Settings reference

This page is generated from the code. Every default below is the value Vowen actually ships with, not the value the UI happens to show on your machine. Settings live in three places:

The Settings modal, opened from Settings in the left sidebar footer or with Cmd + ,. Ten sections: Account, General, Audio, Language, Recording, Shortcuts, Sync, Developer, Experimental, Permissions.
Top-level sidebar pages: Speech models, Dictionary, Workflows, and the Vowen AI group (Configure your AI, Notes, Tones, Connectors). These are pages, not settings sections.
Per-page settings modals: the gear icon on Notes and on Transcribe opens a modal scoped to that page.

The Plan column names the tier that unlocks a row. See Plan limits for the full entitlement matrix.

Account

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Current Plan cards	Shows Free and Pro side by side. Once a licence is activated only the Pro card remains, with the masked licence key in place of the tagline	Free	Free
Activate License / Manage License	Opens the activation dialog, or the Dodo Payments customer portal	Not activated	Free
Deactivate	Releases the licence from this device. Only shown while activated	n/a	Pro
Name	Your display name, collected during onboarding	Empty	Free
Email	Your email address, collected during onboarding	Empty	Free
Import Data / Export Data	Backs up and restores your dictionary, threads and workflows	n/a	Pro
Privacy Policy / Terms of Service	Opens `vowen.ai` in your browser	n/a	Free

Import/Export Data is a card at the bottom of Settings > Account. There is no separate Privacy section in the settings modal.

General

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Software Updates	Runs an update check on demand	n/a	Free
Open at Login	Launches Vowen when you log into your computer	Off	Free
Hide Dock Icon	macOS only. Removes the Dock icon; the app stays in the menu bar	Off	Free
Start Minimized to Tray	Windows only. Starts with no window, tray icon only	Off	Free
Auto-paste transcription	Pastes the finished transcription into the focused field	On	Free
Text Insertion Method	macOS and Windows. `Paste method` uses the clipboard; `Direct insertion` types character by character and never touches the clipboard. Disabled while Auto-paste is off	Paste method	Free
Auto Enter	Presses Enter after pasting. Disabled while Auto-paste is off	Off	Free
Restore clipboard after paste	Puts your previous clipboard contents back after pasting	On	Free
Sound Effects	Plays a cue when recording starts and stops	On	Free
Save transcriptions to history	Writes dictation entries to History. Word count and activity are tracked either way	On	Free
Remove filler words	Strips “uh”, “um”, “hmm” and the rest of the filler list from transcriptions	On	Free
Auto-add corrections to Dictionary (Beta)	macOS and Windows. When you edit transcribed text, offers to add the correction to your Dictionary. Requires a connected AI provider	Off	Pro
Resource efficient mode	Runs the model on demand instead of keeping a server resident. Only shown for Whisper models, and for Parakeet on Windows	Off	Free

Light and dark theme is the sun/moon button in the window toolbar, not a row in General.

Audio

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Microphone	Opens the microphone modal, which picks a device and edits the priority ranking. Vowen uses the highest-ranked microphone currently connected	Auto-detect (system default)	Free

The ranking is stored per machine and is deliberately excluded from Cloud Sync.

Language

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
UI Language	Language the Vowen interface is written in. 18 options	English (`en`)	Free
Dictation Language	Language the speech model expects. The option list changes with the selected model, and some models lock it entirely	Auto-detect	Free
Notes Summary Language	Language AI note summaries are written in. Always offers the full catalog, since it is not tied to a speech model	Auto-detect	Free
English Spelling	American or British spelling for English output. Only shown when the dictation language is English or auto-detect, or the model is English-locked	American English	Free
Auto-translate to English	Translates non-English speech into English. Hidden when the effective dictation language is already English	Off	Pro

Full detail on all three language settings: Languages.

