How do I dictate in VS Code?

Install Productive Voice on Windows, click where you want the text in VS Code, press Ctrl+Shift+Space and speak. The text is pasted at your cursor.

Do I need a VS Code extension?

No. Productive Voice is a separate Windows app that pastes into whatever has focus. Our Features page says it works in VS Code, Slack, Outlook, Notion and other Windows apps.

Can it write code by voice?

No. It types what you say at the cursor. It suits comments, commit messages, documentation and prompts, not spoken syntax.

$39 once, plus about $0.008 a minute to your own Deepgram account, which is about $28 a year at 10 minutes of speech a day. The trial lasts 30 days and needs no card.

Productive Voice and VS Code

Dictate in VS Code
on Windows.

Productive Voice is a separate Windows app, not a VS Code extension. It pastes into whatever has focus, so it works in VS Code as it does in any other app. It types your words. It does not write syntax by voice.

Try free for 30 days See pricing

No card for the trial · $39 once · 14-day refund

How to dictate in VS Code

Click where you want the text. Productive Voice pastes into whatever has focus.
Press Ctrl Shift Space. The pill appears over the window and starts listening.
Speak, then stop. The text is pasted at your cursor. The start and stop shortcuts are set in the app's Advanced tab.

Our Features page says Productive Voice works in VS Code, Slack, Outlook, Notion and other Windows apps. That is the same reason it works in your browser or your email client: it pastes into whatever has focus.

The Productive Voice pill, listening, floating over a document in VS Code — The pill floats over VS Code while you dictate. Demo data only.

What to dictate

Comments and docs. Say what a function does, then tidy the text.
Commit messages. Speak the change, and optionally let a Voice format it as a commit message using your own AI account.
Prompts for AI coding assistants. Long prompts are quick to speak. The result lands wherever your cursor is.
README and issue text. Prose is where dictation saves the most typing.

Technical terms

If dictation mishears a name or a tool, add a find-and-replace rule to the custom dictionary. The Features page shows "kubernetes" as an example. The rules are stored on your PC and apply every time you dictate, in VS Code or anywhere else.

This fits if

You want to speak comments, messages and prompts into VS Code.
You work on Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
You want one tool that also works outside VS Code.

This does not fit if

You want to write syntax or run editor commands by voice. Productive Voice is dictation, not voice coding.
You want a feature inside VS Code itself. There is no extension.
You use a Mac or Linux. It runs on Windows only.

What it costs

$39 once for the licence. After that you pay Deepgram directly, at about $0.008 a minute, which is about $28 a year at 10 minutes of speech a day. New Deepgram accounts get a $200 credit. AI formatting is optional and uses your own OpenRouter or other provider account. Your audio goes to your own Deepgram account, and we collect no telemetry.

Dictation for programmers · Set up a Deepgram account · Requirements · Privacy

Try it in your own editor.

30 days, full-featured, no card. Install it, press the hotkey in VS Code and see how it feels.