Dictum 0.5.1

Dictum turns speech into text on Windows 11 and Linux. Hold a hotkey, speak, let go, and the text appears where your cursor is. Speech recognition runs on your own computer with Whisper.

Documentation: https://docs.sigil.build/dictum/ (Українською: https://docs.sigil.build/uk/dictum/)

What's new in 0.5.1

A maintenance release: updated components, small fixes, and a more verifiable release.

• Window buttons dim when the Settings or setup window is not active, as in other Windows 11 apps.
• On Linux without a D-Bus session, an API key Dictum cannot read now points you to env:VAR, since the system keyring is out of reach there.
• Settings layout: a field row no longer misbehaves when it gets very little room.
• Updated components: Avalonia, SharpHook, Microsoft.Extensions and the test packages.

Checking a download

Every package can be verified three ways:

• SHA-256: compare against SHA256SUMS.
• Build provenance: gh attestation verify <file> -R Sigil-build/dictum shows that GitHub Actions built the file from this repository's source. The provenance also comes with the release as dictum-0.5.1.intoto.jsonl. With --bundle dictum-0.5.1.intoto.jsonl, the check runs without asking GitHub's attestation API.
• SBOM: dictum-0.5.1-sbom.spdx.json lists the components the release contains. Its attestation is dictum-0.5.1-sbom.intoto.jsonl.

The VirusTotal reports for each package are linked below. To report a vulnerability, see SECURITY.md.

Downloads

System	File
Windows 11 (x64)	dictum-0.5.1-win-x64.msi: installs for your user only, without admin rights. Or dictum-0.5.1-win-x64.zip to run without an installer.
Linux (x86-64)	dictum-0.5.1-linux-x64.AppImage, or dictum-0.5.1-linux-x64.tar.gz with install.sh
Arch, CachyOS	PKGBUILD, which uses the tarball

Updating: Dictum 0.5.0 tells you about this release by itself. Open the new MSI, run install.sh from the new tarball, or replace the AppImage; your settings and models stay. Step by step: Updating and removing.

The installer is not signed yet. Windows SmartScreen will say "Windows protected your PC": choose "More info", then "Run anyway".

License

MIT License. The third-party components Dictum ships keep their own licenses, listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt in every package.

VirusTotal

VirusTotal scans a file with dozens of antivirus engines and publishes what each of them found. Each link below opens the report on one package of this release; a new report takes a few minutes to appear.

Dictum is a new app and its files are not signed yet. Some engines judge a file by its reputation rather than by what it does, so one or two of them may flag such a file while the rest find nothing.

• dictum-0.5.1-linux-x64.AppImage
• dictum-0.5.1-linux-x64.tar.gz
• dictum-0.5.1-win-x64.msi
• dictum-0.5.1-win-x64.zip

Dictum 0.5.0

Dictum turns speech into text on Windows 11 and Linux. Hold a hotkey, speak, let go, and the text appears where your cursor is. Speech recognition runs on your own computer with Whisper.

Documentation: https://docs.sigil.build/dictum/ (Українською: https://docs.sigil.build/uk/dictum/)

What's new in 0.5.0

• Update check. Dictum asks GitHub once a day whether a newer version exists. When one does, you see a notification: a Windows notification, or a desktop notification for the AppImage and the tarball on Linux. You also see Update available in the tray menu. Clicking either opens the release page; Dictum does not download or install anything by itself.

  • GitHub sees your IP address and Dictum's version, nothing else.
  • Turn the check off in Settings → General → Check for updates. The Privacy page explains it.

• About Dictum. A new Settings page, also in the tray menu, shows:

  • your version and system;
  • the license and the third-party notices;
  • the update state with Check now;
  • links to the documentation, the releases and Report a problem.

  Copy version and system info puts the details a bug report needs on the clipboard, and the new bug report form on GitHub asks for exactly that.

• Window buttons. Minimise, maximise and close in the Settings and setup windows now sit flush with the window's edge, as in other Windows apps.

Checking a download

From this release on, every package can be verified three ways:

• SHA-256: compare against SHA256SUMS.
• Build provenance: gh attestation verify <file> -R Sigil-build/dictum shows that GitHub Actions built the file from this repository's source. To check offline, download dictum-0.5.0.intoto.jsonl too and add --bundle dictum-0.5.0.intoto.jsonl.
• SBOM: dictum-0.5.0-sbom.spdx.json lists the components the release contains. Its attestation is dictum-0.5.0-sbom.intoto.jsonl.

The VirusTotal reports for each package are linked below. Dictum's repository is also scanned on every change by CodeQL, SonarQube Cloud, Snyk, Dependabot, gitleaks and OpenSSF Scorecard. To report a vulnerability, see SECURITY.md.