Recording

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Indicator style	macOS only. Renders the recording indicator as a floating Pill or inside the notch	Pill	Free
Recording Indicator Position	Top, Bottom, or Don’t show	Top	Free
Show idle pill	Keeps a minimised bar at the screen edge while idle. Hover to expand and start recording	Off	Free
Save audio recordings	Keeps the `.wav` files in `~/Documents/Vowen Recordings`	Off	Free
When recording starts	macOS and Windows. Do nothing, Mute system audio, or Pause the playing media session. Mute and Pause are mutually exclusive	Do nothing	Do nothing is Free. Mute and Pause are Pro
Mute system audio during recording	Checkbox shown instead of the three cards on platforms other than macOS and Windows	Off	Pro
Real-time transcription preview	Streams live text below the recording indicator. Requires a streaming-capable model; the row is blurred with an explanation when the current model cannot stream	Off	Pro

Shortcuts

The section id is hotkeys; the visible label is Shortcuts. Each row has an enable toggle and a click-to-record binding box. Transcription and Command Mode also carry a Hold/Tap pill.

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Transcription Shortcut	Starts and stops dictation	macOS `Fn`, Windows `Ctrl + Shift`. Enabled	Free
Command Mode Shortcut	Starts a Command Mode recording	`Alt + Shift` on both platforms. Enabled	Free
Hands-Free Mode	Press to start, press again to stop	macOS `Fn + Control`, Windows `Ctrl + H`. Enabled	Free
Start New Note	Opens the Start Taking Notes modal	macOS `Cmd + Shift + N`, Windows `Alt + N`. Disabled	Free
Paste Last Transcription	Re-pastes your most recent transcription	macOS `Cmd + Shift + L`, Windows `Ctrl + Shift + L`. Disabled	Free
Cancel Recording	Discards the recording in progress	`Escape` on both platforms. Enabled	Free
Add another shortcut	Adds an alternative binding to Transcription, Command Mode or Hands-Free	None	Pro

The meeting panel binding is not on this page. It lives in Notes settings > Recording Defaults, because it only works while the floating indicator is on and a meeting is running. Full detail: Shortcuts.

Sync

Everything in this section sits behind a Pro gate.

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Provider	iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. Unavailable providers show a setup hint instead of a Connect button	Not connected	Pro
OneDrive account	Picks which OneDrive account holds the “Vowen Sync” folder. Only shown when more than one account is detected	Auto-detected	Pro
Auto-sync in the background	Syncs on launch, on change, and when you switch back to the app	Off	Pro
Sync transcription data	Includes transcriptions, meeting notes and manual transcriptions, not just preferences	On	Pro
Sync Now / Push to Cloud / Disconnect	Runs a sync, force-pushes local data, or disconnects the provider	n/a	Pro

Developer

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Command Line Tool	Installs, updates or removes the `vowen` CLI. Shows the installed version and path, and flags an available update	Not installed	Free
Allow Dictations in Clipboard History	Lets clipboard managers such as Maccy, Raycast or Ditto record your dictations. Off means dictations are marked transient	Off	Free
Prefer IPv4 Connections	Resolves cloud services over IPv4 before IPv6. Applied live, no restart	On	Free

Experimental

The section carries a standing warning that these features are in active development.

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Enable Connectors	Master toggle for the MCP-based Connectors page. Turning it on adds Connectors to the sidebar	Off	Toggle visible to everyone; connectors require Pro
Enable Cursor/Windsurf file tagging	Detects file references while dictating in Cursor or Windsurf and inserts them as `@` mentions	Off	Pro
Enhanced silence detection	Raises the silence threshold for cloud models to stop phantom transcriptions in noisy rooms	Off	Free
Sensitivity	Multiplier on the base RMS silence threshold, 1 to 5. Only shown while Enhanced silence detection is on	2x	Free

Permissions

Status rows, not toggles. Each shows Granted, Checking, or an Open Settings button that deep-links into System Settings. Status is re-checked whenever the window regains focus.

Permission	Used for	Platforms
Microphone Access	Recording audio	macOS, Windows, Linux
Accessibility	Global keyboard shortcuts and auto-pasting text	macOS only
Screen Recording	Screenshots for AI context	macOS only

These are top-level pages in the left sidebar, not sections of the settings modal.

Speech models

Control	What it does	Default
Installed / Available model list	Download, delete and activate local models; configure cloud providers with an API key	Onboarding preselects Parakeet V2 on macOS and Windows. The bare settings default before onboarding is `base.en`
Set Active	Makes a model the dictation model. Everything else that does not override it inherits this choice	n/a
Custom speech servers	Adds an OpenAI-compatible speech endpoint. Stored as `custom-server_<timestamp>` entries	None

Dictionary

Three tabs, each with its own list and its own search box.

