Install maclisten

Homebrew (recommended)

brew install ljh-sh/cli/maclisten

Or tap once, then use the short name:

brew tap ljh-sh/cli
brew install maclisten

Direct binary

curl -L https://github.com/ljh-sh/maclisten/releases/latest/download/maclisten-darwin-universal.tar.xz | tar xJ -
sudo mv bin/maclisten /usr/local/bin/

The universal tarball is a fat Mach-O (arm64 + x86_64) — works on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

eget

x eget use --tag v0.4.0 ljh-sh/maclisten

Build from source

Requires Swift 5.10+ / macOS 12+.

git clone https://github.com/ljh-sh/maclisten
cd maclisten
swift build -c release

The binary will be at .build/release/maclisten.

Permissions

Before using file, mic, or watch, grant your terminal access in:

• System Settings > Privacy & Security > Speech Recognition
• System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone (for mic / watch)

Then run from a real terminal emulator such as Terminal.app, iTerm, or Warp. Bare CLI processes (e.g. launched by an editor plugin) cannot receive TCC grants because they have no app bundle ID.

You can open the right panes quickly:

maclisten auth