For Mac and Windows
The private meeting notepad.
Aloe Scribe records, transcribes, and summarizes your meetings entirely on your computer. No bot joins the call. Your audio never leaves the machine, and that is the architecture, not a policy promise.
Free while in beta. No account. No upload. Transcript lands seconds after the meeting ends.
~/meetings/2026-04-07-1400-weekly-sync.md
Summary
Timeline review for the API launch. Deadline confirmed for next Friday.
Action items
Priya sends the revised SOW by Friday.
Transcript
[00:00] Vince: Hey, so today we need to discuss the timeline.
[00:14] Priya: Right, the API deadline is next Friday.
Why local
The bot in your meeting is someone else's server.
Every funded meeting notetaker works the same way. A bot joins the call, or the app uploads your audio, and a vendor's cloud does the transcription. That design has caught up with the industry. Cloud notetaker vendors are now facing wiretap class actions because their servers received meeting audio. Universities blocklist notetaker bots, and Teams can flag or deny them. In one survey, 84 percent of professionals said they self-censor when an AI notetaker joins the call.
Aloe Scribe is built the other way around. The recording, the transcription, the speaker identification, and the summary all happen on your computer. There is no bot, so there is nothing for platforms to flag. There is no upload, so it is structurally impossible for us to see your data. No training on your content, ever.
Recording locally does not waive consent laws. Where the law or your policy requires it, tell people you are recording.
How it works
Press record. Get a finished document.
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Start recording
Aloe Scribe captures your microphone and your computer's system audio on separate channels. It works with Zoom, Teams, Meet, or any app that plays sound, with no bot in the participant list.
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Watch the live transcript
Text appears on screen as people talk, so you know it is working. A notepad sits alongside it for anything you want to jot down.
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Tag speakers as they talk
Click a name once while someone is speaking. Aloe Scribe names everything else that voice says, in this meeting and the next.
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Stop, and the transcript lands
Seconds after you hit stop, a clean Markdown file is on disk with a summary and action items written by a language model that also runs on your machine.
Speaker names
It knows who said what. Acoustically.
Most notetakers guess speakers from the meeting platform's metadata, which falls apart in conference rooms and on phone bridges. Aloe Scribe identifies speakers from the audio itself.
Because the mic and system audio are separate channels, which side of the call a line came from is a fact, not a guess. Within each side, on-device speaker identification tells voices apart. Tag a voice once during the call and majority voting names that voice's entire cluster, past lines included.
Voice fingerprints are stored only on your device, so colleagues you have tagged before are recognized in future meetings without tagging again.
Where your data goes
Audio in. Transcript on disk. Nothing out.
This section doubles as the security one-pager. Show it to your IT or compliance team.
| Audio in | Your microphone and your computer's own audio output, captured locally. No video is captured. |
|---|---|
| Processing | Transcription, speaker identification, and the summary all run on your CPU and GPU. No audio upload. No cloud transcription. |
| Storage | Open Markdown files with structured metadata, saved to a folder you choose. Voice fingerprints for speaker recognition stay on the device. |
| Network | The only network calls are downloading the app and its models. No accounts. No telemetry on meeting content. |
Your transcripts are built to feed your own tools. The Markdown metadata is readable by Glean, Copilot, and anything else you point at the folder. Linked names for Obsidian and Logseq turn every attendee into a page that lists their meetings.
Local capture does not waive consent laws. Disclose recording where your jurisdiction or client agreements require it.
Built for your AI
Your notes are files your AI already reads.
Cloud notetakers keep your meetings on their servers, and your AI assistant can only reach them through the vendor's own connector, with plan limits, rate limits, and a login. Aloe Scribe writes each meeting as a plain Markdown file in a folder you choose, including a shared OneDrive or SharePoint folder. Claude, Copilot, ChatGPT, or a simple script can read it there. There's no API to call, no rate limit, and no vendor account.
