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Hold a key and speak to dictate your prompts. Your speech is transcribed live into the prompt input, so you can mix voice and typing in the same message. Enable dictation with /voice. The default push-to-talk key is Space; rebind to a modifier combination to activate on the first keypress rather than after a brief hold.
Voice dictation requires Claude Code v2.1.69 or later. Check your version with claude --version.

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Requirements

Voice dictation streams your recorded audio to Anthropic’s servers for transcription. Audio is not processed locally. The speech-to-text service is only available when you authenticate with a Claude.ai account, and is not available when Claude Code is configured to use an Anthropic API key directly, Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, or Microsoft Foundry. See data usage for how Anthropic handles your data. Voice dictation also needs local microphone access, so it does not work in remote environments such as Claude Code on the web or SSH sessions. In WSL, voice dictation requires WSLg for audio access, which is included with WSL2 on Windows 11. On Windows 10 or WSL1, run Claude Code in native Windows instead. Audio recording uses a built-in native module on macOS, Linux, and Windows. On Linux, if the native module cannot load, Claude Code falls back to arecord from ALSA utils or rec from SoX. If neither is available, /voice prints an install command for your package manager.

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Enable voice dictation

Run /voice to toggle voice dictation on. The first time you enable it, Claude Code runs a microphone check. On macOS, this triggers the system microphone permission prompt for your terminal if it has never been granted. 
/voice
Voice mode enabled. Hold Space to record. Dictation language: en (/config to change).
Voice dictation persists across sessions. Run /voice again to turn it off, or set it directly in your user settings file: 
{
  "voiceEnabled": true
}
While voice dictation is enabled, the input footer shows a hold Space to speak hint when the prompt is empty. The hint does not appear if you have a custom status line configured.

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Record a prompt

Hold Space to start recording. Claude Code detects a held key by watching for rapid key-repeat events from your terminal, so there is a brief warmup before recording begins. The footer shows keep holding… during warmup, then switches to a live waveform once recording is active. The first couple of key-repeat characters type into the input during warmup and are removed automatically when recording activates. A single Space tap still types a space, since hold detection only triggers on rapid repeat.
To skip the warmup, rebind to a modifier combination like meta+k. Modifier combos start recording on the first keypress.
Your speech appears in the prompt as you speak, dimmed until the transcript is finalized. Release Space to stop recording and finalize the text. The transcript is inserted at your cursor position and the cursor stays at the end of the inserted text, so you can mix typing and dictation in any order. Hold Space again to append another recording, or move the cursor first to insert speech elsewhere in the prompt: 
> refactor the auth middleware to ▮
  # hold Space, speak "use the new token validation helper"
> refactor the auth middleware to use the new token validation helper▮
Transcription is tuned for coding vocabulary. Common development terms like regex, OAuth, JSON, and localhost are recognized correctly, and your current project name and git branch name are added as recognition hints automatically.

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Change the dictation language

Voice dictation uses the same language setting that controls Claude’s response language. If that setting is empty, dictation defaults to English.
LanguageCode
Czechcs
Danishda
Dutchnl
Englishen
Frenchfr
Germande
Greekel
Hindihi
Indonesianid
Italianit
Japaneseja
Koreanko
Norwegianno
Polishpl
Portuguesept
Russianru
Spanishes
Swedishsv
Turkishtr
Ukrainianuk
Set the language in /config or directly in settings. You can use either the BCP 47 language code or the language name: 
{
  "language": "japanese"
}
If your language setting is not in the supported list, /voice warns you on enable and falls back to English for dictation. Claude’s text responses are not affected by this fallback.

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Rebind the push-to-talk key

The push-to-talk key is bound to voice:pushToTalk in the Chat context and defaults to Space. Rebind it in ~/.claude/keybindings.json: 
{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "context": "Chat",
      "bindings": {
        "meta+k": "voice:pushToTalk",
        "space": null
      }
    }
  ]
}
Setting "space": null removes the default binding. Omit it if you want both keys active. Because hold detection relies on key-repeat, avoid binding a bare letter key like v since it types into the prompt during warmup. Use Space, or use a modifier combination like meta+k to start recording on the first keypress with no warmup. See customize keyboard shortcuts for the full keybinding syntax.

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Troubleshooting

Common issues when voice dictation does not activate or record:
  • Voice mode requires a Claude.ai account: you are authenticated with an API key or a third-party provider. Run /login to sign in with a Claude.ai account.
  • Microphone access is denied: grant microphone permission to your terminal in system settings. On macOS, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone. On Windows, go to Settings → Privacy → Microphone. Then run /voice again.
  • No audio recording tool found on Linux: the native audio module could not load and no fallback is installed. Install SoX with the command shown in the error message, for example sudo apt-get install sox.
  • Nothing happens when holding Space: watch the prompt input while you hold. If spaces keep accumulating, voice dictation is off; run /voice to enable it. If only one or two spaces appear and then nothing, voice dictation is on but hold detection is not triggering. Hold detection requires your terminal to send key-repeat events, so it cannot detect a held key if key-repeat is disabled at the OS level.
  • Transcription is garbled or in the wrong language: dictation defaults to English. If you are dictating in another language, set it in /config first. See Change the dictation language.

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See also