questions,
answered.
the app
What is boardcast?
A whiteboard that writes down your meeting. It listens, recognizes speech, and a board model turns what is said into a board, stroke by stroke: topics, lists, flow charts, questions, things struck out. You can circle, mark, rewrite and replay it, and export the meeting afterwards.
Does my audio leave my computer?
No. Speech recognition and the board model run on your computer, and nothing is recorded to a server. The only exception is a remote model, which you have to set up yourself: then the transcript text and the board are sent to the provider you chose. See privacy.
Which languages does it understand?
Japanese, English and Chinese, each with its own recognizer. On a Mac it can also use Apple's own recognizer, which covers whatever languages your Mac supports.
Do I need an account or an internet connection?
No account. The internet is needed only to download the board model the first time, and to check for updates. After that it works offline.
Is it free?
Yes. boardcast is open source under the MIT license. The models it runs have their own licenses, listed in the terms.
getting it
What does it run on?
macOS on Apple silicon or Intel, Windows on x64, and Linux on x64. A graphics card makes the board model quicker but is not required. The package is about 1.1 GB with every speech model, and the default board model is a 2.6 GB download.
Which package should I download?
| package | recognizes | models inside |
|---|---|---|
| all | Japanese, English and Chinese, each with its best model | about 1.1 GB |
| ja | Japanese, with ReazonSpeech | about 160 MB |
| en | English, with Parakeet | about 660 MB |
| none | whatever your Mac's own recognizer supports (Mac only) | none |
How do updates work?
On Linux the app offers new versions and installs them itself, checking each package's signature first. On the Mac and Windows, download the new version from the releases page for now.
The Mac says the app cannot be opened.
It is signed only ad hoc, so the first time, open it with Control-click › Open.
using it
Can I use a cloud model instead?
Yes. Settings take any OpenAI-compatible API, and DeepSeek can be filled in with one click. The key is kept in a settings file only your user account can read, and is never logged.
Where are my meetings kept?
On your computer: ~/.local/share/games.mmstudio.boardcast on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/games.mmstudio.boardcast on a Mac, and %APPDATA%\games.mmstudio.boardcast on Windows. They are plain files you can back up or delete.
What can I export?
Markdown with the key points, a Mermaid flow chart and the transcript; PNG, SVG, an animated SVG, and a GIF of the board being written, which plays in chats and documents; a whole-meeting PDF; and a single HTML replay page for whoever missed it.
What is the web demo?
Two real meetings, one in English and one in Chinese, played with their recordings in your browser by the same board code the app runs. It does not listen to you; the app does that, live.
Something went wrong. Where do I report it?
Open an issue on GitHub, or write to hsiangnianian@gmail.com.