Self-hosted AI transcription and intelligent note-taking platform

Documentation • Quick Start • Screenshots • Docker Hub • Releases

Speakr transforms your audio recordings into organized, searchable, and intelligent notes. Built for privacy-conscious groups and individuals, it runs entirely on your own infrastructure, ensuring your sensitive conversations remain completely private.

Speakr turns a recording into organized, searchable, shareable knowledge. Here is the pipeline:

• Flexible input - record from your microphone, your computer's system or browser-tab audio, or both mixed together; or drag and drop existing files. A per-OS setup guide and a virtual-device picker surface Pulse / PipeWire monitors, BlackHole, VB-Cable, Voicemeeter, and Stereo Mix as inputs.
• Long sessions - in-app recordings stream to the server during capture, so sessions can run for hours and survive a page reload.
• Hands-off intake - a watched "black hole" folder auto-imports and processes any audio dropped into it.

• Bring your own engine - self-hosted WhisperX (recommended; it is what enables the speaker features below), OpenAI, Mistral / Voxtral, or any custom ASR webservice. The right connector is auto-detected from your configuration.
• Speaker diarization - automatic who-said-what labeling (WhisperX, or OpenAI's diarizing models).
• Voice profiles - recognize the same person across different recordings via voice embeddings (requires the WhisperX ASR backend).
• Custom vocabulary and hotwords (most effective with the WhisperX backend) - bias the transcriber toward names, jargon, and acronyms it would otherwise mishear; configurable globally or per tag / folder.
• Synced playback - click any line to jump to that moment, follow-along highlighting during playback, and a chat-style bubble view.
• Language support - automatic language detection plus a quick-pick of 11 common languages.

• Summaries - generated automatically, with prompts you can fully customize per recording, tag, or folder (including reusable prompt variables).
• Event extraction - surface action items and calendar-worthy events from a transcript.
• Per-recording chat - ask questions about a single recording in a floating, dockable panel.
• Inquire Mode - semantic search and natural-language chat across your entire library at once.

• Folders and bulk operations to keep a large library tidy.
• Smart tags that carry their own AI prompt and ASR settings - and stack, so multiple tags layer their instructions.
• Retention policies with auto-deletion and per-recording protection from cleanup.
• Automated export to templated files when a recording finishes.

• Multi-user with Single Sign-On against any OIDC provider (Keycloak, Azure AD, Google, Auth0, Pocket ID).
• Groups with group-scoped tags that auto-share recordings to every member.
• Granular internal sharing (view / edit / reshare) and admin-controlled, secure public links.

• REST API v1 with a Swagger UI, for automation tools (n8n, Zapier, Make) and dashboards.
• Signed webhooks - HMAC-signed, SSRF-guarded, retrying outbound notifications on recording lifecycle events.
• Usage budgets for LLM tokens and transcription minutes, per user.

Speakr is also an installable Progressive Web App - mobile-first, offline-capable, with a phone share-target - and ships light/dark themes, an incognito mode, and a UI translated into seven languages.

Different people use Speakr's collaboration and retention features in different ways:

Tags with custom prompts transform raw recordings into exactly what you need:

• Recipe recordings: Record yourself cooking while narrating - tag with "Recipe" to convert messy speech into formatted recipes with ingredient lists and numbered steps
• Lecture notes: Students tag lectures with "Study Notes" to get organized outlines with concepts, examples, and definitions instead of raw transcripts
• Code reviews: "Code Review" tag extracts issues, suggested changes, and action items in technical language developers can use directly
• Meeting summaries: "Action Items" tag ignores discussion and returns just decisions, tasks, and deadlines

Stack multiple tags to layer instructions:

• "Recipe" + "Gluten Free" = Formatted recipe with gluten substitution suggestions
• "Lecture" + "Biology 301" = Study notes format focused on biological terminology
• "Client Meeting" + "Legal Review" = Client requirements plus legal implications highlighted

The order can matter - start with format tags, then add focus tags for best results.

