Installation Guide
1: Check System Requirements
Talon has various system requirements, covering the computer hardware, operating system and microphone hardware.
2: Download & Install Talon
Linux Users
- Download Talon for Linux
- Install
- Talon, like many tools for automation or accessibility, does not support Wayland
- You will have to select an X11 session from your login manager.
- This is supported by Gnome and Plasma and many others, but some environments like sway are explicitly Wayland-only.
- To install the speech engine, you must use Talon's tray icon:
- If you use stock Gnome, you need to install AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support to see it
- If you use i3 or a system tray that doesn't support the
StatusNotifierItem
protocol, install snixembed to add support.
Mac Users
- Download Talon for Mac
- Install
Windows Users
- Download Talon for Windows
- Install Talon by running
talon-windows.exe
It is recommended that Talon is installed as described above. However, please note that the application is also available as a portable zip file
3: Install a speech recognition engine
Talon uses a local speech recognition engine that translates voice audio to text.
One recognition engine that comes with Talon is known as Conformer D
. To install it:
- Run the Talon app
- Click the Talon tray icon and select
Speech Recognition → Conformer D
.
Screenshot

For other engine options, see the speech engine page
4: Download the Talon user file set
Talon does not come with voice commands out of the box. So at this point in the installation process, Talon can not do anything useful.
It requires a user file set
and
for beginners, we strongly recommend that you use the Talon Community user file set.
If you install a different user file set then portions of this wiki will not be relevant. These will be marked as such.
A user file set
is simply a bunch of files that need to be downloaded and placed in the correct directory -
the talon user directory.
This can be done one of two ways - either as a zip
file or by using git
.
Considerations in choosing between the two methods, as well as instructions, are described here.
5: Test your Talon Setup
If you have installed talon community, try a few basic commands.
If you have installed a different user file set, consult its documentation on usage.
6: Next steps
- If needed, try ways to improve recognition accuracy
- Customize Talon: learn about how to configure Talon to your liking.
- If at any point you need help with your Talon setup, join the Talon Voice Slack and ask in the
#help
channel. - For earlier access to new features, priority support, and access to additional speech engines, install the beta version.