# Claude Code voice dictation: /voice, Mac Dictation, or a local app

Canonical page: https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-claude-code

> Claude Code has a voice mode: type /voice and hold Space. How it works, what it needs, where your audio goes, and two other ways to dictate.

[Atta 🐬](https://attacomsian.com)

Founder, Flit

October 8, 2026

The short answer

Claude Code has a voice mode built in, called voice dictation: type /voice, then hold Space while you speak, and the transcript is inserted at your cursor. It needs a Claude.ai login and a local microphone, and Anthropic’s documentation says the audio is streamed to its servers and is not processed locally. The Mac’s own Dictation also works in a terminal. Flit, a local dictation app for Mac, is the third way: hold a key and speak, and your exact words land in the prompt with your project’s file names spelled right, and no audio leaves the Mac.

## How to dictate to Claude Code with /voice

1. Start Claude Code in your terminal, signed in with a Claude.ai account.
2. Type `/voice` and press Enter to turn dictation on.
3. Hold **Space** and speak. Recording runs while the key is held.
4. Release Space. The transcript is inserted at your cursor.
5. Read it, fix anything, and press Enter to send.
6. To tap instead of hold, type `/voice tap`: tap Space once on an empty prompt to start, and tap again to send.

There is a short warm-up before recording starts in hold mode, because Claude Code detects a held key from the key repeating. A single tap of Space still types a space.

A prompt for a coding agent is the kind of text speech is good at: a paragraph of intent, not a line of syntax. There are three ways to get it into Claude Code, and they differ mostly in what they need and where the audio is turned into text.

## Three ways to dictate to Claude Code

| Way                    | How you start it                            | Where the audio is transcribed                       |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Claude Code’s `/voice` | Hold Space, or tap with `/voice tap`        | On Anthropic’s servers                               |
| Mac Dictation          | The Dictation shortcut in Keyboard settings | On the Mac or at Apple; Keyboard settings says which |
| Flit                   | Hold Fn or your own shortcut                | On the Mac                                           |

## What /voice needs

[Anthropic’s voice dictation page](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/voice-dictation) lists the conditions.

- A Claude.ai account. The page says the speech-to-text service is not available when Claude Code is set up with an Anthropic API key directly, or through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry.
- A local microphone. It does not work in cloud sessions or over SSH.
- A connection, since the audio is streamed to Anthropic’s servers for transcription.
- One of 20 languages, set with `/config`. If none is set, dictation defaults to English.
- An organization that allows it. An administrator can turn voice off by policy.

## Hold mode and tap mode

Hold mode is the default: recording runs while Space is down and stops when you release it. The transcript waits in the prompt for you to send, unless you turn on automatic submit.

Tap mode is for longer briefs. The first tap starts recording, and only on an empty prompt; the second sends. The documentation says recording also stops automatically after 15 seconds of silence or two minutes in total.

The key can be changed. It is the `voice:pushToTalk` binding in `~/.claude/keybindings.json`.

## Line breaks and long text

Enter sends the message. For a line break without sending, [Anthropic’s terminal page](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/terminal-config) gives two ways that work in every terminal: press Ctrl-J, or type a backslash and then Enter. Shift-Enter works without setup in some terminals, and in others after running `/terminal-setup` once.

Long pasted text is shown differently. When more than 800 characters or more than three lines are pasted, Claude Code collapses them to a placeholder such as `[Pasted text #1 +120 lines]`, and still sends the full content. This matters for any dictation tool that inserts text by pasting, Flit included: a long dictation arrives whole, but you see the placeholder, not the words.

## Using the Mac’s Dictation

Apple’s Dictation types anywhere you can type, a terminal included. Click into the Claude Code prompt and press your Dictation shortcut. It asks nothing of your Claude account, and for some languages and Macs it runs on the device.

