Atticus

Atticus is a macOS voice assistant for builders who want a hands-on way to control their Mac with speech, text, and learned shortcuts. The project is open source and runs through Claude Code for tasks that need AI, while simple commands run locally without sending a request to a model. Its main interaction is a global shortcut: hold Control Option Space, say the task, then release. That makes it closer to a command layer for the Mac than a chat app sitting in another window. The official repository describes Atticus as fast, free, and designed for users who already have Claude Pro or Max. It does not require an Anthropic API key. When a task needs reasoning, it calls Claude through the signed-in Claude Code command line. When the task is simple, such as opening an app, moving a window, searching the web, or running a learned shortcut, Atticus handles it directly. The README reports local actions such as opening an app in about 0.08 seconds and a learned command dropping from 5.5 seconds to 0.4 seconds after training. Atticus is useful when the friction is not writing code but driving the operating system around the coding task. It can arrange windows across displays, search files by content, read the current screen, summarize a page, type a draft reply into the focused app, play Spotify, and remember user preferences. The memory system is practical: you can correct it, teach a phrase such as focus mode, and later reuse that shortcut without a model call. Privacy is a key part of the product. The project uses Apple on-device speech recognition for voice input, so audio is converted to text locally by macOS. Claude is only involved for commands that require model reasoning. The repository also documents self-tests, install and removal commands, and a Meeting Copilot mode for transcript and summary workflows. Atticus is best for Mac users who like voice-first control, Claude Code users who want Claude outside the terminal, and power users who repeat the same OS-level actions many times per day. It is less suited to teams that need a managed admin console, Windows support, or a cloud-hosted assistant. As a young open-source project, it should be treated as promising Mac automation infrastructure rather than a mature enterprise product. The project is especially interesting for users who want voice input, local shortcuts, and Claude-driven help to share the same command surface.