Wheelhouse: voice control and dictation for Windows

Wheelhouse converts what you say into text and types it into the window you are working in. When what you say matches a command, Wheelhouse carries out the command instead of typing the words. Commands press keys, click buttons and links, move the cursor, and open and switch programs.

Wheelhouse is written for people who prefer not to or cannot use a keyboard or mouse. It can be used with a keyboard and mouse, or in place of them.

Requires 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, 8 GB of memory (16 GB recommended), 10 GB of free disk space, and a microphone. English only.

Download Wheelhouse-Setup.exe Requirements Quick start

Free and open source (Apache 2.0). Speech recognition runs on your computer by default. The default setup needs no account.

Example: write and format a note in Notepad

Notepad is open and fills the screen, with a new, empty document. Formatting is on in the Notepad settings, so that Notepad can show bold text.

meeting notes new paragraph the release is ready periodWheelhouse types the first two words, leaves a blank line, and types the rest of the words with a period at the end.
go to the top of the documentWheelhouse presses Ctrl+Home. The cursor goes to the start of the first line.
select lineWheelhouse presses Home, then Shift+End. The first line is selected.
boldWheelhouse presses Ctrl+B. The first line becomes bold. This step works only when formatting is on in the Notepad settings.
show numbersWheelhouse puts a number on every clickable control in the Notepad window.
click threeSay “click” and the number that Wheelhouse shows on the File menu. That number can be different from three. Wheelhouse clicks the File menu, and the menu opens. The numbers go away.
escapeWheelhouse presses Esc. The File menu closes.
show gridWheelhouse puts a three-by-three grid over the screen. The cells have the numbers 1 to 9, with 1 at the top left and 9 at the bottom right.
fiveWheelhouse draws a smaller grid inside cell 5, the middle cell.
clickWheelhouse clicks at the center of the small grid, which is the center of the screen. The grid closes. Notepad puts the cursor in the text, at the place nearest to the click.

Step 1 is dictation. In step 1, Wheelhouse types the words, and changes “new paragraph” into a blank line and “period” into a period. All the other steps are commands.

What Wheelhouse does

Wheelhouse starts listening when it launches. Each thing you say is either dictation or a command.

Dictation

Your words appear in the window you are working in while you speak. On current hardware the first words appear about 1 to 2 seconds after you start. Punctuation is spoken: comma, period, question mark, new paragraph. Punctuation New paragraph

Editing text

Move the cursor, select, delete and format text by voice. Examples: delete last word, select paragraph, go to the top of the document, bold next 3 words, undo. Correcting a word Editing commands

Clicking

Say click and the name of a button or link, for example click send. When a control has no usable name, show numbers puts a number on each clickable control in the front window. click 4 then clicks number 4. Clicking

Pointing anywhere on the screen

show grid puts a numbered three-by-three grid over the screen. Each number you say narrows the grid to that cell. Then click, double click, right click, or mark and drag act at the center. Use it for maps, drawing programs, and controls that cannot be clicked by name. Mouse grid

Programs and windows

activate and a program name brings that program forward, and starts it if it is not running. browser brings your default web browser forward. minimize, maximize and desktop act on windows. Programs and windows

Keyboard shortcuts

press and key names sends any key combination, for example press control shift t or press f5. Keys

Your own commands

patterns opens the Pattern Manager. It lists every command and lets you add your own: text to type, keys to press, or a program to run. Your commands are kept when you update Wheelhouse. Pattern Manager

Starting and stopping listening

A click on the floating button or the tray icon switches listening off and on. In push-to-talk mode, Wheelhouse listens only while you hold the floating button. stop listening switches listening off. In the default mode, the wake word computer switches it on again. Stop listening and the wake word Listening modes

Optional AI correction and rewriting

x-ray fix corrects selected text. simplify, shorten and x-ray translate to and a language name rewrite it. These commands need an AI model, which needs its own setup. Dictation and all other commands work without it. AI commands

How Wheelhouse tells commands from dictation

Most commands work only when they are the whole of what you say, followed by a pause. undo on its own undoes. In I will undo the change, the word is typed.
Punctuation words work anywhere in a sentence.
Commands that could do damage during dictation need the safety word x-ray first, for example x-ray close window.
To type a word that is also a command, say literal before it: literal undo types the word “undo”.

