> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://keebye.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Getting started with Keebye

> Install Keebye on Mac or Windows, sign in, grant the permissions it needs, pick your push-to-talk key, and dictate your first sentence.

Keebye lives in the menu bar on a Mac and in the system tray on Windows. Onboarding opens with "Welcome to Keebye" and walks you through five steps while the default speech model downloads in the background. This page covers the same five steps.

## Install Keebye

On a Mac, open the Keebye DMG, drag Keebye into Applications, and launch it. It runs in the menu bar only, has no Dock icon, and needs macOS 11.0 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac. On Windows, run the Keebye setup .exe (or the .msi) and launch Keebye. It runs in the system tray and needs Windows 10 or 11 on a 64-bit (x64) PC.

## Sign in

Sign-in is required to dictate. The login window "Sign in to Keebye" offers "Continue with Google" and "Continue with Email". Keebye opens keebye.com in your system browser and brings you back to the app automatically once you finish.

## Grant permissions

On a Mac, onboarding asks for two permissions, and Finish stays disabled until both are granted and the speech model has downloaded. Windows has no such permission gate: both permission steps show as granted, so Finish waits only for the model.

- Microphone: press "Grant microphone access". Keebye listens only while you hold your dictation hotkey.
- Accessibility (Mac): press "Open System Settings" and switch Keebye on. This lets Keebye watch your hotkey and paste text into any app. Keebye checks every 1.5 seconds and arms the hotkey as soon as access is granted, with no restart needed.
- On a Mac, Speech Recognition is requested only if you later pick the "Native (Apple Speech)" engine. Input Monitoring is never requested.

> **Warning:** On a Mac, already listed in System Settings but not turning green? Remove Keebye from the Accessibility list with the − button, then add it back and switch it on.

## Pick your push-to-talk key

Choose one of Fn / Globe, Left ⌘, Right ⌘, Left ⌥, or Right ⌥. Right ⌘ is the default. On Windows the app shows the same names for Windows keys: Fn / Globe is Right Ctrl, Right ⌘ is the Right Windows key (the default), Right ⌥ is Right Alt, Left ⌘ is the Left Windows key, and Left ⌥ is Left Alt. You can change it later in Settings and the change applies live.

> **Note:** The key you pick is reserved for Keebye while dictation is on, so it won't work as a shortcut modifier. Pick a left-hand key only if you don't use it for shortcuts, such as ⌘C on a Mac.

## Dictate your first sentence

Click into any text field, hold your hotkey, speak, and release. The pill at the bottom of the screen shows "Listening…", then "Transcribing…", then "Inserting…", and the text lands where your cursor is.

- Hold the key for at least 400 ms and release to stop and insert.
- Tap the key (under 400 ms) to keep recording hands-free; tap again to stop and insert.
- Press Esc while recording to cancel. Nothing is inserted.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Keebye need an internet connection?

Only for signing in, downloading a speech model, and checking for app updates. Transcription runs on your computer. An unexpired cached session is trusted offline.

### Why does the microphone indicator stay on after my first dictation?

Keebye keeps the microphone stream warm after the first dictation so later dictations start faster. This is deliberate. Audio is only turned into text while you hold or toggle the hotkey.

### How long does the speech model take to download?

The default Parakeet model is about 670 MB and downloads once, while you finish the other onboarding steps. The pill shows "Downloading speech model… NN%" until it is ready.

### Which computers does Keebye run on?

Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 11.0 or later, and 64-bit (x64) PCs running Windows 10 or 11.