NAVA

// what is nava

A voice, injected anywhere

Hold Right Ctrl, speak, release — polished text lands in whatever app has focus. Everything runs on your machine. No accounts, no cloud, no catch. Runs on Linux (X11 & Wayland), macOS, and Windows.

⌨x11 injection

Types into any window

XTEST typing → clipboard-paste → notify, with automatic per-app paste policy and Unicode-safe routing. It just shows up where your cursor is.
◉local asr

faster-whisper, on your CPU

small.en int8 at ~0.45 RTF on a 2015 i7, with Silero VAD and anti-hallucination tuning. Need more accuracy? Switch to medium.en.
✎formatting

Clean text, your terms

Filler removal plus a custom-dictionary proper-noun correction pass (Tier-1, ~0 ms). Your jargon and names come out spelled the way you mean them.
▤terminal-first

A daemon, not a GUI

Rich + questionary TUI for setup, a headless systemd --user daemon for everyday use. Start it once and forget it's there.

// get it running

Install

Pick your platform below, then follow the numbered steps. The first run downloads the Whisper model (~250 MB for small.en); after that, NAVA is fully offline.

Choose your platform

Download the package

Download nava_0.0.1_all.deb

Debian · Ubuntu · Linux Mint — pulls system deps and builds a venv in /opt/nava.
2
Install it
user@nava:~$ — apt
```
$ sudo apt install ./nava_0.0.1_all.deb
```

Set it up

user@nava:~$ — setup

$ nava setup     # model · hotkey · cues · dictionary

Run it

user@nava:~$ — start

$ nava start     # background daemon; nava enable = auto-start on login

Other install methods (AUR · AppImage · from source)

AUR — Arch Linux

The Python env is created in /opt/nava/venv on first nava run.

user@nava:~$ — makepkg

$ cd packaging/aur && makepkg -si
$ nava setup && nava start

AppImage experimental

Bundles Python + NAVA deps. You still need xdotool xclip x11-utils libnotify-bin on the host.

user@nava:~$ — appimage

# build it (needs: pip install python-appimage)
$ bash packaging/appimage/build_appimage.sh
$ ./build/appimage/NAVA-0.0.1-x86_64.AppImage setup

From source

install.sh handles apt deps + venv + wizard, or do it by hand.

user@nava:~$ — source

$ git clone https://github.com/arasheslamii/nava nava && cd nava
$ ./install.sh        # apt deps + venv + wizard, or:
$ python3 -m venv .venv && . .venv/bin/activate
$ pip install -e ".[hotkey,audio,asr,tui,bench,dev]"
$ sudo apt install -y xdotool xclip x11-utils libnotify-bin libportaudio2
$ nava setup

Build the .deb yourself

build_deb.sh

$ bash packaging/deb/build_deb.sh   # -> dist/nava_<version>_all.deb

Download the package

Download nava-wayland_0.0.1_amd64.deb or the source .zip ↓

Debian · Ubuntu · Mint on Wayland — same ASR, formatting and UX as the X11 build; only the injection layer differs.

Install it

user@nava:~$ — apt (wayland)

$ sudo apt install ./nava-wayland_0.0.1_amd64.deb

Log out and back in — once

Required. Installing the .deb adds you to the input group. That membership only takes effect after a fresh login, so log out and back in once before continuing — otherwise the hotkey and injection won't work.

Verify

user@nava:~$ — doctor

$ nava doctor       # should be all green

Run it

user@nava:~$ — start

$ nava start        # background daemon; nava enable = auto-start on login

Wayland blocks global hotkeys/injection at the protocol level, so NAVA uses the kernel input layer (uinput/evdev). The installer adds you to the input group and installs a udev rule — you must log out and back in once. Works on GNOME, KDE, and Sway.

Same ASR, formatting and UX as the Linux builds. macOS ships as a source download that installs via an included one-line install.sh — there's no prebuilt .dmg yet; a native installer must be built on a Mac.

Download & unzip

Download nava-macos-0.0.1-src.zip

Then open the unzipped folder in Terminal.