Tab	What it holds	Default	Plan
Dictionary	Custom vocabulary words and phrases fed to the recognizer as biasing context	Empty	Free, unlimited
Threads	Text replacements applied after transcription	Empty	Free, unlimited
Expansions	Live typing expansions triggered as you type	Two built-ins, `:date` and `:time`	1 user expansion free, unlimited on Pro. Built-ins do not count

The gear icon on the Expansions tab opens a two-tab modal:

Tab	What it holds	Default
General	Suggestions dropdown shown while typing a `:` trigger	Off
Variables	Global variable library, picked up by any expansion through a matching `{{token}}`	Empty

Workflows

Control	What it does	Default	Plan
Built-in Workflows	Voice-triggered actions that ship with Vowen	Enabled	Free
Custom Workflows	Your own trigger phrase plus websites and applications to open	None	3 on Free, unlimited on Pro
Enable LLM Workflow Routing	Matches spoken commands to workflows with an AI model instead of exact trigger matching	Off	Free
Fall back to regular workflow matching	Uses pattern matching when the LLM fails or is unsure	On	Free
Show LLM reasoning in notifications	Displays why a workflow was chosen	On	Free
Minimum confidence threshold	Below this the workflow does not run. Range 0 to 1	0.5	Free
Webhooks and custom scripts	Workflow steps that call a URL or run a script	n/a	Pro

Configure your AI

Three tabs. Configuration

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
AI Provider grid	Connect a provider with your own API key. Azure adds resource, deployment and API version fields; Bedrock adds a region; custom entries add a base URL	Not connected	Free. Multiple custom API entries are Pro
Enhance transcription with AI	Cleans up and reformats every dictation through the connected model	Off	Free
Pass screen as context (Beta)	macOS only. Sends names visible in the focused window to your AI provider so it can fix misheard terms. Uses Accessibility, not Screen Recording	Off	Free
Custom Instructions	Free-text instructions appended to the enhancement prompt	Off	Free

Custom AI instructions for dictation are free on every tier. The separate custom-instructions field for meeting-note summaries is Pro.

Command Mode

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Command Mode	Enables the spoken-command hotkey	Off	Free, 5 calls per day. Unlimited on Pro
Include screenshot	Attaches a screenshot as context. Requires Screen Recording permission on macOS	Off	Free
Region capture overlay	Shows a drag-to-capture overlay during Command Mode instead of capturing the whole screen	Off	Free
Custom Utilities	Hotkey-triggered AI prompts you write yourself	None	1 preconfigured template free, unlimited on Pro

Memory

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Memory items	Persistent facts passed to the AI on every call	Empty	3 items free, unlimited on Pro

Memory items are not covered by Cloud Sync.

Notes

The Notes page lists your meeting notes. Its gear icon opens the Notes settings modal, documented below. The split button next to it starts a recording and lets you pick the default summary template.

Control	What it does	Default	Plan
Start Taking Notes	Begins a meeting-notes session. Disabled once the free note quota is reached	n/a	10 notes free, unlimited on Pro
Default template dropdown	Sets the template every new note uses	Meeting Notes (built-in)	Free

Tones

Control	What it does	Default	Plan
Tone list	Per-app writing styles. Each tone can override the speech model, dictation language, AI provider and instructions	Empty; global settings are the fallback	1 tone free, unlimited on Pro
Per-tone shortcut	Optional dedicated hotkey with its own Hold/Tap mode. Mouse buttons cannot be bound here	None	Free
Active in Apps	Applications the tone applies to automatically	None	Free

Connectors

Hidden until Settings > Experimental > Enable Connectors is on.

Control	What it does	Default	Plan
Connector cards	MCP servers such as Linear, Notion and Vercel, reachable from Live Ask, Chat with Notes and Command Mode	None connected	Pro
Composio catalog search	Adds connectors from the wider Composio toolkit catalog	None	Pro

Write tools are filtered out before they reach the model. Only read-shaped tools (list_*, get_*, search_* and similar) are exposed.

Opened with the gear icon on the Notes page. Five tabs.

Recording Defaults

Every row here is a default for new recordings. Leaving a row on “Use global default” makes it inherit the matching global setting rather than copying it.

