Product·Voice

Dictate anywhere.
Stay in flow.

Hold Option and talk - a global overlay captures speech into the Code composer on Mac. On iPhone, the Continuum Voice keyboard works in any app’s text field. Local models when you want offline; hands-free when your hands are full.

Download for Mac Read the docs

Option-hold local STT iOS keyboard

CodeUsageSettings

Continuum

Lisbon · fable-5 · xhighworktree · lb-1

ship the pairing QR polish tonight

On it - reviewing the popover layout and the regenerate path…

dictate or type…

hold Option · speak · releaselocal · Parakeet

Hold Option. Speak. Release. Text lands in the prompt.

01 · Mac overlay

Hold Option. Talk. Keep coding.

A global Option-hold (configurable) brings up a Continuum voice overlay - waveform, partial transcript, silence countdown - without leaving the app you’re in. Release to stop, or let silence auto-stop finish the take.

There’s also an in-composer mic when you’re already in Code. Same engine, same models, same silence settings. Web and desktop composers reach the same stack through the voice bridge when a Mac is paired.

global hotkey in-composer mic voice bridge

Code workbench Sessions

Code

composer mic

Denver · codexlocal · plan

Ready when you are.

refactor the sidebar sort so new sessions don’t jump the repo order

recording ⌥ release to send

mic active · silence 2.5ssame engine as overlay

02 · Local models

Speech stays on the machine when you want it.

Pick a local engine: Apple Speech, WhisperKit, or Parakeet. Download the model once; run offline after that. No cloud STT hop for the take you don’t want to leave the laptop.

Parakeet is the fast path for long dictations. WhisperKit covers multilingual. Apple Speech is zero-download on supported system locales. Switch in Settings → Voice - the overlay and the composer mic both honor the choice.

Apple Speech WhisperKit Parakeet

CodeSettings

voice

Settings · Voice · local models

Parakeet fast · en · 620 MB on disk

ready

WhisperKit · small multilingual · 244 MB

download

Apple Speech system · zero download

system

offline after downloaddefault · Parakeet

03 · iOS keyboard

A mic-only keyboard for every text field.

The Continuum Voice keyboard is not locked to Continuum. Enable it once, switch to it from any app - Messages, Mail, Notes, Safari - and dictate. Text inserts at the cursor; if the host field won’t accept it, Continuum falls back to the clipboard.

While you record, Dynamic Island and a Live Activity show the take so you can see status without opening the app. Watch steers sessions; it doesn’t host speech recognition.

Mobile Widgets

9:41continuum

Notesdictating

ship pairing QR polish · regenerate path · copy URL CTA

and open the docs link on the empty state

Continuum Voice · listening

Cancel Stop

04 · Hands-free

Start without looking at the screen.

When your hands are on a build or a train pole, Continuum still takes the take.

Action Button / Control Center

Map Continuum Toggle Voice Control to the Action Button or a Control Center tile. One press starts or stops a take - no keyboard, no hotkey chord.

Back Tap

Double-tap the back of the iPhone to toggle the same voice control. Same insert path - keyboard field when focused, clipboard fallback otherwise.

Silence auto-stop

Pick 1.5s / 2.5s / 4s of silence to end the take automatically. Hold-to-talk and hands-free starts both honor it - so you never have to hunt for Stop.

05 · Questions

The honest fine print.

Short answers here, long answers in the docs.

Does speech leave my machine?

Local engines (Apple Speech, WhisperKit, Parakeet) run on-device after the model is downloaded. That is the point of the local stack. If you choose a cloud path in a future build, it will be explicit - never a silent hop.

Can I change the Option hotkey?

Yes. The global hold key is configurable in Settings → Voice. The default is Option-hold so it stays out of the way of normal typing and common app shortcuts.

Does the iOS keyboard work outside Continuum?

Yes. Continuum Voice is a system keyboard - any text field in any app. Enable it under iOS Settings → General → Keyboard, then switch to it from the globe key when you need a take.

Is Watch speech supported?

No. Watch is for session steering - approve, interrupt, glance. STT is Mac + iPhone only. That keeps the speech stack honest about where the mic and the models actually live.

Dictate anywhere.Stay in flow.