Installing ScribeForge on Mac
ScribeForge installs like any other Mac app — download it, drag it to Applications, and open it. It's optimised for Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) but runs on Intel Macs as well.
What you need first
- macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later
- Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) or Intel Mac
- 8GB RAM minimum (16GB recommended for large files)
- ~2–4GB free disk space for the app plus your first Whisper model
Installation steps
- Download for Mac. Grab the macOS build from the download page.
- Drag to Applications. Open the downloaded file and drag ScribeForge into your Applications folder — no installer wizard needed.
- Open ScribeForge. The first launch walks you through downloading a Whisper model — see Downloading Your First Whisper Model.
- Transcribe your first file. See How to Transcribe Your First File once your model is ready.
Apple Silicon speed
On M-series Macs, ScribeForge can use Metal for GPU-accelerated transcription (Settings → General → GPU acceleration), which noticeably speeds up larger files. It's optional — CPU-only transcription works fine on any supported Mac.
More on why running locally matters for privacy and speed on the ScribeForge for Mac page.