opensteno/plover

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

2579 stars · 308 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded

Plover is a free, open-source stenography engine that translates input from a steno machine or standard keyboard into keystrokes, letting users write in any application at speeds over 200 words per minute. It is a Python desktop application running in the background on Windows, Linux, and Mac as part of the Open Steno Project.

Use cases

• write at 200+ wpm using stenography on a computer
• use a steno machine as a keyboard replacement
• learn machine shorthand for free
• do realtime captioning or transcription
• type faster in any application using steno strokes

When to choose

• you want free, open-source stenography software instead of proprietary CAT software
• you want steno input to work system-wide in any application
• you are learning stenography and need an engine plus community resources
• you want to use a cheap hobbyist steno keyboard or an NKRO keyboard for steno

When to avoid

• you need professional court-deposition features like audio sync and transcript formatting (CAT software)
• you are not willing to learn steno theory, which has a significant learning curve
• you need a stenography engine for platforms other than Windows, Linux, or Mac

Facets

application · maturity active

accessibility developer-tools accessibility desktop-applications windows python cross-platform stenography steno-engine machine-shorthand keyboard-input open-steno-project input-method keyboard linux macos desktop

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="opensteno/plover")