NewType Project
PermanentUnderclass
PermanentUnderclass is an experimental native macOS app for quick dictation, two-track meeting and interview transcription, and live response cues grounded in your own reference material. We built it because the dictation apps we tried were slow or unreliable: this one starts fast, always shows which microphone it is listening to, and keeps working when audio inputs change.
What it does
- Hold Command–Option, speak, and paste the final text into the app you were using.
- Always see which microphone is live, right in the dictation overlay.
- Capture microphone and system audio as separate speakers, with a live transcript.
- Pop up real-time, grounded response cues in a browser window during meetings and interviews.
Built for reliability
There are other dictation apps for the Mac. We built this one because the ones we tried were slow, crashed, or needed restarts at the wrong moment. These details are the reason it exists.
🎙️ Know your input
The Quick Dictation overlay always shows the name of the microphone it is listening to. Inputs change often, especially with Bluetooth devices, and guessing which one is live is how dictations get lost.
⚡ Fast and steady
The app starts quickly and keeps working when audio inputs are switched. There are no restarts to pick up a new device, and no waiting for the tool when you are ready to speak.
🔁 Engines you can choose
Local Whisper and Parakeet run on-device with no account needed. When reliability matters most, OpenAI's transcription API is the option we reach for, and better local models can slot in as they arrive.
When you want to keep everything local, you can: the local engines keep audio on the Mac, the API key lives in the macOS Keychain, and a single “Never contact OpenAI” Privacy Lock disables every hosted path.
Selected views
All screenshots are generated with the app's synthetic documentation mode: no real credentials, dictations, reference folders, or running-process names are shown.
Quick Dictation
Hold a hotkey, speak, and the final text is pasted into the previously focused app. The overlay always shows the active microphone, and a final-text history is kept.
Meeting capture
Two-track capture of microphone and system audio, with a live transcript and real-time response cues in a companion browser window.
Interview mode
The same two-track capture with an Answer Mirror that suggests concise answer beats grounded in your own reference material.
Click any image to open it on GitHub in full resolution.