ClawBB

ClawBB — Free macOS voice-to-text built for Vibe Coding. Hold Globe key, speak, text appears at your cursor. Powered by Google Gemini LLM. Apple Notarized.

ClawBB (虾BB)

Hold Globe key. Speak. Text appears. Free voice-to-text built for Vibe Coding.

• 🆓 Free forever — Google Gemini free tier, 250 transcriptions/day
• 🌏 Bilingual — Mixed Chinese + English, perfect punctuation for AI prompts
• 🔴 Live streaming preview — See text appear as you speak (Gemini Live API)
• ⚡ 341KB pure Swift — Zero dependencies, macOS native
• 🧠 LLM engine — Not Whisper ASR. Gemini understands meaning, not just sound.
• 📖 Open source — MIT License, Apple Notarized

Install

Download the Apple Notarized DMG (app release v1.1.3): from GitHub Releases:

bash

curl -L -o /tmp/XiaBB.dmg "https://github.com/dyz2102/xiabb/releases/download/v1.1.3/XiaBB-v1.1.3-macOS-arm64.dmg"

Verify checksum before opening:

bash

echo "ce53a5b0ccc3b0993b284686ab05716f3e616969f98395d1baf8aec083f8d784  /tmp/XiaBB.dmg" | shasum -a 256 -c

Then open the DMG and drag XiaBB.app to Applications:

bash

open /tmp/XiaBB.dmg

The app is signed with Developer ID and Apple Notarized — no Gatekeeper warnings.

Build from source (optional)

If you prefer to inspect and compile yourself:

bash

git clone https://github.com/dyz2102/xiabb.git /tmp/xiabb-build
cd /tmp/xiabb-build
# Review install.sh and native/main.swift before running
cat install.sh
bash install.sh

Requires Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).

Setup

Gemini API Key

Get a free key at https://aistudio.google.com/apikey, then configure:

bash

# Recommended: environment variable
export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key-here"

Or configure via the app's menu bar → "Configure Gemini API Key...".

The key is stored locally at ~/Tools/xiabb/.api-key (chmod 600 recommended).

Permissions

On first launch, macOS will prompt for:

• Accessibility: Required for Globe key detection (CGEventTap)
• Microphone: Required for voice recording

Both are standard macOS permissions for a voice input app. Grant them in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Usage

Action	Result
Hold 🌐 Globe key	Start recording, HUD shows live preview
Release 🌐 Globe key	Transcription pastes at cursor
Click HUD 📋	Copy last result

Security & Privacy

• Open source: Full source at https://github.com/dyz2102/xiabb — review before use
• Apple Notarized: Signed with Developer ID, verified by Apple
• No account required: No signup, no tracking, no telemetry
• Audio processing: Audio is sent to Google Gemini API for transcription. Review Google's privacy policy if this concerns you.
• Local storage only: API key and config stored locally, never transmitted except to Gemini API

Links

• 🌐 Website: https://xiabb.lol
• 📦 GitHub: https://github.com/dyz2102/xiabb
• 📄 MIT License