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Installation

Install Stenny by hand, step by step.

Stenny comes as source code, not as a finished app. You build it on your own Mac, so macOS doesn't block it and you don't need an Apple developer account. The easiest way is the Quickstart with Claude Code. This page shows every step by hand.

Requirements

RequirementDetails
MacA Mac with an Apple chip (M1 or newer). Open the Apple menu › About This Mac. If it says Chip: Apple M…, Stenny runs. If it says Processor: Intel, it doesn't. Tested on a MacBook Air M4.
Disk spaceAbout 3 GB, plus 1.8 GB for Apple's Command Line Tools if you don't have them. Recordings take about 1 GB per semester.
Memory2.5 to 3.5 GB free while transcribing.
ClaudeA Claude account. Your Claude project reads the transcripts, and Claude Code does the clean-up after each lecture. An Anthropic API key also works for the clean-up.
OptionalObsidian and a calendar with your lectures.

Install the command-line tool

  1. Install uv and ffmpeg

    Both come from Homebrew.

    Terminal
    brew install uv ffmpeg
  2. Install stenny
    Terminal
    cd stenny
uv tool install -e . --python 3.12

    This puts the stenny command on your PATH, in ~/.local/bin.

  3. Create your settings file
    Terminal
    stenny init --vault "~/Documents/Obsidian Vault"

    Use the path of your own vault. This creates ~/Lectures Data/_System/config.toml.

Add your courses

Open config.toml and add one table per course. The name is how the course appears in your vault. Aliases are short names for the terminal.

config.toml
lectures_dir = "Lectures"

[courses."Data Analytics"]
language = "en"
aliases = ["da"]

[courses."International Economics"]
language = "mixed"
languages = ["fr", "en", "de"]
aliases = ["ie"]

lectures_dir is the folder inside your vault where transcripts go. Stenny never writes anywhere else in the vault. See Languages and glossaries for the language options and Configuration for every setting.

Build the menu bar app

Terminal
app/build.sh
open /Applications/Stenny.app

The script builds Stenny.app and installs it in Applications. On first start, allow access to your microphone and your calendars.

Set up the AI step

The AI step is optional. It adds section headings, a summary and checked term fixes. Choose a backend under [llm] in config.toml.

BackendSetupCost
"claude-code"Run claude once and sign in. Stenny uses your Claude Code login.Nothing extra. Counts against your plan's limits.
"api"Install with uv tool install -e '.[api]' --python 3.12 and set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.About $0.01 per lecture.
"none"Nothing to set up. Everything stays offline.Free.

Download the Whisper model

Stenny uses Whisper large-v3-turbo, about 1.6 GB. Download it once, with progress, to ~/.cache/huggingface:

Terminal
stenny download-model

Otherwise the first transcription downloads it. After that, transcription works offline.

Process the queue automatically

On battery, final transcripts wait in a queue until you plug in. To process the queue every 15 minutes while your Mac is plugged in, install the schedule:

Terminal
stenny schedule install