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 <ID> — 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.