Rank #07 · Daily · Multimedia
Hex: Private Local Voice Dictation for macOS, Windows, and Linux
Hold a shortcut, speak, release—Hex transcribes on-device and pastes into whatever you’re in.
What it does
Hex (anomalyco) is local voice dictation for Mac, Windows, and Linux. The README workflow is deliberately short:
- hold the shortcut, speak, then let go;
- Hex transcribes on your device and pastes into the focused app;
- the first run downloads a speech model; after that, nothing leaves your machine (per project wording);
- experimental features live in Labs at the bottom of the sidebar.
Distribution covers a wide installer matrix: macOS Apple-silicon DMG, Windows x64/ARM64 installers, Linux x86_64 and ARM64 binaries plus .deb / .rpm, with separate Stable and Dev channels. Package managers: Homebrew cask (anomalyco/tap/hex), AUR hex-bin, Linux install script, and Nix profile. More docs live under docs/. Homepage: anoma.ly/hex.
Contribution policy is unusual for a trending MIT app: no pull requests—open an issue; the maintainers say agents usually turn work around quickly.
Who it’s for
Developers and privacy-sensitive users who want cross-platform local dictation without cloud STT lock-in—especially on Linux, where offline “hold to paste” UX is still scarce. If you need a more documented model picker, history UI, hooks, and Raycast integration, compare with Handy (#10 on this Daily list); Hex is the smaller breakout with maximal installer coverage and a minimal public surface.
Stars / language / license
~3,891 stars · Rust · MIT
Data verified: 2026-11-02 ~22:16 Asia/Shanghai (GitHub API get_repository + README get_file_contents)
Trending note (selection ~22:14 Asia/Shanghai): ~+1,179 stars that day (archive)—strong breakout relative to repo size on Daily Rising
Category tags
Multimedia · speech-to-text · dictation · local-first · Rust · privacy · cross-platform
How it differs from similar projects
Versus cloud dictation (OS vendors / SaaS), Hex’s Rising story is private local paste-into-anything UX across three OSes. Versus larger offline STT apps such as Handy, Hex ships a thinner product narrative and faster “download and go” packaging, including Linux ARM packages. Versus raw Whisper CLIs, it is a finished dictation UX rather than a research runner. No independent WER or latency benchmarks appear in the short README—evaluate on your hardware, language, and microphone before treating it as a production STT standard.