← Whipscribe
Obsidian Plugin

Transcribe audio & video
directly in your vault

One hotkey records, transcribes, and pastes the text at your cursor. Works with the Whipscribe cloud API or runs fully offline via whisper.cpp — your choice.

Get the plugin → How to install
What it does

Everything you need, nothing you don't

Works on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Desktop only — the recorder and local runner require Electron.

🎙️

Voice recording

Bind a hotkey under Settings → Hotkeys. Press to start, press again to stop — transcript appears at the cursor.

📁

Right-click transcribe

Right-click any .mp3, .m4a, .mp4, .wav, .webm, .ogg, or .flac file in the vault explorer.

🗣️

Speakers

Speakers are identified and named in the summary, key quotes and chapters. When a transcript carries speaker segments, the plugin formats them into Speaker 1: / Speaker 2: blocks.

⏱️

Timestamped chapters

2-minute segment buckets with ### 00:00 headers — great for long interviews and lectures.

✅

Action-item extraction

Regex pass over the transcript pulls likely action items into a - [ ] checklist. Review before acting.

🔒

Local mode

Switch to whisper.cpp and audio never leaves your machine. No API key required, no network, no usage limits.

Two backends

Cloud speed or local privacy

Switch backends any time from the plugin settings. You can use cloud for quick recordings and local for sensitive interviews.

Cloud

Whipscribe API

Default. No install beyond the plugin itself. Works without a key: every recording gets a free preview, and a pack from $4 opens full transcripts. An API key raises rate limits.

  • Fastest — runs on our own servers
  • Speakers identified and named in the summary, key quotes and chapters
  • 99+ language auto-detection
  • Free preview, no credit card to start
Local

whisper.cpp

Runs on your machine. Audio stays in your vault. Works offline on a plane. No usage caps once the model is downloaded.

  • Fully air-gapped — no network egress
  • No per-minute charges ever
  • Metal-accelerated on Apple Silicon
  • Pick model size: tiny → large-v3
Installation

Set up in under 5 minutes

The plugin is not yet in the Obsidian community marketplace — install manually from GitHub for now.

1

Clone the plugin into your vault

Replace ~/your-vault with your actual vault path:

cd ~/your-vault/.obsidian/plugins
git clone https://github.com/neugence/obsidian-whipscribe whipscribe
2

Build the plugin

cd whipscribe
npm install
npm run build

This produces main.js — the file Obsidian loads.

3

Enable in Obsidian

Open Settings → Community plugins → Reload, then toggle WhipScribe on.

4

Bind your hotkey (optional)

Go to Settings → Hotkeys, search for "Start or stop recording", and assign a shortcut like Cmd+Shift+W.

Cloud setup

Add an API key (optional but recommended)

Requests work without a key and get a free preview. An API key raises rate limits and links transcripts to your account.

1

Get your API key

Sign in at whipscribe.com/keys and copy your key.

2

Enter the key in plugin settings

Open Settings → WhipScribe, set backend to WhipScribe (cloud), and paste your key into API Key.

Local setup

Run whisper.cpp offline

Audio never leaves your machine. Requires a one-time model download (~75 MB to 3 GB depending on your choice).

1

Install whisper.cpp

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install whisper-cpp

This installs /opt/homebrew/bin/whisper-cli. Use Auto-detect in settings to find the binary automatically.

2

Download a model

ModelSizeSpeedQuality
ggml-tiny.en.bin75 MBFastestEnglish only
ggml-base.en.bin140 MBFastRecommended
ggml-small.en.bin465 MBMediumGreat accuracy
ggml-medium.en.bin1.5 GBSlowerNear cloud quality
ggml-large-v3.bin3 GBSlowestMultilingual, best
 
mkdir -p ~/Models/whisper && cd ~/Models/whisper
curl -LO https://huggingface.co/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/resolve/main/ggml-base.en.bin
3

Configure the plugin

In Settings → WhipScribe:

• Backend → whisper.cpp (local)
• Binary path → click Auto-detect or paste /opt/homebrew/bin/whisper-cli
• Model path → ~/Models/whisper/ggml-base.en.bin
• Language → auto or an ISO code like en

Note: The first local run is slow because of Metal backend initialization on Apple Silicon. Subsequent runs in the same Obsidian session are faster.
Output formats

Four ways to insert transcripts

Choose your format in plugin settings. The setting applies to all new transcriptions.

Plain Plain text 
## Transcription
*From meeting.m4a · 2026-04-24*

The Q3 roadmap review covered three items...
Diarized Speaker labels 
**Speaker 1:** Let's start with the numbers.

**Speaker 2:** Sure. Revenue is up 18%...
Actions Action items 
## Action Items
*From meeting.m4a*

- [ ] Send Q3 deck to team by Friday
- [ ] Book follow-up with design lead
Chapters Timestamped 
### 00:00
Intro and context setting...

### 02:00
Deep dive into roadmap priorities...

Ready to transcribe in your vault?

Free to install. No account required for cloud. Fully local option available.

Get the plugin on GitHub →
The WhipScribe Obsidian plugin is desktop-only (macOS, Windows, Linux). It does not work on Obsidian for iOS or Android — MediaRecorder and subprocess execution are unavailable in those environments.