System requirements
Kudu is light: a small app plus a speech model it downloads once. Here’s what each platform needs.
macOS
| Chip | Apple Silicon: M1, M2, M3, M4 or newer. Intel Macs aren't supported. |
|---|---|
| System | macOS 14 Sonoma or newer |
| Smart formatting & Command mode | macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence turned on |
| Memory | 8 GB (16 GB recommended) |
| Disk | ~15 MB app + ~450 MB speech model, downloaded once |
| Permissions | Microphone and Accessibility |
Windows (Beta)
| System | Windows 10 (22H2) or Windows 11, 64-bit (x64) |
|---|---|
| Processor | 4 cores with AVX2 (most CPUs from 2015 on) |
| Memory | 8 GB (16 GB for the Better smart-formatting model) |
| Disk | ~15 MB app + 250–480 MB speech model; smart formatting 0.5–1.1 GB, optional |
| Not yet | Windows on ARM |
Linux (Beta)
| Processor | x86_64 with AVX2, 4 cores |
|---|---|
| System | glibc 2.35 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 38, Arch…) |
| Desktop | X11 or Wayland. The tray needs StatusNotifierItem (KDE; GNOME with the AppIndicator extension). |
| Audio | PipeWire, PulseAudio or ALSA |
| Memory | 8 GB (16 GB for the Better smart-formatting model) |
| Access | Your user in the input group, and /dev/uinput (the installer sets this up) |
Downloads
| What | Size | When |
|---|---|---|
| Kudu for Mac | ~6 MB download, ~15 MB installed | Install |
| Kudu for Windows / Linux | 15–22 MB | Install |
| Speech model on a Mac (Parakeet) | ~450 MB | First launch |
| Speech model on Windows / Linux: Accurate (Parakeet) | 482 MB download, 631 MB on disk | First launch |
| Speech model on Windows / Linux: Compact (Moonshine) | 251 MB download, 272 MB on disk | First launch |
| Smart formatting on Windows / Linux: Small (Qwen2.5 0.5B) | 491 MB | Optional |
| Smart formatting on Windows / Linux: Better (Qwen2.5 1.5B) | 1.1 GB | Optional |
Which speech model should I pick on Windows or Linux?
Accurate unless your PC is older or short on memory. Both run fully offline; Accurate makes fewer mistakes with names and fast speech, Compact is smaller and quicker. You can switch any time in Settings.
Ready? Download Kudu or follow the install guide for macOS, Windows or Linux.