Decktation - Push-to-Talk Dictation for Steam Deck

Voice dictation plugin for Steam Deck using faster-whisper with context-aware transcription.

Features

• Push-to-Talk: Hold button combo (default: L1+R1) to record
• Configurable buttons: Choose 1-5 button combinations from any Steam Deck controller buttons
• Game presets: Switch between game profiles with different chat systems (WoW, Generic)
• Channel-aware: Speak channel prefixes like "party pull boss" and it routes to the right chat channel
• Test Recording: Built-in 3-second test with automatic transcription display
• Context-aware: Optional WoW addon integration for better accuracy with zone, boss, and party context
• Fast transcription: Uses faster-whisper for efficient CPU-based speech recognition
• Auto-type: Automatically types transcribed text into active window via ydotool
• Toast notifications: Optional notifications when recording starts/stops

Installation

1. Download decktation.zip from GitHub Releases

2. Extract and install:

   unzip decktation.zip
   sudo cp -r decktation /home/deck/homebrew/plugins/

3. Setup keyboard simulation (one-time):

   sudo /home/deck/homebrew/plugins/decktation/setup_ydotoold.sh

4. Restart Decky or reload plugins from Decky settings

All dependencies are pre-bundled in the release.

Usage

1. Open Quick Access Menu (... button on Steam Deck)
2. Navigate to Decktation plugin
3. Select your game from the Game dropdown
4. Enable the plugin (waits for Whisper model to load)
5. (Optional) Change the button combination in the plugin UI
6. In any app/game: hold [button1]+[button2] together to record, release to transcribe and type

Game Presets

Decktation ships with two presets configured in game_presets.json:

Preset	Behavior
World of Warcraft	Presses Enter to open chat, types channel prefix + message, presses Enter to send
Generic	Types text directly into whatever window is focused — no Enter presses

WoW Channel Prefixes

In WoW mode, start your message with a channel name to route it to the right channel:

"party let's go"          →  /p let's go
"raid: focus adds first"  →  /raid focus adds first
"say, hello everyone"     →  /s hello everyone
"guild heads up"          →  /g heads up
"type search term"        →  types directly without opening chat

Separators supported: space, colon, comma, or period after the channel name. Case-insensitive.

Available WoW channels: say, party, raid, guild, officer, yell, instance, whisper, type

Adding Custom Channels

You can add channels beyond the built-in ones (e.g. WoW's numbered channels /1, /2) by editing two config files.

Step 1 — add the channel command to game_presets.json under the preset's channels map:

"channels": {
  "say": "/s ",
  "party": "/p ",
  "one": "/1 ",
  "two": "/2 "
}

Step 2 — add the spoken trigger words to channel_languages.json under each language's channels map:

"en": {
  "channels": {
    "one": ["one", "channel one"],
    "two": ["two", "channel two"]
  }
}

After saving both files, saying "one hello" or "channel one hello" will send /1 hello.

You can add as many trigger words per channel as you like (e.g., aliases in multiple languages). The key in channel_languages.json must match the key in game_presets.json.

Adding More Presets

Edit game_presets.json to add new games — no code changes needed. Each preset specifies:

• chat_open_key — key to open the chat box ("enter" or null)
• chat_send_key — key to send the message ("enter" or null)
• default_channel — channel to use when no prefix is spoken
• channels — map of spoken words to slash-command prefixes
• whisper_prompt — vocabulary hint for the Whisper model

Button Configuration

The plugin uses a configurable button combo for push-to-talk. You can set 1–5 buttons from the plugin UI.

Available buttons:

• L1, R1 (bumpers) — Default combo
• L2, R2 (triggers)
• L5, R5 (back grips) — note: intercepted by Steam in some modes
• A, B, X, Y (face buttons)

Use Cases

Gaming

• WoW chat: Dictate messages with correct channel routing (party, raid, guild, etc.)
• Generic text input: Type player names, search terms, chat in any game without a keyboard

General

• Web browsing: Fill forms, search, comment
• Discord/messaging: Send messages hands-free
• Any text input: Works in any active window using the Generic preset

WoW Context Support (Optional)

For improved accuracy with WoW-specific vocabulary, install the included WoW addon and run convert_wow_context.py --watch. It reads your current zone, target, party members, and class/spec from the game and feeds them to Whisper as context.

See doc/TESTING_GUIDE.md for setup instructions.

Troubleshooting

Plugin not showing up

• Check Decky Loader logs: /tmp/decky-*.log
• Ensure all Python dependencies are installed
• Restart Decky Loader

Recording not working

• Ensure the plugin is enabled
• Check that Steam Deck mic is working (test in another app)
• Verify ydotoold is running: pgrep ydotoold
• Check logs: /tmp/decktation.log

Button combo not detected

• Try a different button combination in the plugin UI
• Avoid L5/R5 as Steam may intercept these buttons
• Check /tmp/decktation.log for controller listener errors
• Verify controller listener is running: pgrep -f controller_listener

Performance on Steam Deck

• Default base model is recommended (good balance)
• For faster: use tiny model (edit wow_voice_chat.py line 28)
• For accuracy: use small model (slower, needs more resources)

Technical Details

• Speech recognition: faster-whisper (CTranslate2 backend)
• Model: base (150MB, ~2-4s transcription time)
• Input: Steam Deck microphone or connected headset
• Controller input: evdev (separate subprocess to avoid Steam interception)
• Output: Keyboard simulation via ydotool (bundled)
• Game presets: game_presets.json — data-driven, no code changes needed to add games
• Dependencies: Pre-bundled Python 3.11 libraries in lib/ folder
• Architecture: TypeScript frontend + Python backend + separate controller listener process

Development

npm install           # Install Node dependencies
npm run build         # Compile TypeScript to dist/index.js
npm run watch         # Watch mode for development

# Unit tests (no hardware required)
python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install pytest
.venv/bin/pytest tests/ -v

CI runs unit tests and the TypeScript build on every push via GitHub Actions.

Privacy

• All processing happens locally on your Steam Deck
• No data sent to external servers
• Whisper model downloads from HuggingFace (one-time)

Credits

Built with:

• faster-whisper - Efficient Whisper implementation
• Decky Loader - Steam Deck plugin framework

License

MIT