Dictation for developers
Dictation for developers, in the tools you already code in
A large part of a developer's writing is not code—it is commit messages, pull requests, docs, review comments, and chat. Dictro turns spoken thoughts into clean text at your cursor inside Xcode, VS Code, the terminal, and the browser, and it runs on-device by default.
Apple Silicon · macOS 15+ · Free plan · On-device mode
Be realistic about voice
Dictate the prose, keep typing the syntax
Voice is not faster than a keyboard for symbol-dense code, and honest tooling should say so. Where it genuinely helps is the English half of the job: describing what a change does, writing the pull request, documenting a function, leaving a review comment, or answering in Slack without breaking focus. Those are the moments Dictro is built for.
Commits & PRs
Explain the “why” of a change out loud and get a clean, structured description.
Docs & comments
Turn a spoken explanation into readable documentation or an inline note.
Reviews & chat
Reply to a review thread or a message without leaving the editor.
No separate window
It works where you already write
Dictro types into the field under your cursor, so there is no transcript inbox to copy from. Hold Right Option, speak, release, and the finished text lands in place—in the same tools you use all day.
Editors & IDEs
Xcode, VS Code, and JetBrains IDEs for docs, comments, and messages.
Terminal
Terminal and iTerm for commit messages and notes—review before you run anything.
Browser & tools
GitHub, Slack, Linear, and Notion for PRs, issues, and discussion.
Recognized, not guessed
Teach it your identifiers and jargon
Technical writing is full of words a general model mishears: library names, APIs, internal project names, and variable-style identifiers. Dictro's custom vocabulary lets you add those so they come out right the first time instead of being spelled phonetically.
- Add product, library, and framework names you say often.
- Include internal codenames and service names.
- Keep specialist terms consistent across commits, docs, and chat.
Privacy by architecture
On-device matters when the code is confidential
If you work on proprietary code or under an NDA, where your dictated words go is not a small detail. In Dictro's default on-device mode, speech recognition and cleanup run locally on Apple Silicon and your dictated content is not uploaded, so your work on sensitive code stays on your machine—and keeps working on restricted or offline networks.
Read more about private dictation on Mac and the offline dictation guide, or start free with the free plan.
Frequently asked questions
What people ask about Dictro
Can I dictate code on a Mac?
Dictation is best for the prose parts of a developer's day rather than literal syntax: commit messages, pull request descriptions, documentation, code review comments, and chat. Dictro cleans those into finished text at your cursor. For symbol-heavy code itself, typing is usually still faster.
Does dictation work in Xcode, VS Code, and the terminal?
Yes. Dictro types into standard editable text fields across macOS, including Xcode, VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Terminal and iTerm, GitHub in the browser, and tools like Slack, Linear, and Notion.
Is voice dictation safe for proprietary or NDA code?
In Dictro's default on-device mode, audio is transcribed and refined locally on your Apple Silicon Mac and no audio or transcript is uploaded. That keeps dictated content about proprietary work on your machine, and it keeps working on air-gapped or restricted networks.
Can I add custom words for APIs and variable names?
Yes. Dictro supports custom vocabulary so identifiers, product names, library names, and specialist jargon are recognized correctly instead of being transcribed phonetically.