# Install yap with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

On-device audio transcription using Speech.framework. Version 1.2.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-20. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#yap.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:yap
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install yap
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install yap
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: lang/yap/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#yap
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ya/yap/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:yap
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.2.1
- **Source summary:** On-device audio transcription using Speech.framework
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/finnvoor/yap>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/finnvoor/yap>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-20T11:07:32Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- yap (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.2.1
## Project history and usage

yap is a small macOS command-line transcription tool built around Apple's Speech.framework. It turns local audio, video, microphone input, or live system audio into text, subtitle formats, or JSON without sending the core speech-recognition work to a hosted service.

### Project history

The public repository was created on 2025-06-15, the same day the first GitHub release, 1.0.0, was published. Its README frames the project around macOS 26 and Apple's on-device Speech.framework, which places it in the wave of local-first media and AI-adjacent command-line tools that appeared as operating systems exposed better speech APIs.

By early 2026 the project had added real-time workflows beyond one-shot file transcription: the README documents `listen` for system audio, `dictate` for microphone input, and `listen-and-dictate` for mixed meeting-style transcription.

### Adoption history

yap's adoption story is still young and mostly package-manager/toolbox adoption rather than platform adoption. Its upstream README lists Homebrew and Mint installation, and the GitHub repository had more than a thousand stars by July 2026, enough signal for a niche macOS CLI but not enough history for a long institutional narrative.

### How it is used

Users run `yap transcribe` or the shorter `yap <file>` style workflows to convert audio or video to text, SRT, WebVTT, or JSON. The README also shows package-nerd-friendly pipelines: downloading audio with yt-dlp, piping transcripts into an LLM, or producing caption files for video.

The live modes make it useful as a terminal-native dictation and meeting transcription tool, with macOS Screen Recording and Microphone permissions as the practical trust boundary.

### Why package nerds care

yap is significant as a thin, scriptable wrapper over a native macOS speech-recognition stack. For package nerds, the interesting part is not a new speech model but the packaging of platform speech APIs into composable Unix-style commands and text/subtitle outputs.

### Timeline

- 2025-06-15: GitHub repository is created and release 1.0.0 is published.
- 2026-02-15: Release 1.2.0 is published.
- 2026: README documents file transcription, live system audio transcription, microphone dictation, and combined listen-and-dictate workflows.

### Related projects

- Apple Speech.framework is the native macOS speech-recognition API used by yap.
- yt-dlp and llm appear in upstream examples as common pipeline companions.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/finnvoor/yap>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/finnvoor/yap/releases?per_page=100>
- <https://github.com/finnvoor/yap>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/finnvoor/yap/main/README.md>


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

- **Geiger risk:** blue / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - yap: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ya/yap/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- MacPorts - yap: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: lang/yap/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/yap.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/yap.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph