Skip to main content
“og:title”: “Stenox Docs”
This is a TRANSCRIPTION provider. It converts your speech to text. For AI enhancement like grammar correction, see AI Enhancement Providers.

​
Overview

WhisperKit is Apple’s optimized implementation of OpenAI’s Whisper model, designed to run locally on Apple Silicon Macs. It provides completely private, offline transcription without requiring an internet connection or API key. Key Benefits:
  • 🔒 100% Private - Audio never leaves your Mac
  • 🌐 Offline - Works without internet connection
  • 💰 Free - No API keys, no usage costs
  • 🚀 Optimized - Built for Apple Silicon

​
Privacy & Security

WhisperKit processes everything locally on your Mac:
  • Audio is captured and transcribed on-device
  • No data sent to cloud services
  • No internet connection required
  • No API keys or accounts needed
  • Perfect for sensitive or confidential content
WhisperKit is ideal for healthcare professionals, lawyers, journalists, or anyone handling confidential information.

​
No API Key Required

Unlike cloud providers, WhisperKit requires no setup:
  1. Select WhisperKit in Stenox Settings
  2. Download your preferred model
  3. Start dictating immediately
No registration, no API keys, no authentication.

​
Available Models

WhisperKit offers several model sizes with different trade-offs:
ModelSizeSpeedAccuracyRecommended For
base.en142 MBFastGoodEnglish-only, quick setup
small.en483 MBMediumBetterEnglish-only, better accuracy
base142 MBFastGoodMultilingual (100+ languages)
small483 MBMediumBetterMultilingual, better accuracy
Recommended for beginners: base.en - Fastest download and processing with good accuracy for English.

​
Model Selection Guide

Best for:
  • Quick setup (smallest download)
  • Fast processing (2-3 seconds)
  • English-only dictation
  • Limited disk space
Processing time: ~2-3 seconds for 10 seconds of audio
Best for:
  • Higher accuracy needs
  • Professional writing
  • Technical terminology
  • English-only dictation
Processing time: ~4-6 seconds for 10 seconds of audio
Best for:
  • Non-English languages
  • Multilingual dictation
  • Code-switching between languages
Supported: 100+ languages including Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and moreConfigure language in Profile settings.

​
Setup Instructions

1

Open Stenox Settings

Click the Stenox icon in your menu bar and select Settings.
2

Navigate to Models tab

Go to the Models tab in the Settings window.
3

Select WhisperKit

Under Transcription Provider, select WhisperKit from the dropdown.
4

Choose a model

Select your preferred model:
  • base.en (recommended for beginners)
  • small.en (better accuracy)
  • base or small (multilingual)
5

Download the model

Click Download and wait for the model to download.Download sizes:
  • base.en / base: ~142 MB
  • small.en / small: ~483 MB
The model is stored in ~/stenox-models/whisper/ by default.
6

Start dictating

Once download completes, you can start using WhisperKit immediately!

​
Performance

WhisperKit performance depends on your Mac’s hardware:

​
Apple Silicon Macs

Excellent performance:
  • base.en: 2-3 seconds per 10 seconds of audio
  • small.en: 4-6 seconds per 10 seconds of audio
  • Optimized with CoreML and ANE (Apple Neural Engine)

​
Intel Macs

Slower performance:
  • 2-3x slower than Apple Silicon
  • CPU-only processing
  • Consider cloud providers for faster results
WhisperKit works best on Apple Silicon Macs. Intel Mac users may prefer cloud providers for faster transcription.

​
Storage Requirements

Models are stored locally on your Mac:
  • Location: ~/stenox-models/whisper/
  • base.en / base: ~142 MB
  • small.en / small: ~483 MB
  • medium: ~1.5 GB (if you download it manually)
You can delete models you’re not using to free up space.

​
Language Support

WhisperKit supports 100+ languages:
  • Optimized for English only
  • Slightly faster and more accurate for English
  • Use base.en or small.en

​
When to Use WhisperKit

Privacy is critical

Healthcare, legal, financial, or any sensitive content.

Working offline

Airplanes, remote locations, or unstable internet.

No API costs

No per-minute charges. Processing happens on your Mac.

Learning or testing

Try Stenox with zero setup or commitment.

​
When to Use Cloud Instead

Consider cloud providers if you need:
  • Faster processing - Cloud is 5-10x faster (< 1 second vs 3-5 seconds)
  • Higher accuracy - DeepGram Nova-3 and AssemblyAI often outperform Whisper
  • Intel Mac - Cloud providers work equally well on all Macs
You can use both WhisperKit and cloud providers! Create different Profiles for different scenarios.

​
Troubleshooting

  • Check your internet connection
  • Ensure you have enough disk space (~500 MB free)
  • Try downloading again
  • Check ~/stenox-models/whisper/ for partial downloads and delete them
  • You may be on an Intel Mac (slower performance expected)
  • Try base.en instead of small.en for faster processing
  • Close other intensive applications
  • Consider using a cloud provider for speed
  • For English, use .en models (base.en or small.en)
  • For other languages, use multilingual models and set language in Profile settings
  • Auto-detect may choose wrong language - specify explicitly
  • Add terms to Vocabulary for custom replacements
  • Try small.en for better accuracy
  • Consider cloud providers (DeepGram, AssemblyAI) for specialized vocabulary

​
Next Steps

Add AI Enhancement

Use MLX (local) for completely private grammar correction and formatting.

Create Profiles

Set up different profiles for different use cases.

Privacy-First Setup

Complete guide to 100% local, offline Stenox configuration.

Add Vocabulary

Teach WhisperKit custom words and technical terms.