trnscrb

trnscrb is a local meeting transcription tool for macOS that lives in the menu bar and automatically detects meetings on platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and FaceTime. It utilizes OpenAI's Whisper model to perform on-device transcription via Apple Silicon Metal acceleration, ensuring that no audio or transcript data is sent to the cloud. The tool integrates with Claude Desktop through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing users to search, summarize, and extract action items from their meeting history directly through the Claude interface. It saves transcripts as plain .txt files with speaker diarization and requires no account or subscription.

Users can install trnscrb via Homebrew using 'brew install trnscrb' or via Python's pip. After installation and setup (which includes installing the BlackHole audio driver for system audio), the app sits in the macOS menu bar. It automatically begins recording when it detects a meeting app running with an active microphone. Once the meeting ends, it transcribes the audio locally and saves the file to the '~/meeting-notes/' folder, where it can be accessed or queried via Claude Desktop.