Handy
A free, open source, and extensible speech-to-text application that works completely offline.
Runssource: GitHubhomepageRustMITcommit 8f9cf53cd141
Rust, MIT licensed. The project labels itself: accessibility, cross platform, speech to text and tauri v2.
Handy runs. An Argusic agent installed it in 66 minutes and hit 8 errors and fixed every one without help on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.
The Handy app builds from source (debug binary + frontend), passes its full Rust unit test suite (271/271) and Playwright frontend tests (2/2), and launches and stays up on the Xvfb virtual display, enumerating its CPU compute device and 69-model catalog via CLI.
What the agent ended up with on a clean machine, in its own words. How this is measured
Measured by Argusic on a fresh machine every time. Every number links to its evidence. Argusic Score 60 of 100 (the mean of this project's run scores).
At a glance
Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed . Test data by Argusic (CC BY 4.0); every number links to a run page with the full log, the recording, and their sha256 hashes.
What was measured
From the run that decided this verdict. Every line is a recorded value, not an estimate.
What went wrong, in the agent's own words
The agent's own words, worst first, never rewritten into advice.
- cargo check failed: pkg-config glib-2.0 (and ~100 transitive dev packages) not installed30 minutes
- transcribe-cpp-sys CMake could not build Vulkan backend (Ubuntu glslc 2023.8 lacks GL_NV_cooperative_matrix2 support)12 minutes
- linker errors: non-PIC static archives (libX11.a, libdbus-1.a, etc) in extracted tree8 minutes
- runtime: WebKitNetworkProcess hardcoded to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/webkit2gtk-4.1 (unwritable without root)8 minutes
- runtime: libtranscribe.so.0.2 not found4 minutes
- rustc not found (no Rust toolchain in container)3 minutes
- Install time
- 66 minutes
- Cold machine to finish
- 67 minutes
- Errors hit and fixed
- 8 hit, 8 fixed with no human help
- How the result was proved
- cargo test exited 0 with 271 passed, 0 failed; bun run test:playwright exited 0 with 2 passed; src-tauri/target/debug/handy --help printed usage; --list-devices printed 'index=0 kind=cpu name=AMD EPYC 9655 96-Core Processor'; background launch stayed alive 10s on DISPLAY=:99
- Model tokens used
- 2,339,066
- Exact commit tested
- 8f9cf53cd141
- Container image
- sha256:cdd920bce783
What was not measured
The other half, so you can see exactly how far this evidence goes. A gap is printed as a gap and never filled in.
- Peak GPU memory
- this ran on a CPU machine, so there was no GPU to sample
- Behaviour over a long run
- each attempt uses the smallest documented settings and a fixed time budget, so this measures whether it runs, not how it holds up under load
The end of the recording
The last lines of the terminal session that decided this verdict, exactly as they were recorded.
- **Built**: `cargo check` passed (2 warnings), `cargo build` produced a 596 MB debug binary, `bun … - **Tests**: `cargo test` → **271 passed, 0 failed**; `bun run test:keyboard` → all assertions pass… - **Launched**: The app ran on Xvfb `:99` for 10+ seconds without crashing (`--start-hidden --no-tr… **Errors fixed** (with minutes spent): 1. `rustc: not found` — installed via rustup (3 min) 2. `unzip is required to install bun` — downloaded the official `bun-linux-x64.zip` and extracted w… 3. `pkg-config: glib-2.0 not found` — downloaded/extracted 400+ Ubuntu dev packages into `/tmp/apt-… 4. `Could NOT find Vulkan` then `glslc: error while loading shared libraries` then `coopmat undecla… 5. `relocation R_X86_64_PC32 cannot be used against symbol 'stderr'` from non-PIC static libs — tru… 6. `error while loading shared libraries: libtranscribe.so.0.2` — copied transcribe-cpp runtime lib… 7. `Unable to spawn WebKitNetworkProcess` — libwebkit2gtk hardcodes `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/webk… **Gap recorded**: A real transcription (`--transcribe-file`) was not exercised because it requires …
Replay the whole session, every command from a clean machine to this point.
How it was tested
One agent, one container, no human help. It installs the project the way its own documentation says to, runs it, and fixes what breaks. Everything below is recorded as it happened: the terminal session, the log and the exact commit. The full method.
Strengths and limits
Measured facts, not opinions. How this is written.
What went well
- Reached a running state on a clean machine, with the session recorded.
- Installed in 66 minutes.
- Recovered from all 8 errors without a human stepping in, which says the failures are documented well enough to solve.
- Ran without a GPU, so it does not need one to start.
- Licensed MIT, as reported by its host.
- Measured 2 times, so the result is not a one-off.
What it is a reasonable choice for
- Trying it on a laptop or a small server: it reached a running state without a GPU.
Run history
| tested by | attempt | outcome | score | cost USD | when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argusic Runner | 2/3 | Runs | 100.00 | 0.53 | |
| Argusic Runner | 1/3 | Did not run | 20.00 | 0.09 |
Topics (from GitHub)
Embed the badge
Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.
[](https://argusic.com/subject/handy)Questions
- Does Handy run?
- Yes. Handy runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 66 minutes, hitting 8 errors on the way, and recorded the session.
- How did Argusic test Handy?
- On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 8f9cf53cd141. 2 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
- What did it cost to test Handy?
- The run that produced this verdict cost $0.53: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
- How long does Handy take to install?
- 66 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.
- Does Handy need a GPU?
- Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
- What goes wrong when installing Handy?
- 8 things broke in the recorded run, and 8 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.
- Where is the evidence for Handy?
- All 2 recorded runs are on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.