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Open-source macOS voice-to-text tool Golos ships, powered by Deepgram Nova-3

July 3, 2026 at 22:47 EDT

Open Source
Media Generation
Software Dev & Coding

An open-source, command-line voice input tool for macOS called Golos has been released. Holding down a hotkey while speaking transcribes speech in real time using Deepgram's Nova-3 speech model, then automatically pastes the text into the app in focus.

Open Source · Golos · macOS Dictation

Hold a key, speak, and it types for you

Golos is a lightweight, open-source command-line dictation tool for macOS. Press and hold a hotkey to record, release to transcribe — the text is pasted straight into whatever app is in focus.

Single Go binary — no Electron, no GUI, no background service

Nova-3

Deepgram real-time cloud engine for low-latency transcription

MIT

Fully open-source license · v0.2.5

How push-to-talk works

1 · Hold key

Press & hold Right Option (configurable). Mic records only while held.

→

2 · Speak

Live VU meter and interim transcript shown in the terminal.

→

3 · Release & paste

Final text pasted via Cmd+V into the focused app — or piped to stdout.

At a glance

Mode

Push-to-talk · no always-on mic

Install

One-command curl script

Config

TOML dictionary + env + CLI flags

Run modes

Foreground / background (-d)

Cloud approach — strengths

Extremely lightweight, single binary
Low latency via real-time API
Dictionary replacements & stdout piping for power users

Trade-offs vs local tools

Needs a Deepgram API key & internet
Possible cost beyond the free tier
Data leaves the device (unlike local Whisper)

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