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Transcription Model	Speech-to-text engine used for meetings	Inherits the global model	Free
Language	Spoken language for meeting transcription	Inherits the global dictation language	Free
Microphone	Meetings normally follow the global microphone ranking. Customize forks a private copy; Use global discards it	Inherits the global ranking	Free
AI Summary Model	LLM that writes the post-meeting summary	Inherits the global provider	Free
Show real-time transcription preview	Streams live text into the note page while recording	Off	Pro
Meeting panel shortcut	Opens the floating meeting panel. Greyed out while the floating indicator is off	macOS `Cmd + \`, Windows `Ctrl + \`. Enabled	Free
Identify speakers	Speaker diarization. Only shown when the effective model is diarization-capable. The toggle itself carries no Pro badge here, but the main process strips the flag at transcription time on the free plan	Off	Pro
Merge speaker segments	Joins consecutive turns from the same speaker. Only shown while Identify speakers is on	Off	Pro
Number of speakers	Pins a known speaker count. Auto-detect, or 2 to 6	Auto-detect	Pro
Summary citations	Cites the transcript inline; clicking a citation cues the audio at that moment	Off	Pro
Show floating indicator while recording	The meeting pill with pause, stop and quick notes. Turning it off also disables the meeting panel shortcut	On	Free

Meeting Detection

Setting	What it does	Default	Plan
Auto-detect meetings	Offers to record when a trigger app starts using the microphone	Off	Pro
Auto-stop notes when meeting ends	Prompts to stop when the meeting app releases the microphone, with 15 seconds to cancel	Off	Pro
Trigger apps	Per-app toggles for the built-in registry, plus apps you add yourself. Only shown while Auto-detect meetings is on	All registry apps enabled	Pro
Detect other apps	Show the banner or ignore it when an unlisted app takes the microphone	Notify	Pro

Templates

Control	What it does	Default	Plan
Built-in Meeting Notes template	Always present. Its summary toggle, custom instructions, summary language, tags and system-audio capture are editable	Present	Free
Add from library	Opens the built-in template library. Free users can browse the catalog; every Add is locked	n/a	Pro to add
Create template	Writes your own summary prompt, description, tags and summary language	n/a	Pro
Default template	Marks which template new notes use	Meeting Notes	Free

Do not begin a custom template prompt with TITLE:. Vowen injects the title instruction itself, and adding it produces a duplicated header.

Watch folders

Control	What it does	Default	Plan
Watched folders	Folders whose new audio and video files are transcribed automatically. Each folder carries its own model, language, diarization, speaker count, timestamp and notification rules; null values inherit the Transcribe defaults	None	Pro

Adding a folder seeds it against the files already present. It does not backfill them.

Integrations

Control	What it does	Default	Plan
Obsidian	Writes finished notes into a vault folder	Not connected	Pro
Webhook	POSTs `{transcript, summary, tags}` when a note summary is finalized. Supports custom headers and HMAC signing	Not connected	Pro
Export	Bulk-exports every note to disk	n/a	Pro

The webhook fires on meeting notes only. There is no per-transcription webhook.

Shortcuts

Every keyboard and mouse binding, with platform defaults.

Plan limits

The full free and Pro entitlement matrix.

Languages

Interface, dictation and summary languages, disambiguated.

In-app shortcuts

Keys that work inside the Vowen window.

Reference

Settings reference

Account

General

Audio

Language

Recording

Shortcuts

Sync

Developer

Experimental

Permissions

Sidebar pages

Speech models

Dictionary

Workflows

Configure your AI

Notes

Tones

Connectors

Recording Defaults

Meeting Detection

Templates

Watch folders

Integrations

Shortcuts

Plan limits

Languages

In-app shortcuts

​Settings modal

​Account

​General

​Audio

​Language

​Recording

​Shortcuts

​Sync

​Developer

​Experimental

​Permissions

​Sidebar pages

​Speech models

​Dictionary

​Workflows

​Configure your AI

​Notes

​Tones

​Connectors

​Notes settings modal

​Recording Defaults

​Meeting Detection

​Templates

​Watch folders

​Integrations

​Related

Shortcuts

Plan limits

Languages

In-app shortcuts

Settings modal

Account

General

Audio

Language

Recording

Shortcuts

Sync

Developer

Experimental

Permissions

Sidebar pages

Speech models

Dictionary

Workflows

Configure your AI

Notes

Tones

Connectors

Notes settings modal

Recording Defaults

Meeting Detection

Templates

Watch folders

Integrations

Related