macOS, Apple Silicon, MIT-licensed

Videoscriber on your Mac.

Run it locally with your own API keys. Transcripts stay on your machine. No cloud account, no telemetry.

Download v0.1.19 Release notes
Requirements

What you need on your Mac.

Three things, none of them paid. A future release will bundle the first two so there’s nothing to install.

Python 3.10+

Runs the local backend the Electron window talks to on your Mac.

ffmpeg

Pulls clean audio from your videos before they’re transcribed.

Install both tools in one line, via Homebrew:

$ brew install python@3.12 ffmpeg
Install

Four steps the first time.

After the first launch, opening the app is one click. Terminal commands below.

01

Install the app

Open the downloaded .dmg, drag Videoscriber into /Applications.

02

Open it the first time

macOS blocks unsigned apps. Pick one of these, once:

Finder: right-click Videoscriber in /Applications, choose Open, click Open on the warning.

Terminal: remove the “downloaded from the internet” flag.

$ xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Videoscriber.app
03

Wait a minute

The first launch installs the Python libraries the app needs. Runs once, about a minute. No input required.

Optional: watch the setup logs.

$ tail -F "$HOME/Library/Logs/Videoscriber/"*.log
04

Paste your API keys

The app opens on a setup screen. Paste both keys, hit Save, quit with ⌘ + Q, reopen. You’re ready to drop a recording.

Keys are written to ~/Library/Application Support/Videoscriber/.env with read-only permissions.

Where things live

Everything in one folder.

All your data, keys, and the Python environment sit under your user account. Outside the app bundle, so updates never touch them.

# ~/Library/Application Support/Videoscriber .env # your API keys (chmod 600) data/ # local SQLite of transcripts and recaps uploads/ # your original video and audio files audio/ # extracted audio tracks venv/ # the Python environment the app set up

Direct to providers

Audio streams from your Mac directly to the AI providers. No relay.

Local database

Transcripts and recaps in SQLite. Back up data/ to move to another Mac.

No telemetry

No crash reports, no analytics, no phone-home. Only the AI providers.

Troubleshooting

If something goes sideways.

Fixes you can run yourself. Anything else, open a GitHub issue with a snippet from your logs.

The .dmg won’t open when I double-click it

Your browser flagged the file as downloaded from the internet. Clear the flag and open it from Terminal:

$ xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/Videoscriber-*.dmg $ open ~/Downloads/Videoscriber-*.dmg
“Videoscriber” cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it

Gatekeeper protecting against unsigned apps. Right-click the app in /Applications, choose Open, then Open on the dialog. Only needed once. Signed builds are on the roadmap.

“Server start timeout” on launch

The Python backend crashed before binding. Check the logs:

$ tail -F "$HOME/Library/Logs/Videoscriber/"*.log

Still stuck? Delete the Python environment and relaunch. First-launch setup will run again.

$ rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Videoscriber/venv"
Transcription fails with an authentication error

Your API key is missing, expired, or the provider’s balance is empty. Re-enter keys in Settings or edit the file:

$ open -e "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Videoscriber/.env"
How do I update to a newer version?

Download the latest .dmg and drag into /Applications, replacing the old copy. Your data, keys, and Python environment persist. In-app auto-update is planned.

Is there a Windows or Linux build?

Not packaged yet. The backend is pure Python and runs anywhere:

$ git clone https://github.com/videoscriber/videoscriber $ cd videoscriber $ python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate $ pip install -r requirements.txt $ OPENAI_API_KEY=... ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY=... python app.py

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8000. Packaged Windows build coming.

I want to start completely fresh

Quit the app, delete the support folder, reopen. Next launch is a clean install.

$ rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Videoscriber"
See also

Source, cloud, brand kit.

Source on GitHub

Code, issue tracker, pull requests. MIT-licensed. Tagged releases under v*.

View repository

Managed cloud

Same app, hosted. 90-day encrypted backup, no local setup, free during beta.

Create an account

Brand kit

Logos, marks, wordmarks, avatars. SVG plus PNG at a full size ladder.

Open brand kit