Dictate in any app · Code
VS Code has no dictation of its own, but most of what developers type there is prose, not code. Typally types what you say straight into VS Code — hold a key, talk, let go — so you can dictate anywhere VS Code lets you type.
From the people who build Typally. If VS Code's own option covers your use, use it — this page will tell you when it does.Nothing built in. Extensions exist, mostly aimed at speaking code symbol by symbol, which is slower than typing for anyone with working hands.
Dictating code is a bad idea and always has been — punctuation density defeats it. Dictating everything around the code is a very good idea, and that turns out to be most of the day: commit messages, comments, pull-request descriptions, docs, and prompts to an AI assistant.
In practice people use it for: Commit messages that explain why rather than what, code comments long enough to be useful, README sections, design notes in a scratch file, and prompts to an AI chat panel.
You do not configure anything in VS Code. The hotkey works wherever your cursor happens to be:
Windows or macOS build, signed in once.
The cursor position is the whole instruction — VS Code routes the keystrokes from there.
Nothing truncates part-way through.
Auto-closing brackets and snippet expansion react to inserted characters, so dictating into a code file can trigger completions. Dictate into a markdown file or the commit box instead.
Typally types wherever the caret is — the commit box, a markdown file, the AI chat panel — with custom vocabulary keeping library and function names intact. Use it for anything a human will read and the keyboard for anything a compiler will read; that one rule captures nearly all the benefit with none of the frustration.
A developer finishes a tricky refactor and dictates the commit message: what changed, why the previous approach broke, and what to watch for. It takes twenty seconds and produces four sentences instead of 'fix bug'. The next person to run git blame gets an actual explanation.
Use dictation for anything a human will read and the keyboard for anything a compiler will read. That single rule captures nearly all the benefit with none of the frustration.
Auto-closing brackets and snippet expansion react to inserted characters, so dictating into a code file can trigger completions. Dictate into a markdown file or the commit box instead.
You can, but it is slower than typing for most people. Dictation pays off on the prose around the code — commits, comments, docs and AI prompts.
A system-level tool types into whatever has focus, terminal included. Be careful: a terminal executes what it receives when a return character arrives.
That is one of the best uses for it. Longer, more detailed prompts produce better results, and speaking removes the incentive to keep prompts short.
Start on the free plan (100 minutes a month, no card). Pro lifts the cap and adds meeting notes for $7.99/month.
Also dictate in: Cursor · Notion · Linear · see all apps