Settings

Concepts

Global settings control Vinput’s base runtime environment, independent of ASR engine or scene selection.

Corresponding config:

{
  "global": {
    "default_language": "en",
    "capture_device": "rnnoise_source",
    "duck_output_while_recording": false,
    "duck_output_volume": 0.25
  },
  "asr": {
    "normalize_audio": true,
    "input_gain": 5.0,
    "vad": {
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Capture device

Select the microphone input source. Vinput captures audio via PipeWire — this lists available capture devices on your system.

GUI

In Vinput GUI, select the device on the Control page.

CLI

vinput device list              # List available capture devices
vinput device use <name>        # Set active device

Input gain

input_gain controls the recording volume multiplier. Increase this if your microphone is too quiet for good recognition.

vinput config set /asr/input_gain 5.0

Audio normalization

normalize_audio normalizes the audio signal for more consistent volume levels.

vinput config set /asr/normalize_audio true

VAD (Voice Activity Detection)

VAD detects whether someone is speaking. When enabled, silent segments are filtered out automatically, reducing unnecessary recognition attempts.

vinput config set /asr/vad/enabled true

Reduce output volume while recording

When duck_output_while_recording is enabled, Vinput lowers the system output volume while recording and restores it afterwards. This helps when you use speakers and a microphone at the same time — for example listening to music while dictating — so that speaker sound leaking into the microphone does not degrade recognition.

duck_output_volume is the fraction of the current output volume kept while recording (0.25 keeps 25%). It is clamped to the 0.0–1.0 range. This feature is off by default.

Volume is adjusted through WirePlumber (wpctl), so it matches the system volume and is fully restored afterwards. If WirePlumber is not available (for example inside some sandboxes), the feature is silently skipped.

vinput config set /global/duck_output_while_recording true
vinput config set /global/duck_output_volume 0.25

Both options are also available on the Control page in Vinput GUI, under the Audio section.

Language

default_language sets the default language, affecting UI display and some model behavior.

vinput config set /global/default_language zh

General CLI

vinput config get <JSON Pointer>        # Read any config value
vinput config set <JSON Pointer> <val>  # Write any config value
vinput config edit core                 # Edit core config (config.json)
vinput config edit fcitx                # Edit Fcitx addon config (vinput.conf)
vinput daemon restart                   # Restart daemon to apply changes