Sentient

A macOS Desktop Overlay app for voice-powered AI assistance using on-device speech recognition and xAI Grok.

App Store

Notice: This app is no longer available on the App Store. The final stats are below.

Archived. Final security/privacy pass (Keychain, mic lifetime, confirm-before-send, TLS pin, privacy manifest) done with Cursor before archive.

Features

• On-device speech-to-text with WhisperKit
• AI responses via xAI Grok API
• Global keyboard shortcuts
• Spotlight-style floating overlay

Requirements

• macOS 14.0 or later
• xAI API key from https://console.x.ai

Installation

1. Clone and open in Xcode
2. Build and run
3. Enter your API key in Settings

Shortcuts can be customized in Settings.

Data Flow

User speaks
    |
    v
AVAudioEngine (captures audio)
    |
    v
AudioProcessor (converts to 16kHz mono)
    |
    v
WhisperKit (transcribes to text)
    |
    v
GrokService (sends to xAI API)
    |
    v
Streaming response displayed in UI

Configuration

API Key

The xAI API key can be configured in two ways:

1. In-App Settings: Open the overlay, click the gear icon, and enter your API key.
2. Environment Variable: Set XAI_API_KEY in your environment (useful for development).

Grok Model

The app uses the grok-4-1-fast-reasoning model by default. To change this, modify the model constant in GrokService.swift.

Acknowledgments

• WhisperKit by Argmax for on-device speech recognition
• KeyboardShortcuts by Sindre Sorhus for global hotkey management
• xAI for the Grok API