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Dictation in VS Code

Voice dictation in VS Code for Copilot prompts, comments, and commit messages

Describing a change out loud is faster than typing it. SnailText drops the text wherever your cursor is in VS Code, the editor, the Copilot Chat box, the terminal, the commit message, and every other app you switch to.

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Mac & Windows · Works in any field · Nothing uploaded

AI dictation in VS Code, on your device

SnailText is AI dictation: a speech model turns your voice into text, then a second model cleans it up, dropping filler, fixing punctuation, and matching the style your work needs. Both models run on your own machine, so nothing you say in VS Code is uploaded for transcription. Press the hotkey, speak, and the finished text lands at your cursor.

Does VS Code have built-in dictation?

VS Code has dictation through Microsoft's VS Code Speech extension, and it runs locally, which is good. But you have to install it, it pulls a separate speech model, and it only works inside VS Code. SnailText works the same way across VS Code and every other app on your machine from one install, and adds an AI cleanup pass that restores code identifiers.

Speech to text in VS Code: how it works

SnailText does not plug into VS Code directly. It runs system-wide: a global hotkey (Option+Space (Mac) / Ctrl+Space (Windows), customizable) starts recording, the local speech-to-text engine (Whisper or Parakeet) transcribes what you said, and the text is pasted at your cursor through the system clipboard, the same way it lands when you type. That means it works in every VS Code field, plus every other app on your Mac or Windows machine, with no extension or integration to set up.

That matters in VS Code specifically: the VS Code Speech extension only covers VS Code, so the moment you move to your browser, Slack, or a PR on GitHub you are back to typing. Speech to text removes that bottleneck without changing how you work in VS Code.

Voice to text in VS Code: what to dictate

Voice typing in VS Code is not limited to one box. Press the hotkey anywhere a cursor blinks and your speech becomes text, so the things you would normally type out by hand become things you just say.

  • · Copilot Chat and inline-chat prompts
  • · Code comments, docstrings, and TODOs
  • · Commit messages and PR descriptions
  • · Terminal commands described in plain English

Where typing slows you down in VS Code

  • · The VS Code Speech extension only covers VS Code, so the moment you move to your browser, Slack, or a PR on GitHub you are back to typing.
  • · Long Copilot prompts are where most of the typing goes, and speaking them is faster.
  • · Setting up a separate dictation extension per editor is friction when one system-wide tool covers everything.

Example dictations for VS Code

Copilot prompt

"Add a unit test for this function that covers the empty-input case and the timeout path, using the existing test helpers."

Comment

"Note that this runs on the hot path, so avoid allocations here and reuse the buffer from the pool."

Commit message

"Fix the race where the worker started draining before the model finished mounting, by checking the mount state first."

VS Code voice dictation FAQ

Does VS Code have built-in dictation?
VS Code supports dictation through Microsoft's VS Code Speech extension, which runs locally and is a solid option inside the editor. You install it separately and it downloads its own speech model. SnailText covers VS Code and every other app from a single install, and adds a local AI cleanup pass that restores code identifiers in your chosen style.
Can I dictate code identifiers correctly in VS Code?
Yes. Use the Development topic profile and SnailText restores spoken phrases into your convention, so "recording completed" becomes recording_completed or recordingCompleted. It works in the editor, Copilot Chat, the terminal, and the commit box, not just one panel.
Can I use voice typing in VS Code?
Yes. SnailText adds voice typing to VS Code on Mac and Windows. Press the hotkey (Option+Space (Mac) / Ctrl+Space (Windows), customizable), speak, and the text lands at your cursor in any VS Code field, the same way it works for voice to text in every other app on your machine.
Does the dictation work offline?
Yes. SnailText runs the speech model on your device, so dictation works with no internet connection after the model is downloaded. The optional AI cleanup model runs locally too.
Is my voice uploaded anywhere?
No. Audio is processed in RAM on your machine and discarded the moment the text is ready. Nothing is sent to a server for transcription.
How much does SnailText cost?
The free tier gives you unlimited local speech-to-text with no account. Pro adds larger models and the on-device AI cleanup, $7.49/mo or $89/yr for up to 3 devices.

Dictation in other apps

Start dictating in VS Code

Free local speech-to-text, no account needed. Works in VS Code and every other app on Mac and Windows.

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