plugins
  2. Set up the transcription server (instructions)
  3. In plugin settings, verify Server URL is http://127.0.0.1:5678
  4. Click the microphone ribbon icon or run Start dictation

Commands

CommandDescription
Toggle dictationStart or stop real-time voice-to-text
Record full voice noteOpen modal for record/stop/save workflow
Start meeting transcriptionBegin meeting mode with system audio capture
Stop meeting transcriptionEnd meeting and generate notes
Mark moment in meetingBookmark a moment during a meeting
Generate meeting notes from selectionSummarize selected text with AI
Check Whisper server statusVerify server connectivity

Meeting mode

Meeting mode captures both system audio (the other speakers) and your microphone, transcribes in real-time to a sidebar panel, and generates structured notes when you stop.

Speaker identification: On macOS 14+ with ScreenCaptureKit, speakers are labeled instantly by comparing system audio energy (them) vs mic energy (you). No server processing required.

Post-meeting options (configurable in settings):

  • Transcript only
  • AI summary with key decisions
  • Full notes with action items, decisions, and follow-ups

AI summarization

Supports three providers for meeting summaries and action extraction:

  • Anthropic (Claude)
  • OpenAI (GPT)
  • Ollama (local, free)

Configure your provider and API key in Settings.

Server setup

This plugin requires a companion transcription server. See voice-notes-server for:

  • Native macOS (Apple Silicon MLX GPU) - fastest option
  • Docker (any OS, CPU) - portable option

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