How speech is classified The safety word literal

Example: click a link that has no name, then a point on a map

A web page in the browser has a picture link with no text. The page also has a map.

show numbersWheelhouse puts a number on every clickable control in the front window.
click twelveWheelhouse clicks the control labelled 12, the picture link. The map page opens. The numbers go away. To keep them on, select “Keep numbers on after a click or window change” in the Settings window.
show gridWheelhouse puts a numbered three-by-three grid over the screen.
number sevenWheelhouse draws the grid again inside cell 7.
number threeWheelhouse draws the grid again inside cell 3 of that cell.
clickWheelhouse clicks the map at the center of the small grid that is on the screen. The grid closes.

Example: edit, save, and close a document without the mouse

A word processor that supports bold text, for example Microsoft Word, has a short document open. The first line is “Meeting notes”.

go to the top of the documentWheelhouse presses Ctrl+Home.
select lineWheelhouse presses Home, then Shift+End. The first line is selected.
bold textWheelhouse presses Ctrl+B. The first line becomes bold.
go to the bottom of the documentWheelhouse presses Ctrl+End.
new paragraph next steps colonWheelhouse presses Shift+Enter twice to leave a blank line, then types the words and a colon.
saveWheelhouse presses Ctrl+S.
x-ray close windowWheelhouse presses Alt+F4. The window closes. This command needs the safety word, so dictated words cannot close a window by accident.

Requirements

Windows: 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 11.
Memory: 8 GB for the offline speech engine, Parakeet (the default). 6 GB is the minimum with the Google Cloud speech engine. 16 GB is recommended.
Processor: four or more cores recommended. On two cores, Wheelhouse runs, but speech recognition will be slow.
Disk: 10 GB of free space. An SSD is recommended. On a hard disk, startup and first responses are slower.
Microphone: a laptop’s built-in microphone is usually adequate. If recognition is poor, try a headset or an external microphone.
Internet: needed for installation, which downloads about 3 GB. The default speech recognition works offline after installation.
Administrator rights: not required. Windows asks for permission before it installs the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime, if the computer needs it.

Setup checks the computer before it installs anything. Full system requirements

Privacy, network use, and accounts

Speech

With the default speech engine, speech is converted to text on your computer. No audio or text is sent.

Telemetry and logs

Wheelhouse sends no telemetry. Dictated text is not written to the log files unless you turn on transcript logging.

Update check

Once a day, Wheelhouse asks api.github.com whether a newer release exists. The request contains no user data, but GitHub sees your IP address. To turn the daily check off, set CHECK_FOR_UPDATES = false in config.toml. A manual check from the About Wheelhouse window still asks GitHub when you choose it.

Optional parts that send data or need an account

Part	What is sent	Account needed	Cost
Google Cloud speech engine	Audio, to Google	A Google Cloud account and a one-time credentials setup	Free tier, then Google charges
Cloud AI correction and rewriting	The selected text, to the AI service you configure	An access key from that service	The service’s prices
AI model on your computer (set up from the command-line installer)	Nothing	None	Free
Wheelhouse Assistant (help)	Your questions, to Google’s Gemini Notebook, in your browser	A Google Account (free, no credit card)	Free

The user guide, the reference, and email help need no account.

Speech engines Privacy policy

Limitations

Wheelhouse does not:

recognize languages other than English;
run on the Windows sign-in screen or the lock screen;
run on any system other than 64-bit Windows 10 and 11;
move the pointer by direction, as in move mouse left. Use the grid instead;
number controls across the whole screen. The numbers cover the front window and the taskbar;
hold a key down.

Project status. Wheelhouse has been tested on a limited range of computers, so problems on other hardware and in other programs are expected. Please report them. Report a problem

If you use Windows Voice Access, the “Coming from Voice Access” page lists the commands that work the same, the ones that differ, and what each program has that the other does not. Coming from Voice Access

Install

Installation takes 10 to 20 minutes. Most of that time is the download of the speech model.

Download Wheelhouse-Setup.exe from the project’s GitHub release page. You do not need a GitHub account.
Run it. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, select “More info”. Check that the publisher is David Chesley Hite III, then select “Run anyway”. The installer checks the computer, asks which speech engine to use, and downloads the speech model. The preselected answers suit most computers.
Start Wheelhouse from the Start menu. Open Notepad and say hello world. The words appear in Notepad.

Installation steps

Installation guide: updating, other engines, and removal

Help and contact

User guide: every function, with examples.
Reference: every action, notice, and setting.
Wheelhouse Assistant: answers questions from the documentation. It runs on Google’s Gemini Notebook and needs a Google Account.
Email: for problems and questions the guides do not answer.
Source code and issue tracker.

Author: David Hite.