Run the installer

user@nava — macOS

$ ./install.sh                 # installs PortAudio (Homebrew) + a venv + the setup wizard

Grant permissions

Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility and add your Terminal — this is required for the hotkey and text injection, and it's easy to miss. Your Microphone permission is requested automatically on first use.
4
Verify
user@nava — doctor
```
$ nava doctor
```
5
Run it
user@nava — dictate
```
$ nava dictate                 # hold Right-Ctrl, speak, release
```
nava start runs it as a background daemon via launchd (auto-starts at login).

macOS requires a one-time Accessibility permission for the hotkey + text injection (add your Terminal in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility), and a Microphone permission on first use. Homebrew is used to install PortAudio.

Same ASR, formatting and UX as the Linux builds. Windows ships as a source download that installs via an included one-line install.ps1 — there's no prebuilt .exe yet; a native installer must be built on a Windows machine.

Download & unzip

Download nava-windows-0.0.1-src.zip

Then open that folder in PowerShell.
2
Run the installer (PowerShell)
PS nava> — install
```
$ powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1
```
3
Verify
PS nava> — doctor
```
$ nava doctor
```
4
Run it
PS nava> — dictate
```
$ nava dictate                 # hold Right-Ctrl, speak, release
```
nava start runs it as a background daemon; nava enable = auto-start on login.

No special permission needed for injection; Windows may prompt once for Microphone access. Requires Python 3.10+ (python.org). A self-contained nava.exe (no Python needed) can be built with the included PyInstaller spec on a Windows machine.

Requirements — installed automatically as package dependencies

Tool	Debian / Ubuntu	Arch	Purpose
`xdotool`	`xdotool`	`xdotool`	XTEST typing + paste + window detection
`xclip`	`xclip`	`xclip`	clipboard backend
`xprop`	`x11-utils`	`xorg-xprop`	per-app paste policy (terminals)
`notify-send`	`libnotify-bin`	`libnotify`	optional desktop notifications
`PortAudio`	`libportaudio2`	`portaudio`	microphone capture

Plus Python ≥ 3.10. The table above covers the Linux (X11) build; the Wayland, macOS, and Windows builds pull the equivalent deps automatically through their installer.

// the manual

Commands

One nava binary runs the whole show — foreground dictation, the background daemon, diagnostics, and low-level injection. The same commands work identically across all four builds — Linux (X11 & Wayland), macOS, and Windows.

man nava

Command	What it does
`nava dictate`	foreground: hold Right-Ctrl → speak → release → inject
`nava start` / `stop` / `status`	background daemon (`systemd --user`)
`nava enable`	auto-start on login
`nava paste-last`	re-inject the most recent transcript (bind to a DE shortcut)
`nava setup` / `config`	TUI wizard / config editor
`nava doctor`	diagnostics (X11, xdotool, clipboard, mic, hotkey, ASR)
`echo hi \| nava-inject`	low-level text injection

▸ README↗ ▸ INSTALL↗ ▸ ROADMAP↗

// save point

Keep NAVA local & free

NAVA is built clean-room and given away for free. If it earns a place in your workflow, a small contribution keeps the models tuned, the packages fresh, and the project independent. No pressure — a star on GitHub helps too.

♥ GitHub Sponsors ☕ Ko-fi (coming soon) ☕ Buy Me a Coffee (coming soon)

GitHub Sponsors is live; Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee are coming soon.

// need a hand?

Support & community

Most problems are one command away. When they're not, the community is on GitHub.

⚕self-help

Run nava doctor

Diagnoses X11, xdotool, clipboard, mic, hotkey and ASR in one pass — start here before filing anything.
⚑issues

Report a bug ↗

Found something broken? Open an issue with your nava doctor output and we'll dig in.
✦discussions

Ask & share ↗

Questions, tips, dictionary sets and feature ideas — bring them to Discussions.

NAVA _

A voice, injected anywhere

Types into any window

faster-whisper, on your CPU

Clean text, your terms

A daemon, not a GUI

Install

Download the package

Install it

Set it up

Run it

AUR — Arch Linux

AppImage experimental

From source

Build the .deb yourself

Download the package

Install it

Log out and back in — once

Verify

Run it

Download & unzip

Run the installer

Grant permissions

Verify

Run it

Download & unzip

Run the installer (PowerShell)

Verify

Run it

► Requirements — installed automatically as package dependencies

Commands

Keep NAVA local & free

Support & community

Run nava doctor

Report a bug ↗

Ask & share ↗

Requirements — installed automatically as package dependencies

Run `nava doctor`