whisnap

Use whisnap for transcribing audio/video files from the terminal. Requires the Whisnap macOS app with at least one model downloaded.

Setup (once)

• Open Whisnap app → Settings → Advanced → Enable CLI (creates /usr/local/bin/whisnap symlink)
• Download at least one Whisper model in the app

Common commands

• Transcribe audio: whisnap recording.wav
• Transcribe video: whisnap meeting.mp4
• Cloud transcription: whisnap recording.wav --cloud
• JSON output with timestamps: whisnap lecture.m4a --json
• Specific model: whisnap interview.wav -m small-q5_1
• Cloud + JSON: whisnap recording.wav --cloud --json
• List downloaded models: whisnap --list-models
• Verbose diagnostics: whisnap recording.wav -v

Supported formats

• Audio: WAV, MP3, FLAC, M4A, OGG
• Video: MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM

Flags

• -c, --cloud — Use Whisnap Cloud instead of local model (requires sign-in)
• -m, --model — Override model (e.g., small-q5_1). Defaults to app's selected model.
• -j, --json — Structured JSON output with text, segments, timestamps, model info
• -v, --verbose — Print progress and diagnostics to stderr
• --list-models — List available models and exit

JSON output format

{
  "text": "transcribed text",
  "segments": [{ "start_ms": 0, "end_ms": 1000, "text": "segment" }],
  "model": "small-q5_1",
  "backend": "whisper",
  "processing_time_ms": 5000
}

Notes

• The CLI reuses models and settings from the Whisnap app (~/Library/Application Support/com.whisnap.desktop/).
• Cloud mode requires authentication — sign in via the app first.
• For scripting, use --json and pipe stdout. Diagnostics go to stderr.
• Exit code 0 = success, 1 = error.
• Only Whisper models are supported in CLI mode (not Parakeet).
• Confirm the file path exists before transcribing — the CLI validates but does not search.