• Obsidian/Logseq: Enable auto-export to write completed transcripts directly to your vault using your custom template - no manual export needed
• Documentation wikis: Map auto-export to your wiki's import folder for seamless transcript publishing
• Content creation: Create SRT subtitle templates from your audio recordings for podcasts or video content
• Project management: Extract action items with custom tag prompts, then auto-export for automated task creation

# Create project directory
mkdir speakr && cd speakr

# Download docker-compose configuration:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/murtaza-nasir/speakr/master/config/docker-compose.example.yml -O docker-compose.yml

# Download the environment template:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/murtaza-nasir/speakr/master/config/env.transcription.example -O .env

# Configure your API keys and launch
nano .env
docker compose up -d

# Access at http://localhost:8899

Lightweight image: Use learnedmachine/speakr:lite for a smaller image (~725MB vs ~4.4GB) that skips PyTorch. All features work normally — only Inquire Mode's semantic search falls back to basic text search.

Required API Keys:

• TRANSCRIPTION_API_KEY - For speech-to-text (OpenAI) or ASR_BASE_URL for self-hosted
• TEXT_MODEL_API_KEY - For summaries, titles, and chat (OpenRouter or OpenAI)

Speakr uses a connector-based architecture that auto-detects your transcription provider:

Simplest setup (OpenAI with diarization):

TRANSCRIPTION_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key
TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL=gpt-4o-transcribe-diarize

Best quality (Self-hosted WhisperX):

ASR_BASE_URL=http://whisperx-asr:9000
ASR_RETURN_SPEAKER_EMBEDDINGS=true  # Enable voice profiles

Requires WhisperX ASR Service container with GPU.

Mistral Voxtral (cloud diarization):

TRANSCRIPTION_CONNECTOR=mistral
TRANSCRIPTION_API_KEY=your-mistral-key
TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL=voxtral-mini-latest

VibeVoice ASR (self-hosted, no cloud dependency):

TRANSCRIPTION_CONNECTOR=vibevoice
TRANSCRIPTION_BASE_URL=http://your-vllm-server:8000
TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL=vibevoice

Requires VibeVoice served via vLLM with GPU.

PyTorch 2.6 Users: If you encounter a "Weights only load failed" error with WhisperX, add TORCH_FORCE_NO_WEIGHTS_ONLY_LOAD=true to your ASR container. See troubleshooting for details.

View Full Installation Guide →

Complete documentation is available at murtaza-nasir.github.io/speakr

• Getting Started - Quick setup guide
• User Guide - Learn all features
• Admin Guide - Administration and configuration
• Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions
• FAQ - Frequently asked questions

The first non-patch release in the v0.8 line. Three big user-facing themes: capturing audio is now multi-platform and properly documented, the mobile app is a first-class member of the design system, and the upload modal stops feeling like a desktop card pasted onto a phone. Full release notes: release_notes_v0.9.0.md.

System Audio & Multi-Input Recording

• Per-OS help guide auto-opens for the right platform (macOS BlackHole + Multi-Output Device, Windows "Share system audio", Linux pavucontrol + pactl module-virtual-source one-liner)
• New Input devices picker: pick a primary mic AND an optional "Also mix in" secondary device; Web Audio mixes both into one track for capturing both sides of a meeting
• Toggle to disable Chrome's echo cancellation / noise suppression / auto-gain (needed for monitor-source capture)
• Virtual audio device discovery (BlackHole, Loopback, VB-Cable, Voicemeeter, Stereo Mix, Pulse / PipeWire monitors)
• Privacy notes section flags the trade-offs honestly with concrete mitigations

Stats Tab

• New per-recording tab: total length, speaker count, turns, words at the top; per-speaker time / % / turns / words / WPM table; silence row
• Available on desktop right-rail tabs and mobile bottom-nav More overflow

Upload Modal Redesign

• Real modal overlay (not full-screen takeover), progressive disclosure of Options behind a chip summary, inline file preview with duration probe, sticky modal-footer Upload action, last-used tag/folder/language auto-restore with clearable chips, calmer recording buttons
• Mobile: full-width bottom-sheet with drag-to-dismiss

Mobile UI

• Bottom navigation (Summary / Transcript / Chat / More), contextual icons in the chevron row, edge-to-edge content, sticky speaker pills, sticky editor Cancel/Save footer, audio player polish (volume slider rotation fix, popover anchored upward), progress queue as a bottom sheet anchored above the player

Inquire mode "+ New Recording" now opens the upload modal directly via ?upload=1 instead of dumping you on the list.

