| name | apple-native-transcribe |
| description | Transcribe local audio files on macOS 26 or newer with the `apple-native-transcribe` CLI. Use when a task needs Apple's on-device SpeechAnalyzer and SpeechTranscriber workflow for `.mp3`, `.m4a`, `.wav`, or similar local audio, and the CLI may need to be verified or installed with `brew install mweinbach/max-skills/apple-native-transcribe`. Do not use this skill on Linux, Windows, or macOS versions earlier than 26. |
Apple Native Transcribe
Use this skill only on macOS 26 or newer.
Workflow
- Confirm the host is macOS and check
sw_vers -productVersion.
- Stop immediately if the host is not macOS 26 or newer.
- Check whether the CLI exists with
command -v apple-native-transcribe.
- If the command is missing, install the CLI with
brew install mweinbach/max-skills/apple-native-transcribe.
- Run the CLI with an absolute input path, an absolute output directory, and one output format.
- Read the JSON manifest from stdout first, then inspect the written transcript file if needed.
Do not invent alternate installation paths. The install command for this skill is:
brew install mweinbach/max-skills/apple-native-transcribe
If Homebrew is unavailable or the install fails, stop and report that clearly.
Primary Commands
Use flag arguments:
apple-native-transcribe --input "/abs/path/audio.mp3" --output-dir "/abs/path/out" --format json
Use positional arguments:
apple-native-transcribe "/abs/path/audio.mp3" "/abs/path/out" json
List supported locales:
apple-native-transcribe --list-locales
Supported formats:
json for debug-oriented structured output that is not meant to be human-readabletext for the raw plain-text transcriptsrt
Output Contract
The CLI always:
- writes the requested transcript file into the output directory
- writes
transcript.debug.json beside it
- prints a JSON manifest to stdout
Format expectations:
json writes a debug-style structured transcript artifact intended for tools or inspection, not normal human readingtext writes the raw transcript as plain textsrt writes subtitle output
The manifest includes:
transcriptFiledebugFileformatlocaleIdentifiersegmentCount
Prefer json when another tool or model will consume the transcript. Prefer text when a human needs the plain transcript.
Debug Flags
Only use debug flags when the default flow is insufficient:
--debug-locale <locale-id>--debug-install-assets--debug-prewarm--debug-preset <transcription|alternatives|timeIndexed|progressive|timeIndexedProgressive>--debug-context <phrase>
If the CLI reports missing on-device speech assets for the selected locale, retry with --debug-install-assets.
