From 6dfaf630e1fadd75c32bad1e29ecf5291171c120 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Doxa Maps Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2026 04:58:23 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] README: Rudder's goal, private voice-to-text that you own Under the desktop output, Rudder's goal from the start: offline, with no telemetry and no cloud. Your own code and your own self-hosted speech model (NeMo-Speech.cpp and a ~742 MB model) on a modest amount of CPU; after a one-time download of the runtime and model nothing needs the network (the runtime was traced: zero sockets, zero DNS). Working out of the box is the aim; the first-run download is still manual. Because a voice-to-text tool hears everything, changes to rudder-voice and rudder-engine should come only from trusted people, each read by a second person. Planned: an egress monitor that shows Rudder sends no data out. --- README.md | 12 ++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 5c691e030..1eefa2c27 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -629,6 +629,18 @@ text to an agent. Nothing leaves the computer. ![Rudder, the offline voice-to-text desktop app, running](documentation/readme-images/deploy5-desktop-rudder.png) +**Rudder's goal, from the start: private voice-to-text that you own.** + +- **Offline, with no telemetry and no cloud.** Your own code and your own self-hosted speech model + (NVIDIA's open NeMo-Speech.cpp runtime and a small speech model, about 742 MB) run on a modest amount + of your computer's CPU. After a one-time download of the runtime and the model, nothing needs the + network; a trace of the speech runtime showed zero sockets and zero DNS lookups. The aim is that it + works out of the box: today the first-run download is still a manual step. +- **Be careful who commits to Rudder.** A voice-to-text tool hears everything said near it, so one + bad change could turn it into spyware. Take changes to `plugin-designs/rudder-voice/` and + `backend/rudder-engine/` only from people you trust, and have a second person read every one. +- **Planned: an egress monitor** that shows you, as it runs, that Rudder sends no data out to anyone. + **The map app runs as a desktop app the same way.** ![Desktop app (Tauri), working](documentation/readme-images/deploy5-desktop.png)