Voice Dictation for Cursor IDE on Mac with Hearsy
Dictate code comments, prompts, and docs in Cursor
Cursor is built around AI-assisted coding, but all your interactions with it still happen through the keyboard. Writing prompts for Cursor's AI chat, documenting functions, drafting commit messages, explaining code in PR descriptions -- it's all typing. Hearsy lets you speak instead. It runs locally on your Mac, transcribes your voice in under 200 milliseconds, and pastes the result directly into Cursor at your cursor position. No extensions to install, no cloud processing.
Step-by-step setup
- 1
Open your project in Cursor
Launch Cursor and open the project you're working on. Navigate to the file, AI chat panel, terminal, or any text area where you want to dictate.
- 2
Place your cursor where text should appear
Click in a code comment, the AI chat input, a commit message field, the integrated terminal, or any text area in Cursor. Hearsy pastes text wherever your cursor is active.
- 3
Press your Hearsy hotkey
Trigger Hearsy with your configured keyboard shortcut (default: Fn twice or a custom hotkey). A recording indicator appears in your menu bar so you know it's listening.
- 4
Speak your thought
Talk at your normal pace. Describe the prompt you want to send to Cursor's AI, explain a function, dictate a commit message, or narrate a code comment. Hearsy handles punctuation and capitalization automatically.
- 5
Press the hotkey again to finish
Tap the hotkey once more. Hearsy transcribes your speech locally, optionally polishes it with AI enhancement, and pastes the result into Cursor. Your text is ready to send or save.
Works in Every App on Your Mac
Hearsy pastes transcribed text wherever your cursor is — Gmail, Cursor, Claude, Slack, and hundreds more.
Why use Hearsy for Cursor?
Cursor's AI features are powerful, but getting the most out of them means writing detailed prompts. Explaining what you want the AI to build, describing bugs, specifying constraints -- these prompts can be several sentences long. Typing them out breaks your coding flow. Speaking is 3-4x faster than typing, and your explanations tend to be more detailed when you talk through them naturally.
Hearsy processes everything on your Mac using local AI models. Your code context, project details, and technical discussions never leave your computer. This matters when you're working with proprietary codebases or client projects where data handling policies are strict.
The optional AI enhancement feature is particularly useful in a code editor. It cleans up filler words and false starts from your speech, adds proper punctuation, and produces text that reads like you typed it carefully. For commit messages, documentation, and code comments, the output is ready to use without editing.
When to use voice dictation in Cursor
AI chat prompts
Cursor's AI works best with detailed prompts. Instead of typing a paragraph explaining what you want, speak it naturally. You'll provide more context in less time, and the AI generates better results.
Code comments and documentation
Writing good comments takes effort, so developers often skip them. Dictating a quick explanation of what a function does or why a decision was made takes seconds and produces more thorough documentation.
Commit messages and PR descriptions
Descriptive commit messages help your team and your future self. Dictate a summary of what changed and why while the work is still fresh, instead of writing a one-word commit message because typing feels slow.
Explaining code during reviews
When reviewing a pull request, dictate your feedback directly into review comments. Speaking lets you explain nuanced suggestions that you might shorten or skip when typing.
Terminal commands and scripts
Dictate long terminal commands, git operations, or script snippets into Cursor's integrated terminal. Hearsy pastes text anywhere your cursor is placed, including the terminal.
Tips for better results
- ✓
Use Hearsy to dictate prompts for Cursor's AI chat. Spoken prompts tend to include more context and detail than typed ones, which leads to better AI-generated code.
- ✓
Dictate code comments while you're reading through a function. Explaining logic out loud often produces clearer comments than what you'd write while trying to be concise.
- ✓
For commit messages, dictate a quick summary of your changes right after finishing them. Speaking while the work is fresh in your mind captures details you'd skip when typing later.
- ✓
Enable AI enhancement when dictating documentation or PR descriptions. It removes filler words and structures your thoughts into clean, readable paragraphs.
- ✓
Switch to the Whisper engine if you're writing technical docs that include terms from non-English languages or specialized vocabulary. It supports 99+ languages.
- ✓
Dictate inline comments by placing your cursor at the end of a code line, typing the comment prefix (// or #), then activating Hearsy to speak the explanation.
Frequently asked questions
Does Cursor have built-in voice input?
No. Cursor does not include native voice dictation or speech-to-text. You can use macOS system dictation (Fn key), but it's cloud-based and slower. Hearsy provides fast, private, on-device dictation that works in every Cursor text field.
Can I use voice input with Cursor's AI chat?
Yes. Place your cursor in Cursor's AI chat panel and activate Hearsy. Your spoken prompt is transcribed and pasted directly into the chat input. This is useful for longer prompts where speaking is significantly faster than typing.
Will Hearsy interfere with Cursor's keyboard shortcuts?
No. Hearsy uses its own configurable hotkey (default: Fn twice) that doesn't conflict with Cursor's shortcuts. You can change the hotkey in Hearsy's settings if you prefer a different key combination.
Is my code sent to any server when I dictate?
No. Hearsy transcribes all audio locally on your Mac using on-device AI models. Nothing -- your voice, your code, your prompts -- is sent to any external server. If you enable AI enhancement with Claude or OpenAI, only the transcribed text is sent to polish formatting, never your audio.
Can I dictate in programming languages other than English?
Hearsy supports 25 languages with the Parakeet engine and 99+ with Whisper. If you write comments or documentation in a language other than English, switch the language in Hearsy's menu bar before dictating.
How fast is voice dictation compared to typing in Cursor?
Hearsy's Parakeet engine transcribes speech in under 200 milliseconds. Most people speak at 130-150 words per minute versus 40-60 typing. For text-heavy tasks like writing prompts, comments, and documentation, dictation is roughly 3x faster than typing.
More workflows
Ready to Try Voice Dictation?
Hearsy is free to download. No signup, no credit card. Just install and start dictating.
Download Hearsy for MacmacOS 14+ · Apple Silicon · Free tier available