Guide
Dictate to Cursor on Mac
Cursor can take dictation in the Agent chat. Here's what it does, what it doesn't cover, and how to talk to Cursor everywhere else, from comments to the terminal.
Short answer: Cursor has voice input in the Agent chat: click the microphone, or hold Ctrl+M since version 3.1. It doesn't cover comments, commit messages or the terminal, and Cursor doesn't say where speech is turned into text. Precis types into any field in Cursor and every other app, lays it out as a prompt, and does it all on your Mac. It's $39 once.
| Feature | Precis | Cursor's voice input |
|---|---|---|
| Where speech becomes text | On your Mac | Cursor's docs and changelog don't say |
| How you start it | Hold your Precis key (⌥ Space by default) in any app | The microphone icon in the chat input, or hold Ctrl+M (Cursor 3.1) |
| Where it works | Anywhere in Cursor, including code comments, the terminal and the commit message box, plus every other app | The Agent chat input |
| What you get | A prompt with the ask first and the details as bullets, using only your words | A transcript of what you said, to review before sending |
| Sending | Never. You press Return yourself. | You send it, or set submit keywords that start the agent |
| Price | $39 once for 2 Macs, after a 7-day trial | Comes with Cursor |
Cursor details from Cursor's prompting guide and its 2.0 and 3.1 changelogs, read on 30 October 2026. Product names belong to their owners.
Cursor has voice input built in
Cursor added Voice Mode in version 2.0 (29 October 2025): you talk to the Agent, and you can set submit keywords that start it running when you say them. In 3.1 (13 April 2026), Cursor switched to recording the whole clip and transcribing it in one go for better accuracy, and added press-and-hold Ctrl+M to speak. Cursor's prompting guide says to click the microphone in the chat input, say file and function names out loud, and review the transcription before sending.
If you only ever talk to the Agent, that may be all you need. Two things it doesn't cover:
- It's for the chat input. Comments, commit messages, the terminal (where Claude Code or Codex might be running), Slack and the pull request on GitHub all still need typing.
- Where your voice goes isn't stated. Neither the prompting guide nor the changelogs say whether speech is turned into text on your Mac or on a server. If that matters for client code, ask Cursor.
How to dictate to Cursor with Precis
- Click wherever you want the words: the Agent input, a comment, the terminal, the commit box.
- Hold your Precis key and talk the way you'd explain it to a colleague. Let go when you're done.
- Precis types it at your cursor. Read it, then press Return yourself.
Precis treats Cursor, VS Code, Terminal, ChatGPT and Claude as "AI and coding" apps and lays out what you say as a prompt. The built-in example:
okay so i want you to write a swift function that groups dictation entries by day uh it should use the user's calendar not utc and the newest day should come first oh and don't use any third party libraries
Write a Swift function that groups dictation entries by day.
- It should use the user's calendar, not UTC.
- The newest day should come first.
- Don't use any third-party libraries.
For a longer brief, start with "master prompt" and Precis lays your own sentences out as Role, Context, Task and Constraints.
Code words
Speech engines stumble on tool names. Precis spells common ones the way they're written (Supabase, Vercel, SwiftUI, GitHub, Claude Code, Ollama, GraphQL, Postgres) and has a dictionary for yours: your repo names, your teammates, your own functions. A rewrite that adds a name, number, date or link you didn't say is thrown away, and you get your own words with the ums removed. How that's tested.
Limits
- Words appear when you let go of the key, not live as you speak.
- Precis picks the layout by app, so a comment and an Agent prompt in Cursor get the same Prompt style. Choose "As spoken" for AI and coding in the Styles pane if you'd rather have no rewriting.
- Precis is for Macs with Apple silicon and macOS 26.5 or later. Styles need Apple Intelligence turned on.
Questions
Does Cursor have voice input?
Yes. Click the microphone in the Agent chat input, or press and hold Ctrl+M since Cursor 3.1. Cursor 2.0 added Voice Mode with optional submit keywords that start the agent.
Does Cursor's voice mode work in the terminal or in code comments?
Cursor documents it for the chat input. For comments, commit messages and the terminal, use a dictation app that types into any field, such as Precis or Apple Dictation.
Is Cursor's dictation on-device?
Cursor's prompting guide and changelogs don't say where speech is turned into text. Precis turns speech into text on your Mac.
Will Precis send the prompt for me?
No. Precis types the text and you press Return, so you always read it first.
Try Precis free for 7 days
Hold ⌥ Space in any app and talk. No card and no account, then $39 once for 2 Macs.
Free for 7 days, no card. Needs macOS 26.5 on Apple silicon.