IDE dictation setup checklist
Setting up code dictation in an editor takes twelve steps: the operating system version, the install, two macOS permissions, a local model, a shortcut that survives your editor's key bindings, Developer Mode, the trigger, and four checks. VoiceGem presets exactly seven editors, and this checklist is per editor.
Given the editor you work in, produce the ordered setup steps for dictating code into it, in under 60 seconds.
com.microsoft.VSCode
0 of 12 done for Visual Studio Code
Take the checklist to the machine you are setting up.
The download is a Markdown file with your progress and this editor's bundle identifier in it, along with your notes, so you can finish the setup at the Mac rather than at this tab. Nothing is asked for in exchange — the file is already yours.
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This page runs entirely in your browser.function(){throw Error("Attempted to call EMAIL_EXCEPTION() from the server but EMAIL_EXCEPTION is on the client. It's not possible to invoke a client function from the server, it can only be rendered as a Component or passed to props of a Client Component.")} function(){throw Error("Attempted to call PERSISTENCE_STATEMENT() from the server but PERSISTENCE_STATEMENT is on the client. It's not possible to invoke a client function from the server, it can only be rendered as a Component or passed to props of a Client Component.")}
The seven editors Developer Mode presets
VoiceGem ships a one-click Developer Mode that turns on code dictation, selects on-device transcription, and presets seven editors as triggers: Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Xcode, IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, Kiro. Those seven are the whole list, and each is matched by its bundle identifier rather than by its name, so a renamed or relocated application still activates the mode.
An editor outside those seven can still be added by hand — the preset list is a convenience, not a limit on what the mode can trigger on. What the checklist above will not do is imply a preset exists where it does not, because a setup guide that lists an editor the product does not know about wastes the reader's afternoon.
Why the two permissions are separate
macOS asks for Microphone and Accessibility independently, and they do different jobs. Microphone lets VoiceGem hear you. Accessibility lets it paste the finished text into whatever application is frontmost, which is a different capability and a more sensitive one — the same permission that lets an app read and control other applications.
Granting one and not the other produces the most confusing failure in dictation setup: recording works, the transcript appears in the app's own window, and nothing lands in your editor. Both prompts appear during onboarding, and System Settings, then Privacy and Security, has them afterwards if you dismissed one.
Where editor setup goes wrong
Shortcut collisions are the most common failure and the least obvious, because a shortcut can work everywhere on the Mac and fail in one application. Editors claim more key combinations than any other kind of desktop software, and a combination free in Mail is often bound in an editor with a plugin installed. Test the recording shortcut inside the editor itself, not on the desktop.
The second is a mode that is configured but never activates. VoiceGem switches on the frontmost application, so a mode assigned to a bundle identifier that does not match the build you actually run — a beta channel, a second install, a wrapper — sits there doing nothing. The identifier is on the checklist above for that reason.
The third is punctuation cleanup left on remove-all from a previous mode. Source code is mostly punctuation, so that setting deletes the symbols code dictation just produced, and it looks like the formatter is broken rather than like a setting is wrong.
What to check before trusting it on real code
Three test dictations settle it, and they are on the checklist above in order. A line with brackets tells you the spacing rules are being applied. An identifier with a casing command tells you the casing pass is reaching the editor. A plain English sentence into a comment tells you that VoiceGem leaves unrecognized words alone, which is the property that makes dictating into a codebase survivable.
After that, the useful work is collecting the terms that came back wrong rather than fiddling with settings. Library names, internal service names and acronyms are where a general speech model fails, and a week of noting them produces a better vocabulary list than an hour of guessing at one.
Related: the same thing for the project vocabulary builder, the mode configuration planner specifically, or the same thing for the code dictation drills.
Common questions
Seven: Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Xcode, IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, Kiro. Others can be added by hand as triggers, but only those seven are preset.
To paste transcribed text into another application. Microphone access alone lets it hear you but not deliver the result, which produces a setup that appears to record and never types anything.
Yes, in this browser on this device. VoiceGem has no accounts, so nothing syncs elsewhere and clearing browser data clears it. The Markdown download is the copy that lasts.
Yes. The seven presets are a convenience; a mode can be triggered by any application's bundle identifier. The checklist is per editor because the shortcut testing step is where editors differ.
macOS 14.4 or later. There is no Linux build and no iPadOS build.