It has two drawbacks for prompts. It stops after 30 seconds without speech, and it does not know what your files are called. [How to dictate on a Mac](https://flit.fyi/how-to-dictate-on-mac) covers the setup.

## What to say

Say it the way you would brief a colleague: what is wrong, what you want, and how you will know it worked. Name files and functions out loud. Give the test command if there is one.

Then read the transcript before you send it. A misheard file name costs the agent a search; a misheard "do not" costs you a wrong change.

The same habits carry over to [Codex](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-codex) and to [Cursor](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-cursor).

## Dictating to Claude Code with Flit

Flit works at the level of the Mac, not of Claude Code, so it needs no account, no `/voice` and no connection. Hold a key, speak, let go, and the text is in the prompt.

- Your exact words. In a terminal Flit does not reword what you said, so a command stays a command.
- File names from your project. Flit reads the names in the terminal’s working directory, on the Mac, so "upload client dot swift" lands as `UploadClient.swift`.
- Spoken symbols for flags and paths, such as "dash dash" and "tilde slash".
- No audio leaves the Mac, and it works however you sign in to Claude Code, an API key included.
- The same key in the Claude desktop app and in an editor’s chat panel, where Flit shapes what you say as a prompt.
- Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription.

Good to know

- In a terminal you get exact words: Flit does not tidy a rambling brief into a clean paragraph there, as it does in a chat box.
- Flit inserts by pasting, so Claude Code shows a long dictation as a pasted-text placeholder.
- Flit runs on a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later, and its voice model is a download of about 0.5 to 2.3 GB that you choose once.
- Flit types what you say. It does not talk back, read answers aloud or hold a spoken conversation with the tool.
- Recognizing your project’s file names, and Flit’s spoken commands, work in English today.

[Download for Mac](https://flit.fyi/download) macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon

## Questions people ask

### Does Claude Code have a voice mode?

Yes. Type `/voice` to turn on voice dictation, then hold Space while you speak. It needs a Claude.ai account and a local microphone.

### Is Claude Code voice dictation processed locally?

No. Anthropic’s documentation says voice dictation streams your recorded audio to Anthropic’s servers for transcription and that audio is not processed locally.

### Why does /voice not work in Claude Code?

The documented causes are signing in with an API key or a cloud provider instead of a Claude.ai account, working over SSH or in a cloud session, having no microphone, or an organization policy that turns voice off.

### Does Claude Code voice dictation use up my usage?

No. Anthropic says transcription does not consume Claude messages or tokens and does not count toward the limits shown in `/usage`.

### How do I add a line break in Claude Code without sending?

Press Ctrl-J, or type a backslash and press Enter. Both work in every terminal. Shift-Enter works in some terminals without setup.

### Is there a dictation app for Claude Code that runs offline?

Yes. Flit is a local dictation app for Mac: hold a key and speak, and your words land in the Claude Code prompt with your project’s file names spelled right. Nothing is sent anywhere. Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription.

## In the glossary

- [Push-to-talk](https://flit.fyi/glossary/push-to-talk)
- [Verbatim mode](https://flit.fyi/glossary/verbatim-mode)
- [On-device processing](https://flit.fyi/glossary/on-device-processing)
- [Personal dictionary](https://flit.fyi/glossary/personal-dictionary)
- [Dictation](https://flit.fyi/glossary/dictation)

## More guides

- [Cursor voice input](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-cursor)
- [Codex voice and dictation](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-codex)
- [ChatGPT dictation on a Mac](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-chatgpt-mac)
- [How to dictate on a Mac](https://flit.fyi/how-to-dictate-on-mac)
- [Mac dictation not working](https://flit.fyi/mac-dictation-not-working)
- [Globe key opens the emoji picker](https://flit.fyi/globe-key-opens-emoji-picker-mac)
- [Mac dictation keeps stopping](https://flit.fyi/mac-dictation-keeps-stopping)
- [Mac dictation commands](https://flit.fyi/mac-dictation-commands)