Real-time Speech Recognition with Vosk and Zig

This project implements a minimal real-time speech-to-text application using Vosk and Zig.

Setup

Prerequisites

• Zig 0.15.1 (configured via mise)
• Nix development environment with C compilation tools, ALSA, and audio libraries

Vosk Model Download

The application uses the Vosk small English model for speech recognition:

• Source: https://alphacephei.com/vosk/models/vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15.zip
• Size: ~50MB
• Language: English only
• Accuracy: Good for simple sentences and commands

Installation Steps

1. Enter nix development environment: nix develop
2. Download Vosk model: wget https://alphacephei.com/vosk/models/vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15.zip
3. Extract model: unzip vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15.zip
4. Build application: zig build
5. Run: ./zig-out/bin/stt

Usage

The application will:

• Initialize audio capture from default microphone
• Load the Vosk speech recognition model
• Process audio in real-time
• Output recognized text to terminal
• Exit on Ctrl+C

Dependencies

• Vosk C API library
• ALSA for audio capture
• Standard C libraries for audio processing