AudioBash

A voice-controlled terminal for developers. Speak commands, execute them instantly.

Website: audiobash.app

Features

• Voice-to-terminal - Speak naturally and have your words transcribed directly into the terminal
• Cross-platform - Native builds for Windows, macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon), and Linux (AppImage & .deb)
• Tmux-style pane system - Binary tree pane architecture with split horizontal (Alt+-) and vertical (Alt+), drag dividers, double-click to equalize, 5 preset layouts
• Customizable pane colors - 8-color palette (Emerald, Cobalt, Crimson, Violet, Cyan, Amber, Rose, Acid) with activity-based fade: full color → fading → dim → gray as terminals go idle. Error exits always red. Colors persist across restarts
• Pane keyboard navigation - Alt+Arrow to move focus, Alt+1-4 for direct focus, Alt+Shift+Arrow to resize, Alt+Z to zoom/unzoom
• Named pane sessions - Save and load pane layouts by name
• Claude Code /voice integration - Detects Claude Code /voice mode, shows [CC /voice] badge in voice panel, disables mic button during CC /voice, smart handoff (cancels any active recording without sending partial audio)
• Multi-terminal voice routing - Voice commands directed to the correct terminal automatically
• Context-aware agent mode - AI understands your environment: current directory, recent output, errors
• Custom instructions - Add personal instructions for transcription and agent modes
• Custom vocabulary - Map spoken words to correct spellings (e.g., "next js" → "Next.js")
• CLI notifications - Audio chime when CLI tools request input/approval
• Font zoom - Ctrl+Plus/Minus/0 to adjust terminal font size
• Window persistence - Window position and size saved across sessions
• Multi-tab support - Run up to 4 terminal sessions simultaneously
• Quick directory navigation - Jump to recent or favorite folders with one click
• Multiple AI providers - Gemini 2.0/2.5 Flash, ElevenLabs Scribe (real-time or batch), or local Whisper after FFmpeg is on PATH and its binary and model are downloaded (plus Parakeet, if you run your own NVIDIA GPU server)
• Auto-copy - Selected text is automatically copied to clipboard
• Always-on-top mode - Pin the voice panel while you work
• System tray - Runs quietly in background, accessible via global shortcuts
• Extensive keyboard shortcuts - 20 customizable shortcuts for power users
• Preview pane - Embedded web preview for localhost dev servers, HTML, images, and markdown
• Screenshot capture - Take screenshots of the preview pane (saves to current working directory)
• Auto-refresh - File watcher automatically refreshes preview when source files change

Installation

Windows

Download the latest .exe installer from Releases.

macOS

Download AudioBash-3.4.0-arm64.dmg for Apple Silicon or AudioBash-3.4.0-x64.dmg for Intel from v3.4.0. Drag AudioBash to Applications and open it normally. Both builds are signed and notarized by Apple.

Linux

Download the latest .AppImage or .deb from Releases.

# AppImage (portable, runs on most distributions)
chmod +x AudioBash-*.AppImage
./AudioBash-*.AppImage

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo dpkg -i AudioBash-*.deb

Global shortcuts use the desktop's GlobalShortcuts portal on Wayland and fall back to X11.

Build from source (any platform)

git clone https://github.com/jamditis/audiobash.git
cd audiobash
npm install
npm run electron:build

Usage

1. Launch AudioBash - The app starts with your default shell (PowerShell on Windows, zsh on macOS)
2. Press Alt+S (or Option+S on Mac) - Opens the voice panel and starts recording
3. Speak your command - e.g., "list all files in the current directory"
4. Press Alt+S again - Transcription is sent to the terminal

Keyboard shortcuts

Voice

Shortcut	Action
Alt+S	Start/stop voice recording
Alt+A	Cancel recording (abort without sending)
Alt+M	Toggle raw/agent mode
Alt+R	Resend last transcription

Window

Shortcut	Action
Alt+H	Show/hide window
Alt+L	Cycle through layouts

Terminal

Shortcut	Action
Alt+C	Clear terminal
Alt+→	Focus next pane
Alt+←	Focus previous pane
Alt+B	Bookmark current directory

Tabs

Shortcut	Action
Alt+1-4	Switch to tab 1-4

Preview

Shortcut	Action
Alt+P	Toggle preview pane
Alt+Shift+P	Capture screenshot

Voice panel modes

• Auto-send - Automatically execute transcribed commands (toggle in settings)
• Pin mode - Keep voice panel open while working

Configuration

Open Settings (gear icon in title bar) to configure:

• API Keys - Add keys for Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, or ElevenLabs
• Transcription model - Choose between cloud or local transcription
• Default shell - PowerShell, CMD, or Bash
• Visual theme - Select from multiple color schemes
• Scanlines - Enable retro CRT effect

Getting API keys

• Gemini (recommended): Google AI Studio
• OpenAI: OpenAI Platform
• Anthropic: Anthropic Console

macOS code signing

The v3.4.0 arm64 and x64 packages are signed with a Developer ID Application certificate, notarized by Apple, and stapled. The release checks also verify nested signatures and require Gatekeeper acceptance before publication.

If macOS rejects a v3.4.0 download, delete that copy and download the correct DMG again from the official release. Do not override the warning.

Support the project

AudioBash is free and open source. If it's useful to you, consider helping cover development costs such as Apple Developer Program membership for signed and notarized Mac releases.

Known issues

Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) crash on launch

Status: Root cause fixed in v2.4.0. The v3.4.0 Mac builds are signed and notarized; see macOS code signing above.

Earlier versions crashed on Apple Silicon because the build process invalidated ARM64 code signatures on node-pty helper binaries. v2.4.0 fixed that root cause. v3.4.0 repairs and verifies the native helpers during packaging before the final Developer ID signature.

See the troubleshooting guide if a current release does not open normally.

Tech stack

• Electron - Desktop application framework
• React 19 - UI framework
• TypeScript - Type-safe JavaScript
• xterm.js - Terminal emulator
• node-pty - Pseudoterminal bindings
• Tailwind CSS - Styling
• Vite - Build tool

Development

Track dependency migrations and maintenance in the AudioBash project.

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run electron:dev

# Build for production
npm run electron:build

License

MIT

Author

Joe Amditis (@jamditis)