Caster

Caster is a collection of tools aimed at enabling programming and accessibility entirely by voice built upon the Dragonfly API.

Note for PyPi Users: The PIP package is (Alpha). Do not use the PIP install. Alternatively use this Master Branch with classic install for the best feature experience.

• Videos by the Caster Community.
  • Caster Demo
  • VimGolf and Project Euler
  • Dictating maths into scientific notebook and Dictating math by voice using Caster
• Instructions for installing
• Documentation on Caster [ReadTheDocs] and Dragonfly [ReadTheDocs]
• How to Speak Code - Example Document
• Caster Command Reference Guides
  • Caster - commands to get started with. Universal navigation and editing - These commands are active all the time, and provide input commands for letters, numbers and punctuation, as well as the ability to easily manipulate windows and text.
    • window right moves the active window to the right-hand side of the screen.
    • prekris inserts a pair of brackets () and moves the cursor inside them.
    • shackle selects the current line.
  • Applications - Application specific control - These commands are only activated when a particular program is the active window, and they provide support for text editors, IDEs, web browsers etc. For example, while the Sublime text editor is the active window, saying
    • find will execute a ctrl-f keystroke, bringing up the find and replace prompt,
    • open file will execute a ctrl-o keystroke,
    • edit next <n> - ctrl-d n times, selecting the next n instances of the currently selected word.
  • Program Languages - Language specific coding - These modules are activated and deactivated with the enable/disable <language> voice command. For example say enable python.
    • for loop which will insert for i in range(0, ):
    • print to console - print()
    • open file - open('filename', 'r') as f:
• Contributing / How can I help?
• Do you want to financially support Caster development? Donate at
• Making your own Dragonfly and Caster rules augmented by Development Commands
• Need support or just curious? Join our community at and Discord for voice chat.
• The DictationToolbox.org is a curated webpage of information related to voice programming and accessibility. Content Includes: User Tips, Hardware, Videos, Blogs, Repositories, Presentations, and etc. Pull requests welcome!

Feature List

• Configurable Settings in C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\caster

• Customize Commands aka Specs and their actions via Simplified Filter Rules and Filter Rules (WIP). Filter Rules code examples can be found in .caster\filters\examples.

• Compatible Speech Recognition Engines

  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking v13 and higher
  • Windows Speech Recognition

• Supported Programming Languages - Enhanced by Caster's Continuous Command Recognition - Demo

  • Python, Java, Bash, C++, C#, Rust, Go, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, Dart, Latex , Matlab, R, Prolog, VHDL, and Haxe

• Supported Applications

  • IDEs/Editors: Microsoft Visual C++, Visual Studio, Eclipse, Jetbrains IDEs, Emacs, Sublime, Atom, Visual Studio Code, Notepad++, FlashDevelop, Sql Developer, SQL Server Management Studio
  • Development Tools: Command Prompt, GitBash, KDiff3
  • Statistics: RStudio
  • Word Processor: lyx, Microsoft Word, Typora
  • Browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer
  • Git Client: Github Desktop
  • Chat: Microsoft Teams, Gitter
  • Applications: Foxit Reader, fman, Total Commander, Outlook, Excel

• Editing and Navigation

  • Four additional mouse navigation modes: curse, sudoku, douglas, legion, and rainbow - Demo
  • Text navigation commands - Demo, Text formatting commands
  • Alphabet, numbers, punctuation input commands
  • Commands to interact with generic File Dialogues.

• Utilize Powerful Commands

  • "Alias" Commands - on-the-fly commands created by highlighting stuff
  • "Record From History" - turn previously spoken commands into a voice macro

• Third-party Integrations

  • Sikulix - Setup: Automates anything you see on the screen of your desktop computer. - Demo
  • Aenea - Setup: A client-server library for using voice macros from Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Dragonfly on remote/non-windows hosts.
  • Autohotkey: A scripting language that allows the automation of various tasks in Windows. Simply install the latest version. If installed, it can speed up some commands by a few seconds - e.g. checking out or updating a pull request from github.

• Caster extends the Dragonfly API for even more powerful commands.

  • The Context Stack - Create asynchronous and context seeking commands
  • Spec reduction via NodeRule (WIP)