Voice
Voice covers everything related to talking to NEXUS and having it talk back: how you start listening, which devices it uses, how speech is recognized, which provider reads responses aloud, an optional wake phrase, which commands ask for confirmation before running, and whether transcripts are kept on disk.
Voice is off by default, end to end. Nothing in this section listens, speaks, or writes a transcript until you turn on Enable voice control below, and each capability it depends on has its own further toggle on top of that.
Voice Control
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable voice control | Master switch for voice control. | Off |
| Activation | How you trigger listening: Click to record, Keyboard shortcut, Push to talk (hold), Wake phrase, or Text only (no microphone). | Keyboard shortcut |
| HUD style | Cinematic or Compact voice overlay. | Cinematic |
Text only (no microphone) is worth calling out on its own: it lets you use voice commands' text-driven parts without ever opening the microphone. See Keyboard Shortcuts for the default shortcuts that start and stop a voice command once this section is on.
Audio Devices
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone | Input device used for voice. | System default |
| Speak responses through | Output device used for spoken responses. | System default |
Recognition
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Voice language | Language used for recognition. | System default |
| Prefer on-device recognition | Uses on-device recognition when available. | On |
| Allow server-based recognition | Falls back to server-based recognition when needed. | Off |
| Silence auto-stop | How long a silence before recording stops automatically. | 1.6 s (range 0.6–4.0 s) |
On-device recognition is preferred by default; server-based recognition is an opt-in fallback, not a silent default, so nothing you say leaves your machine for recognition purposes unless you turn that on yourself.
Speech Provider
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Which text-to-speech provider reads responses aloud: the built-in on-device voice, a self-hosted server, or a cloud provider you configure. | Built-in |
| Test voice | Plays a short sample with the current settings. | — |
The built-in provider needs nothing further configured and keeps speech synthesis on-device. Choosing a self-hosted or cloud provider opens the connection details that provider needs; Test voice is the fastest way to confirm a provider is actually reachable before relying on it mid-session.
Responses
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Speak responses | Reads responses aloud. | Off |
| Voice | Which system voice to use. | System default |
| Rate | Speaking rate. | 0.5 (range 0.35–0.7) |
| Pitch | Speaking pitch. | 1.0 (range 0.5–2.0) |
Dictation
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Open System Dictation… | Opens macOS's own dictation settings. | — |
Wake Phrase
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable wake phrase | Starts voice control by saying a wake phrase instead of a shortcut. | Off |
The wake phrase is detected entirely on-device — enabling it doesn't send continuous audio anywhere, and it only applies when Activation above is set to Wake phrase.
Safety
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm commands | Which risk level of a voice-issued command requires confirmation before running: "Caution and above" or "Dangerous only". | Caution and above |
Whichever level you choose, a command NEXUS considers dangerous is always previewed before running — this setting narrows or widens what also gets a confirmation prompt below that top tier, it doesn't let a dangerous command skip one.
Privacy
| Label | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Store transcripts on disk | Saves voice transcripts to disk. | Off |
Audio itself is never stored regardless of this setting — it controls only the text transcript of what was recognized, and that transcript isn't written anywhere unless you turn this on.
Where to go next
- Settings reference — the control-by-control contract for this section.
- Keyboard Shortcuts reference — the default shortcuts that start and stop a voice command.