Transcribing Audio

Transcribing Audio

Transcribe audio files to text using the Google Gemini API. The transcript is saved as a .txt file alongside the audio file (or to a specified output path).

Prerequisites

• uv must be installed. Check with uv --version. Install via:

  curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
  

• GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable must be set. Get a key at https://aistudio.google.com/apikey

Available scripts

• scripts/transcribe.py — Uploads an audio file to the Gemini Files API, transcribes it, and writes the transcript to a .txt file.

Workflow

1. Verify the audio file exists and confirm GEMINI_API_KEY is set in the environment.

2. Run the transcription script:

   uv run scripts/transcribe.py <audio-file> [--output <output.txt>]
   

   Examples:

   # Saves transcript to spoken-notes-transcript.txt next to the audio file
   uv run scripts/transcribe.py spoken-notes.m4a
   
   # Save to an explicit output path
   uv run scripts/transcribe.py spoken-notes.m4a --output transcript.txt
   
   # Print transcript to stdout
   uv run scripts/transcribe.py spoken-notes.m4a --output -
   

   Default output: <audio-file-stem>-transcript.txt in the same directory as the audio file.

3. Read the transcript file and use it as the basis for further work (drafting a document, summarizing, extracting action items, etc.).

Supported audio formats

Gemini supports: mp3, wav, aiff, aac, ogg, flac, m4a, and other common formats.

Troubleshooting

• GEMINI_API_KEY not set — Export the key: export GEMINI_API_KEY=your-key-here
• Audio file not found — Check that the path is correct relative to your working directory.
• API error — Ensure your API key is valid and the Gemini API is enabled in your Google AI Studio project.