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Steno always records your microphone, with system audio (what you hear through your headphones or speakers) as an optional add-on you can toggle on or off.

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Microphone recording

Microphone recording is always on. It captures your voice and any voices in the same room as your Mac. No setup is required beyond granting microphone permission on first use. Best for: in-person meetings, interviews, one-on-one conversations where you are the primary speaker.

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System audio recording

System audio capture records the audio playing through your Mac — including the other participants on a Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or any other call. Combined with microphone recording, this captures both sides of a virtual meeting. Setup (one time) macOS requires explicit permission for apps to record system audio. On first use:
  1. Open the recording options popover (the ··· button next to the record button) and turn on Record system audio
  2. If macOS prompts for permission, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording
  3. Enable Steno
  4. Relaunch Steno if macOS asks you to
After this one-time setup, the toggle stays on for future recordings until you turn it off. With it off, Steno records the microphone only — useful for in-person meetings or dictation.

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Speaker labels

When Steno captures system audio, it labels lines in the transcript as [You] (microphone audio) or [Others] (system audio). This makes it easier to follow who said what in a virtual meeting. Speaker labels appear automatically — no configuration is needed.

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Starting a recording

Click New note in the toolbar or use the menu bar icon — recording starts immediately with an auto-generated title, which you can rename from the note’s detail view at any time.

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Stopping a recording

Click Stop in the toolbar or from the menu bar icon. Transcription begins immediately.

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Apple Shortcuts

You can start and stop recordings remotely using Apple Shortcuts and the stenoai:// deep link scheme. See Apple Shortcuts for the full setup guide.
Steno records in WebM/Opus format. By default, files are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/stenoai/recordings/. You can change the storage location in Settings → Advanced.
Not currently. System audio capture records all audio playing on your Mac — there is no per-app filtering.
No. Steno will record until you stop it or your disk fills up.