ognistik/macrowhisper v2.0.0 on GitHub

TLDR;

For existing users, keep autoUpdateConfig set to true in your existing configuration. Macrowhisper will handle the migration to configVersion 2 when you restart the service after the update.
Biggest config changes are self-explanatory and have been implemented for consistency and predictability in how Macrowhisper handles your config.
The entire documentation has been rewritten for clarity. There's more examples and explanations.
I released THIS VIDEO showing a few of the new things.

Details

For existing users

Macrowhisper now uses configVersion: 2, with clearer rules: null means “inherit the default,” and "" means “use an intentionally empty value.”
Built-in action templates are now clearly separated from empty values: .none is a do-nothing template, .autoPaste is the insert template, .run runs a Shortcut without input, and action: "" means an empty payload.
action: "" and action: ".none" are not the same. An empty payload stays empty. .none also turns off ESC simulation and clipboard restoration.
.none is now reserved for action templates. For fields like icon or moveTo, use null to inherit or "" for an explicit empty value.
Existing configs are migrated automatically for users that set autoUpdateConfig to true, and Macrowhisper creates a one-time backup named macrowhisper.json.backup.pre-v2.
If defaults.autoUpdateConfig is false, migration is not automatic. You can update manually with macrowhisper --update-config.
Several config names were cleaned up and are migrated automatically: noEsc -> simEsc, pressReturn -> simReturn, noUpdates -> disableUpdateCheck, and noNoti -> muteNotifications.

Configuration and action behavior

smartCasing, smartPunctuation, and smartSpacing are now available for insert actions and are enabled by default. They improve capitalization, punctuation, and spacing based on the insertion point.
Most remaining smart-insert edge cases are in apps with weak Accessibility support.
restoreClipboardDelay can now be set globally or per action. The default is 0.3s.
Default-level values are now more standardized. Omitted or null defaults cleanly fall back to Macrowhisper’s built-in defaults, which also makes smaller hand-edited configs easier when autoUpdateConfig is off.
Auto-updated configs are normalized more clearly, including a built-in returnDelay of 0.15s and cleaner persisted values like 3 instead of 3.0.
inputCondition now works across all action types, not just insert actions.
bypassModes lets you tell Macrowhisper to completely skip processing for specific Superwhisper modes, so no Macrowhisper action runs for those recordings.

More powerful actions, chaining, and placeholders

Shortcut, shell, and AppleScript actions can now run either asynchronously or synchronously. Set scriptAsync: false to wait for completion, and use scriptWaitTimeout to control how long Macrowhisper waits.
Output from synchronous script-like steps can now be reused later in the same chain through {{actionResult}}, {{actionResult:0}}, {{actionResult:1}}, and so on.
New {{appVocabulary}} captures likely names, usernames, and special terms from the active app.
New folder placeholders are available: {{folderName}}, {{folderPath}}, {{folderName:<index>}}, and {{folderPath:<index>}}. Index 0 is the newest or current recording, 1 is the previous one, and so on.
The same folder lookups are also available in the CLI with --folder-name [<index>] and --folder-path [<index>].
meta.json placeholders are more flexible. You can now use nested keys and arrays such as {{promptContext.systemContext.language}}.
{{segments}} now formats speaker-separated transcript data into readable output, which makes it much easier to pass multi-speaker transcripts into scripts and automations.
New {{frontAppUrl}} exposes the active browser URL in supported browsers.
New triggerUrls lets actions match against the current browser page. This is still experimental, and not all browsers are supported yet.
Placeholders now support transforms such as {{placeholder::transform||find||replace}}, plus capture transforms like ${1::uppercase} inside regex replacements.
Supported transforms include uppercase/lowercase variants, title case, sentence cleanup, camelCase, PascalCase, snake_case, kebab-case, trimming, and alternating/random case.
If a transform depends on exact first-letter casing, you may want to disable smartCasing for that action.
Placeholder parsing was refactored so placeholders can now include curly brackets (such as ${1::uppercase}).
Fixed simReturn so chained insert actions press Return before the next nextAction step begins.
simReturn now also works for empty "" and .none insert actions, and can be gated with insert inputCondition.

