Trie Command-line native, offline voice input

Install

Installation guide

Current version 0.5.0. Everything happens in Terminal: one command, then two or three questions.

Before you start

Mac
Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later.
Memory
At least 16 GB of memory. The two models take about 8 GB once loaded, and a Mac with 8 GB stops responding; with too little memory the installer stops before downloading anything.
Disk space
About 8 GB: two models totaling roughly 7 GB, plus a few hundred MB of Python packages.
Network
Needed only during installation, to download Trie, Python packages, and the models. Dictation itself works offline.
Privileges
No administrator password is required.

Install

  1. Open Terminal

    Press Command + Space, type Terminal, and press Return.

  2. Paste this command and press Return

    curl -fsSL https://trie.ai/install.sh | sh

    The script checks your system, downloads Trie and verifies it (both the file checksum and the developer signature must match, or it stops), installs it into Applications, and creates a separate Python environment.

  3. Answer the prompts

    If uv (the tool used to create the Python environment) is not installed, the script asks whether to install it.

    It then asks whether to download the two models, about 7 GB. Answer y and wait, or skip and run the same command again later.

  4. Allow three permissions

    Trie opens when installation finishes. On first use macOS asks for the three permissions below; allow all of them. If you miss a prompt, turn it on in System Settings → Privacy & Security. The installer's own messages are currently in Chinese.

    Microphone
    To hear you.
    Accessibility
    To paste text into the active text field.
    Input Monitoring
    To detect a tap of the right Command key on its own.

  5. Try it

    Click into any text field, tap the right Command key (⌘) on its own, say a sentence, and tap it again. The text is pasted into the field.

Roll back to the previous version

When upgrading, the installer keeps the version it replaces in ~/Library/Application Support/Trie/previous/ (one version only); reinstalling the same version does not overwrite the real previous one. If the new version gives you trouble, run:

curl -fsSL https://trie.ai/install.sh | sh -s -- --rollback

The script swaps the kept version back in, recreates the Python environment from that version's own dependency list, and checks the models again. If an upgrade or rollback fails midway, the app and the Python environment are both put back as they were, and the script says "restored" only when both are back; if the environment cannot be restored, it says the Python environment may be incomplete and asks you to run the install command again. If environment setup fails during a rollback, it returns to the state before the rollback and says the rollback did not complete, so you can run --rollback again; a failed model check is only a warning and does not block the rollback. If there is no previous version, the script explains why and stops without touching the current installation. After rolling back, run the install command again to upgrade to the latest version.

Common situations

Slow model download
The models come from huggingface.co. If it is hard to reach, set a mirror before running the install command: export HF_ENDPOINT=mirror-url. An interrupted download resumes when you run the command again.
Overlay says unavailable
Usually the models are not downloaded yet, or microphone access was not allowed. Running the install command again rechecks the models.
Right Command does nothing
Check that Trie is enabled under Accessibility and Input Monitoring, then quit and reopen Trie.
Why no direct download
Trie is signed with an Apple Developer ID; notarization is still being processed by Apple. Until it completes, macOS blocks the app when it is downloaded from a browser, so installation is offered from the command line only.
Text was not pasted
If you switched windows after stopping, or a password field is active, the text is only copied to the clipboard; after pasting, your clipboard is restored. Trie never presses Return for you.
Cancelling a dictation
Press Command + period (⌘ .) or Esc, while Trie is listening or processing. Trie cancels after 8 seconds without speech; each recording can run up to 3 minutes.
Upgrade
Run the same install command again. Models and personal settings are kept, and permissions do not need to be granted again.
Uninstall
curl -fsSL https://trie.ai/install.sh | sh -s -- --uninstall
Logs
~/Library/Logs/Trie/. Events and character counts only, never what you said.

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