Structured for search
Every note starts with the same metadata header: title, date, duration, client, attendees, and speakers, with names spelled the same way across every meeting. "When did I last meet with this client?" is a search through the headers. Nothing has to read a transcript to answer it.
Summary first, transcript last
The summary, decisions, action items, and open questions come before the transcript. An AI reads a small part of each note first and only goes on to the transcript when it needs it. Every transcript line carries a timestamp and a real name, so answers can point to the exact moment.
Ask notes, on your machine
Inside the app, Ask notes searches your whole vault by words and by meaning, and a model on your computer writes the answer, with sources. No question and no note is sent anywhere, and a question costs nothing. It works the same on Mac and Windows.
System requirements
It runs on your hardware, so the hardware matters.
Mac
- Apple Silicon (M1 or later)
- macOS 13 or newer
- 8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended, 32 GB for the high quality summaries
- 8 GB free disk, up to 25 GB with the high quality tier
Windows
- 64-bit Windows 10 or 11
- CPU with AVX2, 4 cores or more
- 8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended, 24 GB for the high quality summaries
- 8 GB free disk, up to 20 GB with the high quality tier
Download
Get Aloe Scribe
Free while in beta. Pricing will be announced later.
Mac
Download the latest signed DMG from the releases page.
Signed and notarized. Download, open, drag to Applications.
Windows
Signed installer, 1.8 GB, no admin rights needed. It carries the transcription model, so recording works offline from the first launch. A one-time setup then downloads the summary model sized for your PC and the meaning search model for Ask notes.
SmartScreen can still warn while the new signature builds its reputation. If it does, click "More info", then "Run anyway". Once installed, Check for updates in Settings installs new versions in place.
Release notes by email
One short email when a new version ships, with what changed. Nothing else.
Your address goes in our own database, is used only for release announcements, and any reply unsubscribes you.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Is this legal to use?
Aloe Scribe is a recording tool, and recording laws depend on where you and the other participants are. Some places require everyone's consent, others require one party's. Running locally does not change those rules, so disclose that you are recording where the law or your professional obligations require it. When in doubt, ask, the same as you would with any recorder. We keep a plain-language map of recording laws with links to the authoritative sources.
Why is there no bot?
A bot exists so a vendor's server can hear your meeting. Aloe Scribe transcribes on your computer, so it does not need one. It captures the audio your computer is already playing and the audio your mic is already hearing. Nothing joins the call, nothing shows up in the participant list, and there is nothing for the meeting platform to flag or block.
Does it work with Teams, Zoom, and Meet?
Yes. Aloe Scribe captures system audio, so it works with any app that plays sound. That includes Teams, Zoom, Meet, Webex, Slack huddles, phone calls routed through your computer, and webinars. It also records in-person meetings with the mic alone.
What does it cost?
It is currently free while in beta. Pricing will be announced. There is no account, so there is nothing to sign up for now and nothing that expires.
How does it compare to Otter or MacWhisper?
Granola captures locally like we do, then sends your audio to cloud services for transcription and enhancement. Otter is a cloud notetaker whose bot joins the call. MacWhisper is a strong local app for files and dictation. Aloe Scribe keeps everything on the machine and is built for meetings. The full comparisons are here, vs Granola, vs Otter, and vs MacWhisper.
Does it work offline?
Only to download the app and its models. After installation, recording, transcription, speaker identification, and summaries all work offline.
What format are the transcripts?
Plain Markdown files with a structured metadata header, saved to a folder you choose. They open in any editor and are built to feed your own AI tools, including Glean, Copilot, and Obsidian. Linked names for Obsidian and Logseq are one switch in Settings.
Can Claude, Copilot, or ChatGPT read my notes?
Yes, with nothing to set up. Your notes are ordinary files in your own folder, so any AI tool that can read a folder can read them. Microsoft Copilot can index them from OneDrive or SharePoint, and Claude or ChatGPT can read them from the folder. You don't need an API key or a vendor account, and you don't hit a plan limit. To keep the questions on your computer too, use Ask notes in the app.