Linux

Installation

There are multiple Linux installation options available on the voquill.com/download page.

APT (Debian, Ubuntu)

The easiest option for Debian-based distros is the APT package, which provides automatic updates:

curl -fsSL https://voquill.github.io/apt/install.sh | bash

Or set up the repository manually:

# Add GPG key
curl -fsSL https://voquill.github.io/apt/gpg-key.asc \
  | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/voquill.gpg

# Add repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/voquill.gpg arch=amd64] https://voquill.github.io/apt stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/voquill.list

# Install
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install voquill-desktop

To install the development channel instead:

curl -fsSL https://voquill.github.io/apt/install.sh | bash -s -- --dev

Or set up the dev repository manually:

# Add GPG key
curl -fsSL https://voquill.github.io/apt/gpg-key.asc \
  | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/voquill.gpg

# Add dev repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/voquill.gpg arch=amd64] https://voquill.github.io/apt dev main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/voquill.list

# Install
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install voquill-desktop

Upgrade with:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade voquill-desktop

RPM (Fedora, RHEL, openSUSE)

For RPM-based distros, use the Voquill RPM repository:

curl -fsSL https://voquill.github.io/rpm/install.sh | bash

Or set up the repository manually:

Fedora / RHEL:

sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/voquill.repo << 'EOF'
[voquill-stable]
name=Voquill Desktop (stable)
baseurl=https://voquill.github.io/rpm/packages/stable
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://voquill.github.io/rpm/gpg-key.asc
EOF

sudo dnf install voquill-desktop

openSUSE:

sudo zypper addrepo --gpgcheck https://voquill.github.io/rpm/packages/stable voquill-stable
sudo rpm --import https://voquill.github.io/rpm/gpg-key.asc
sudo zypper install voquill-desktop

To install the development channel instead:

curl -fsSL https://voquill.github.io/rpm/install.sh | bash -s -- --dev

Or set up the dev repository manually:

Fedora / RHEL:

sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/voquill.repo << 'EOF'
[voquill-dev]
name=Voquill Desktop (dev)
baseurl=https://voquill.github.io/rpm/packages/dev
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://voquill.github.io/rpm/gpg-key.asc
EOF

sudo dnf install voquill-desktop

openSUSE:

sudo zypper addrepo --gpgcheck https://voquill.github.io/rpm/packages/dev voquill-dev
sudo rpm --import https://voquill.github.io/rpm/gpg-key.asc
sudo zypper install voquill-desktop

Upgrade with:

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf upgrade voquill-desktop

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update voquill-desktop

AppImage

A standalone AppImage is also available on the download page. No installation required — just download, make executable, and run:

chmod +x Voquill_*.AppImage
./Voquill_*.AppImage

Display Server Setup

Check which display server you are using:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

X11

Voquill uses xdotool to simulate paste keystrokes after placing transcribed text on the clipboard. Most X11 desktops have it pre-installed, but if not:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install xdotool

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install xdotool

# openSUSE
sudo zypper install xdotool

No other setup is required — hotkeys work out of the box on X11.

Wayland

Wayland compositors block app-level global key capture and input simulation by design. Voquill handles this with compositor-level keybindings and kernel-level input simulation, but some one-time setup is required.

ydotool (required for text pasting)

Voquill uses ydotool to simulate paste keystrokes after placing transcribed text on the clipboard. It works on all Wayland compositors by writing directly to /dev/uinput at the kernel level.

Install:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install ydotool

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install ydotool

# openSUSE
sudo zypper install ydotool

Grant your user access to /dev/uinput:

# Add your user to the input group
sudo usermod -aG input $USER

# Create a udev rule so /dev/uinput is group-accessible
echo 'KERNEL=="uinput", GROUP="input", MODE="0660"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-uinput.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Log out and back in for the group change to take effect.

Verify it works:

# Open a text editor, click into it, then run:
ydotool type "hello"

If “hello” appears in the editor, ydotool is working.

wtype (Sway/Hyprland only)

On Sway and Hyprland, Voquill uses wtype as a fallback for input simulation via the virtual-keyboard Wayland protocol. This is not needed on GNOME.

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install wtype

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install wtype

# openSUSE
sudo zypper install wtype

Hotkey Registration

When you configure hotkeys in Voquill’s settings, the app automatically registers them with your compositor. However, Sway and Hyprland require a one-time config change to source Voquill’s keybinding file.

GNOME — no manual setup needed. Voquill registers hotkeys via gsettings automatically.

Sway — add this line to ~/.config/sway/config:

include ~/.config/sway/voquill-hotkeys

Then reload:

swaymsg reload

Hyprland — add this line to ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf:

source = ~/.config/hypr/voquill-hotkeys.conf

Then reload:

hyprctl reload

Known Limitations

Recording pill not visible on older GNOME versions

The recording pill overlay uses the wlr-layer-shell protocol to render on top of other windows. Older versions of GNOME (prior to GNOME 46) do not support this protocol, so the pill will not appear. Hotkeys and transcription still work normally — only the visual indicator is affected.

This is a compositor limitation and cannot be worked around by Voquill. Upgrading to GNOME 46 or later (Ubuntu 24.04+, Fedora 40+) will resolve this.