| name | lai-transcribe |
| description | Transcribe audio/video to timestamped captions with Gemini (100+ languages) or local Parakeet / SenseVoice models. Trigger on "transcribe", "speech to text", "转录", "语音转文字", "generate captions from audio", or when the user provides an audio/video file with no text. If the YouTube video already has captions, prefer `/lai-youtube`. |
| allowed-tools | Read, Bash(lai:*) |
LattifAI Transcription
Generates timestamped text from audio/video. Default is Gemini (fast, broad language coverage); local models run offline on GPU.
Prerequisites
Gemini needs an API key (free at https://aistudio.google.com/apikey):
lai config set GEMINI_API_KEY <your-key>
Basic Command
Pick a <base> (media stem or YouTube ID) and reuse for the rest of the pipeline; outputs land in the current directory:
lai transcribe run podcast.mp3 podcast.transcript.json
lai-transcribe podcast.mp3 podcast.transcript.json
Gemini accepts YouTube URLs directly — no download needed:
lai transcribe run "https://youtu.be/la0CaZ2R8EY" la0CaZ2R8EY.transcript.json
Output naming: prefer <base>.transcript.json so it pipes cleanly into /lai-align (which writes <base>.aligned.json). Use <base>.srt etc. when the transcript itself is the final deliverable and no alignment step follows.
Models
| Model | Languages | Requires |
|---|
gemini-3-flash-preview (default) | 100+ | Gemini API key |
gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 100+, highest quality | Gemini API key |
nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 | 24, offline | GPU + nemo_toolkit |
FunAudioLLM/SenseVoiceSmall | zh / en / ja / ko / cantonese, offline | GPU |
Switch model:
lai transcribe run audio.mp4 output.srt transcription.model_name=gemini-3.1-pro-preview
Common Options
transcription.language=zh — force language (otherwise auto-detect)media.streaming_chunk_secs=300 — chunk long audio- Output format is inferred from extension:
.srt / .vtt / .ass / .json / .txt. Use .json when you plan to follow up with /lai-align.
Common Issues
| Problem | Fix |
|---|
GEMINI_API_KEY not set | lai config set GEMINI_API_KEY <your-key> |
| Upload timeout / file >2 GB | Split the audio or switch to a local model |
| Wrong language detected | Force with transcription.language=en |
| Timestamps are coarse | Follow up with /lai-align |
Related Skills
/lai-align — sharpen timestamps after transcription/lai-diarize — add speaker labels/lai-translate — translate the transcript/lai-youtube — YouTube end-to-end (download + caption + align)/lai-caption — convert output format
