AI cleanup overview

What cleanup does

Cleanup takes the raw transcript and returns a tidied version. The instruction it operates under is narrow and specific: fix grammar, remove filler words (“um”, “uh”, “like”, “you know”), apply spoken corrections (“no wait”, “I mean”, “actually”), preserve the original meaning and tone, and return only the cleaned text. If the input is already clean, it comes back unchanged.

It is a copy-editor, not a co-author. It is not asked to expand, summarize, or answer anything.

Before and after

Raw transcript	After cleanup
so um I think we should uh ship the beta tonight no wait tomorrow morning would be better	I think we should ship the beta tomorrow morning — that would be better.

Turning it on and off

Dashboard ▸ Settings ▸ AI cleanup, or the Cleanup submenu in the menu bar. Off is called None — raw transcript.

With cleanup off, the pipeline makes no network request at all and OpenVoiceFlow works entirely offline. With it on, you also activate your dictionary, profile, and per-app styles, all of which are applied at this stage.

Exactly what is sent

When cloud cleanup runs, the request contains:

• The raw transcript of what you just said.
• The cleanup instruction above, plus your style instruction.
• Your personal context — Know-Me profile, dictionary, and snippet triggers.

What is never sent: audio, your history, your settings, or any identifier for you or your Mac beyond what your own API key implies to your provider. Choose Ollama and none of it leaves your machine at all.

When it fails

Cleanup fails open, always. If the API key is missing, the provider returns an error, the request times out (10 seconds for cloud providers, 120 for local Ollama), or the response cannot be parsed, OpenVoiceFlow inserts your raw on-device transcript instead.

The practical consequence is that a cleanup outage costs you polish, never words. It also means that if cleanup silently seems to stop working, the thing to check is your API key and credit balance — the app will keep quietly giving you raw transcripts.

Should you turn it on?

• Leave it off if you dictate notes and search queries, want zero network involvement, or prefer your exact words preserved.
• Turn it on if you dictate email, documents, and messages, or if you want your dictionary and profile to take effect.
• Use Ollama if you want cleanup's benefits with no network at all — see Choosing a backend.

Frequently asked

Does OpenVoiceFlow send my audio to the cloud?

Never. Audio is transcribed on your Mac and discarded. Only if you enable cloud cleanup does the resulting text leave your machine, and then only to the provider you selected, under your own API key.

Is AI cleanup on by default?

No. Cleanup ships set to None, which means you get the raw on-device transcript and no network request is made at any point in the pipeline.

What happens if the cleanup service is down?

You get your raw transcript. Cleanup is designed to fail open: on a missing key, an HTTP error, a timeout, or an unparseable response, the app inserts the original on-device transcription rather than showing an error or losing your words.