Dictate into Claude Code on a Mac: the two ways, and what each one sends

Option 1: the built-in /voice mode

1. 1In a Claude Code session, run /voice. The first time, macOS asks for microphone permission for your terminal app.
2. 2Hold Space to record (there is a short warmup while the terminal detects a held key), or switch to /voice tap to tap once to start and once to send.
3. 3Speech appears in the prompt as you talk and is finalized when you release.

What to know, as of September 2026, from Anthropic's own documentation: audio is streamed to Anthropic's servers for transcription, it is not processed locally; it requires signing in with a Claude.ai account and is not available with an API key, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud's Agent Platform or Microsoft Foundry; it does not work over SSH or in remote sessions because the microphone is on your machine; and it only exists inside Claude Code and its VS Code extension. Recording stops by itself after fifteen seconds of silence or two minutes in total.

If all of that fits how you work, it is a fine choice and you need nothing else.

Option 2: one dictation key for every tool

A system-wide dictation app inserts text wherever your cursor is. Claude Code is a terminal application, so the prompt input is just another text field on your Mac. Hold the key, talk, let go, and the prompt is written.

The same key then works in Cursor's chat, in Codex, in a browser tab with ChatGPT open, in a GitHub review comment, and in Slack when you go explain the change.

With DeftNib specifically:

• The transcription runs on the speech engine Apple ships with macOS 26, on your Mac. The cleanup (punctuation, fillers, corrections you say out loud) runs on Apple's local model, with rule engines underneath. Your audio and your text never leave the machine, with Wi-Fi on or off. What does leave, call by call.
• No account. The free plan is 4,000 words a week with every feature.
• A vocabulary of development terms is built in, and your own words go in the dictionary once and are recognized everywhere.
• In the terminal proper (a shell prompt, not a chat), DeftNib inserts the transcript literally, so a dictated command stays a command. How it treats each place a developer types.

Setting it up

1. 1Download DeftNib and run the setup assistant. It asks for microphone and accessibility permission and explains why each one is needed.
2. 2Pick your key. fn is the default; any modifier works.
3. 3Open Claude Code, put the cursor in the prompt, hold the key and describe what you want. Release. Press Enter when you are happy with the text.

Side by side

A note on prompts as prose

The best prompts read like a clear message to a capable colleague: what you want, what you know, what you have ruled out. That is spoken language, and it is why dictation fits this job better than it ever fit writing code. You still type the code. You stop typing the paragraphs around it.

Questions