CLI and runtime improvements

New --copy-action <name> renders an action and copies the result to the clipboard without polluting {{clipboardContext}}. It supports placeholder expansion and context placeholders.
--exec-action, --get-action, and --copy-action now support --meta, so they can target a recording folder name, a recording folder path, or a compatible standalone meta.json file.
New --run-auto [--meta <value>] runs the same automatic action selection logic Macrowhisper uses live, including bypass modes, trigger muting, triggers, and active-action fallback (a great way to re-insert your last dictation following same triggers).
--run-auto ignores one-time runtime overrides such as --schedule-action and --auto-return.
New --validate-config validates both JSON syntax and Macrowhisper config rules, and config error reporting is clearer.
New --mute-triggers can mute triggers persistently or temporarily for a set duration.
--auto-return now uses the resolved action payload when possible instead of always falling back to a plain swResult insert.
Running --exec-action now also respects moveTo when there is a real recording folder to move or delete.
Config path commands are more predictable: --set-config saves and switches paths without starting the daemon, --reset-config returns to the default path the same way, and --config <path> now persists the path immediately and starts the daemon if needed.
--exec-action and --run-auto restore the clipboard using one chain-level snapshot, matching watcher-style behavior more closely.
- CLI clipboard restoration now happens only once at the end of the chain, according to the final step’s restoreClipboard and restoreClipboardDelay.
- CLI chains only restore the clipboard if a step in that chain actually wrote to the clipboard, so non-insert-only flows avoid unnecessary clipboard churn.
- CLI clipboard cleanup remains separate from clipboard restoration, so {{clipboardContext}} protection still works without changing restore semantics.

Reliability, consistency, and performance

{{clipboardContext}} is now frozen when the recording is validated, so delayed or chained actions keep a stable clipboard snapshot instead of reading a changing live clipboard later.
That frozen clipboard behavior now applies consistently across all action types, still supports pre-recording clipboard fallback and stacking, and keeps recent Superwhisper sync noise out of the captured context.
appContext, frontApp, and appVocabulary are now captured lazily only when needed, while selectedText and clipboardContext are captured once per recording session and reused across chains.
Selected text capture via Accessibility has been improved.
Active URL capture via Accessibility has been improved.
Trigger matching for front apps is more forgiving. Macrowhisper now works if either the app name or the bundle ID is available.
Recording validation is smarter: if an LLM result is expected, Macrowhisper waits for that result even if the raw voice field is empty.
In those LLM-driven cases, voice triggers still match only the raw transcription (result), not the processed LLM output.
Burst protection is stronger. If multiple new recordings appear at the same time, Macrowhisper now skips all of them instead of risking the wrong action on the wrong session.
Logs were cleaned up to be easier to read and less noisy.
The documentation has been fully updated to match the new behavior.

How to Update

If Installed through Homebrew

brew update
brew upgrade macrowhisper
macrowhisper --restart-service

Why do you need to re-grant accessibility permissions after update?

MacOS stores accessibility permissions tied to the absolute file path, not the application signature. Since Macrowhisper is a single binary application rather than an app bundle, when Homebrew upgrades it, the application gets placed in a version-specific folder. Each brew upgrade causes the binary to be stored at a different path, which macOS treats as a completely different application, effectively resetting the accessibility permissions.

You'll notice multiple versions of Macrowhisper appearing in your System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility panel after updates. You can manually remove these stale entries when upgrading, but unfortunately there's no automatic workaround as long as you install using Homebrew due to this path-based permission system.

Alternative installation option: If you prefer not to re-grant accessibility permissions after each update, you can install Macrowhisper using the script instead of Homebrew (you do need to uninstall using Homebrew first).

If Installed with Script

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ognistik/macrowhisper/main/scripts/install.sh | sh
macrowhisper --restart-service