Design system unification brought 22 modals onto shared .modal-* primitives, .btn + .field everywhere, dark-mode select theming, header consolidation, sidebar redesign, floating dockable chat panel.

Backend & infra: Webhooks Phase 1–3 with HMAC + retry + SSRF guard, server-side recording sessions (hours-long ceiling, resume-on-reload), IDOR fixes for folder / tag ownership, eager-loading and batch query performance work.

Localization refreshed across en, fr, de, es, ru, zh, pt-BR.

Older releases: see the GitHub Releases page for tagged versions, or the release history on the docs site for narrative changelog entries going back to earlier v0.x lines.

Main view with floating chat and notes	Video playback synced to the transcript
Ask questions across all your recordings	Per-recording stats and speaker breakdown
On mobile: summary with bottom navigation	On mobile: transcript in bubble view

View Full Screenshot Gallery →

• Backend: Python/Flask with SQLAlchemy
• Frontend: Vue.js 3 with Tailwind CSS
• AI/ML: OpenAI Whisper, OpenRouter, Ollama support
• Database: SQLite (default) or PostgreSQL
• Deployment: Docker, Docker Compose

• Speaker voice profiles with AI-powered identification (v0.5.9)
• Group workspaces with shared recordings (v0.5.9)
• PWA enhancements with offline support and background sync (v0.5.10)
• Multi-user job queue with fair scheduling (v0.6.0)
• SSO integration with OIDC providers (v0.7.0)
• Token usage tracking and per-user budgets (v0.7.2)
• Connector-based transcription architecture with auto-detection (v0.8.0)
• Comprehensive REST API with Swagger UI documentation (v0.8.0)
• Video retention with in-browser video playback (v0.8.11)
• Parallel uploads with duplicate detection (v0.8.11)
• Fullscreen video mode with live subtitles (v0.8.14)
• Custom vocabulary and transcription hints (v0.8.14)

• Quick language switching for transcription
• Automated workflow triggers

• Plugin system for custom integrations
• End-to-end encryption option

• Report bugs
• Request features

This project is dual-licensed:

1. GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPLv3)

   Speakr is offered under the AGPLv3 as its open-source license. You are free to use, modify, and distribute this software under the terms of the AGPLv3. A key condition of the AGPLv3 is that if you run a modified version on a network server and provide access to it for others, you must also make the source code of your modified version available to those users under the AGPLv3.

   • You must create a file named LICENSE (or COPYING) in the root of your repository and paste the full text of the GNU AGPLv3 license into it.
   • Read the full license text carefully to understand your rights and obligations.

2. Commercial License

   For users or organizations who cannot or do not wish to comply with the terms of the AGPLv3 (for example, if you want to integrate Speakr into a proprietary commercial product or service without being obligated to share your modifications under AGPLv3), a separate commercial license is available.

   Please contact speakr maintainers for details on obtaining a commercial license.

You must choose one of these licenses under which to use, modify, or distribute this software. If you are using or distributing the software without a commercial license agreement, you must adhere to the terms of the AGPLv3.

We welcome contributions to Speakr! There are many ways to help:

• Bug Reports & Feature Requests: Open an issue
• Discussions: Share ideas and ask questions
• Documentation: Help improve our docs
• Translations: Contribute translations for internationalization

By submitting a pull request, you agree to our Contributor License Agreement (CLA). This ensures we can maintain our dual-license model (AGPLv3 and Commercial). You retain copyright ownership of your contribution — the CLA simply grants us permission to include it in both the open source and commercial versions of Speakr. Our bot will post a reminder when you open a PR.

See our Contributing Guide for complete details on:

• How the CLA works and why we need it
• Step-by-step contribution process
• Development setup instructions
• Coding standards and best practices