_Follow-up to Building a 100% local meeting transcription app for macOS — Scripta already records dual-channel audio and summarizes with a local LLM. v3.4.7 adds something I kept forgetting to do myself: **hit Record before the meeting starts_ _._ ## The problem Scripta works great when I remember to open it and tap **Start Recording**. I do not always remember. Recurring standups, interviews, and “just a quick sync” calls all have a start time on the calendar — but my muscle memory does not. Cloud assistants solve this by running in someone else’s datacenter. Scripta’s whole pitch is **nothing leaves the Mac** , so “schedule a bot in the cloud” was never an option. What I wanted instead: * Name the meeting (**“Product sync”** , not `2026-09-25_16-50-00`) * Pick **start** and **end** (or start + duration) * Let the app **start and stop capture** while it is running * Keep transcripts and metadata **local** , same as manual recording That shipped in **Scripta v3.4.7**. ## What it looks like Open **Scheduled Recordings** from the toolbar calendar icon (or the menu bar): Create a meeting — title, window, language, optional notification if the app is not open at start time: Upcoming items show status (**Pending** , **Recording now** , **Waiting to start** , etc.) with **Edit** , **Cancel** , or **Stop recording** when relevant: When a scheduled session finishes, the export folder’s `session.json` includes a **title** and optional `scheduledRecordingId`, so **Meeting History** is searchable by name. ## Product rules we locked in These are intentional — not missing features for v3.5: Rule | Why ---|--- **No overlapping schedules** | Saves fail validation if windows intersect **No auto-summary after scheduled stop** | Manual recordings still offer the summary sheet when Ollama is ready; scheduled runs set `suppressAutoSummary` so you are not interrupted **No takeover without consent** | If you are already recording at start time, Scripta asks whether to stop the current session and start the scheduled one **App must be running for auto-capture** | Phase 1 is in-process scheduling only — no `launchd` daemon silently recording in the background **If the app is closed at start time** | A **local notification** nudges you to open Scripta; it does not pretend recording happened Calendar import, multi-device sync, and “record with zero UI process” are explicitly **later phases**. ## How it works (implementation sketch) Persistence is a single JSON file: `~/Library/Application Support/Scripta/schedules.json` A **`ScheduleCoordinator`** ticks about once per second while the app runs: 1. Arm **5-minute** local notifications for upcoming items 2. At **start** → configure the recorder (title, language, no summary popup), then `startRecording()` if permissions are already granted 3. At **end** → `stopRecording()` for that schedule’s session 4. Reconcile **stale** states after quit/reopen (e.g. JSON said “recording” but capture never started) Before auto-start, **`ScreenRecordingAccess`** checks mic, speech, and ScreenCaptureKit — scheduled paths avoid hammering the system permission dialog every second if you forgot to grant **Screen Recording**. Recording still uses the same pipeline as manual mode: **whisper.cpp** on the mic, **SFSpeechRecognizer** on system audio via **ScreenCaptureKit** (architecture write-up). Optional **Awake** (bottom bar, default on): while recording or finishing transcription, Scripta holds an `NSProcessInfo` activity to prevent **idle** system and display sleep — not a guarantee against lid-close or manual sleep, but enough for long calls at your desk. ## Permissions: the real UX tax The scheduler did not create new TCC categories — it surfaced the same ones as manual record: * **Microphone** * **Screen Recording** (required for system audio, even though we only capture audio) * **Speech Recognition** **Run Permissions Setup once** before the meeting window. If auto-start fails, the list shows **Waiting to start** with **Retry start** after you fix settings and return to the app. If you develop from source, install to **`/Applications/Scripta.app`** (`scripts/install-local.sh`) so TCC matches what users run in production. `swift run` binaries are a different story. ## What we learned shipping it 1. **Do not flip`@Published` language on a background thread** when auto-starting — SwiftUI will punish you with stack overflows in Release builds. 2. **Do not mark a schedule “recording” until`MeetingRecorder` actually enters `.recording`** — quitting during a permission prompt left JSON lying. 3. **README type-checker limits are real** — splitting `ContentView` lifecycle modifiers into smaller views fixed macOS 15 CI. ## Try it **Install** (macOS 14+, Apple Silicon or Intel): curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thehwang/Scripta/main/scripts/install.sh | bash **Repo** : github.com/thehwang/Scripta After install: complete **Permissions Setup** , open **Scheduled Recordings** , add a meeting a few minutes ahead, leave Scripta open, and watch it start on its own. If this fits your workflow, a GitHub star helps others find it. Issues and PRs welcome — especially around calendar import and safer wake-from-sleep behavior. _Scripta is MIT-licensed. Scheduled recording is local-only: your schedules live in`schedules.json` on disk, not on our servers — because there are no servers._

Originally published on knoxstudios.net

Originally published on knoxstudios.net

Originally published on knoxstudios.net