Downloads

System	File
Windows 11 (x64)	dictum-0.5.0-win-x64.msi: installs for your user only, without admin rights. Or dictum-0.5.0-win-x64.zip to run without an installer.
Linux (x86-64)	dictum-0.5.0-linux-x64.AppImage, or dictum-0.5.0-linux-x64.tar.gz with install.sh
Arch, CachyOS	PKGBUILD, which uses the tarball

Updating from 0.4.0: open the new MSI, or run install.sh from the new tarball, or replace the AppImage. Your settings and models stay. Step by step: Updating and removing.

• Requirements:
  • a 64-bit CPU with AVX2;
  • on Linux, glibc 2.38 or newer for hotkeys on X11;
  • wl-clipboard (Wayland) or xclip/xsel (X11) for pasting;
  • on Wayland, xdg-desktop-portal with your desktop's backend.
• The installer is not signed yet. Windows SmartScreen will say "Windows protected your PC": choose "More info", then "Run anyway". With Smart App Control on, Windows blocks unsigned apps entirely.

License

MIT License. The third-party components Dictum ships keep their own licenses, listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt in every package.

VirusTotal

VirusTotal scans a file with dozens of antivirus engines and publishes what each of them found. Each link below opens the report on one package of this release; a new report takes a few minutes to appear.

Dictum is a new app and its files are not signed yet. Some engines judge a file by its reputation rather than by what it does, so one or two of them may flag such a file while the rest find nothing.

• dictum-0.5.0-linux-x64.AppImage
• dictum-0.5.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
• dictum-0.5.0-win-x64.msi
• dictum-0.5.0-win-x64.zip

Dictum 0.4.0

Dictum turns speech into text on Windows 11 and Linux. Hold a hotkey, speak, let go, and the text appears where your cursor is, in whatever app you are typing in. Speech recognition runs on your own computer with Whisper, on the GPU through Vulkan when it can. Nothing leaves your machine unless you connect a server yourself.

This is Dictum's first public release.

Documentation: https://docs.sigil.build/dictum/ (Українською: https://docs.sigil.build/uk/dictum/)

What it does

• Dictate anywhere. Hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Alt+Space by default) to record, or use a profile in toggle mode: press once to start and once to stop. Dictum pastes the text and puts your previous clipboard text back afterwards.
• Local speech recognition. Whisper models run on your computer. The setup recommends a model for your GPU and memory, downloads it and checks its SHA-256. You can also use an OpenAI-compatible speech-to-text server.
• Several languages. Pick the languages you dictate in. The main language has priority: Dictum uses another one only when Whisper is sure of it, so your words are not translated by mistake.
• Profiles. Several sets of settings, each with its own hotkey, languages, words and processing.
• Clean-up with your own LLM. Optionally send the text to an OpenAI-compatible server you run, such as llama.cpp's llama-server, llama-swap or Ollama, to fix punctuation and slips. The API key goes to the system keyring.
• Your words and replace rules. Teach Dictum names and terms it gets wrong, and fix recurring mistakes with plain or regex rules.
• The desktop app and the command line. A tray icon, a listening overlay, a setup wizard, Settings and history. The dictum command line covers the same ground, and dictum doctor checks microphones, models, the GPU, hotkeys, pasting and secrets, with a link to the fix for each problem.

Downloads

System	File
Windows 11 (x64)	dictum-0.4.0-win-x64.msi: installs for your user only, without admin rights. Or dictum-0.4.0-win-x64.zip to run without an installer.
Linux (x86-64)	dictum-0.4.0-linux-x64.AppImage, or dictum-0.4.0-linux-x64.tar.gz with install.sh
Arch, CachyOS	PKGBUILD, which uses the tarball

The SHA-256 of every file is in SHA256SUMS.

• Requirements:
  • a 64-bit CPU with AVX2;
  • on Linux, glibc 2.38 or newer for hotkeys on X11;
  • wl-clipboard (Wayland) or xclip/xsel (X11) for pasting;
  • on Wayland, xdg-desktop-portal with your desktop's backend.
• Installing: step by step in Getting started.

Before you install

• The installer is not signed yet.
  • Windows SmartScreen will say "Windows protected your PC": choose "More info", then "Run anyway".
  • With Smart App Control on, Windows blocks unsigned apps entirely.
• macOS is not supported.
• What Dictum accesses, and when. The Privacy page lists it: the microphone, the keyboard hook for hotkeys, the clipboard, the keyring, and the network only to your own servers and model downloads. There is no telemetry.

License

Dictum is released under the MIT License. The third-party components it ships keep their own licenses, listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt in every package.

VirusTotal

VirusTotal scans a file with dozens of antivirus engines and publishes what each of them found. Each link below opens the report on one package of this release; a new report takes a few minutes to appear.

Dictum is a new app and its files are not signed yet. Some engines judge a file by its reputation rather than by what it does, so one or two of them may flag such a file while the rest find nothing.

• dictum-0.4.0-linux-x64.AppImage
• dictum-0.4.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
• dictum-0.4.0-win-x64.msi
• dictum-0.4.0-win-x64.zip