Atticus: The Free Voice Assistant That Runs Your Mac
The repo and the steps for Atticus, a free, open-source app that lets you hold three keys, say what you want and let go, running on your Claude plan with no API key.
Back to all free guidesSo in the reel I showed Atticus, a free app that lets you run your Mac by talking to it. It runs on your Claude plan with no API key, and it's open source. Here's what it does, what you need and how to install it.
The repo is SaarthurR/atticus-mac, MIT licensed.
What it does
- Hold control, option and space. Say what you want, let go, and it does it.
- It learns. Ask for something new and it works out the steps. Ask again and it runs straight away, with no AI at all.
- It sees your screen. Ask "where do I click?" and a ring lights up the exact spot.
- It draws to explain. Ask it to explain something and draw it, and it builds a labelled diagram over your screen, step by step.
- Big jobs go to the background. Something like "find me a desk lamp under $30 on Amazon" goes to a background agent, and you keep working.
- Your voice stays on your Mac. Apple's on-device speech turns it into text.
Before you start
- macOS 26 or later. Atticus uses Apple's new on-device speech, so older versions can't run it.
- An AI client. A Claude Pro or Max plan with Claude Code installed. The Devin CLI, Pi or a local model work too.
- Apple's command line tools. Run
xcode-select --installin Terminal if you haven't before.
Step 1: install it
It's one line in Terminal. Like anything you paste into Terminal, it's worth reading the install script on GitHub first.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SaarthurR/atticus-mac/main/install.sh | bashIt checks your Mac, downloads Atticus, builds the app in the Applications folder inside your home folder, and opens it. It starts at login and updates itself, and you can switch updates off in Settings, About & Updates.
When it asks for Accessibility permission, allow it. That's what lets it click, scroll and type for you.
Step 2: try these first
Hold control, option and space, say one of these and let go:
- "Open Spotify." This one runs instantly with no AI.
- "Where do I turn on Night Shift?" A ring shows you the exact spot.
- "Summarise this article in three bullets."
- "When I say focus mode, close Slack and open my to-do list." Next time, two words do it all.
Step 3: go hands-free
Turn on Wake word in Settings, General. Then just say "Atticus", wait for Listening, and ask. You can type your own wake word next to the switch.
Step 4: dictate anywhere
In any text box, hold the fn key, talk, then let go, and your words land there cleaned up. Double-tap fn to lock it on. If pressing fn opens emoji on your Mac, Atticus shows a button to change that setting.
It asks before anything risky
Before anything deletes, sends, buys or changes a file, Atticus asks you first, and commands like rm and sudo are always blocked. Every exact command it ran is in its log.
Pick how much of your plan it uses
In Settings, Intelligence, choose Cheapest, Balanced or Most capable. Balanced is the default: quick questions go to Haiku and real work goes to the work model, which you can set to Sonnet or Opus.