Choose who writes your summary
After a recording is transcribed, a language model turns the transcript into the write-up you read. Out of the box that model ships inside the app and the transcript never leaves your Mac. Three other choices exist, and all of them send the transcript somewhere else.
The four choices
Section titled “The four choices”The picker groups them by where the work happens.
On this Mac
- Built-in is the default. A model that ships with the app does the writing, offline. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is nothing to sign in to, and this is the only choice with no privacy trade to weigh.
Installed assistants
- Claude Code and Codex use a copy of that tool already installed on your Mac, under your own account with Anthropic or OpenAI. Recordstead does not hold an account of yours and cannot sign you in. Setting one up is its own page.
Then, on its own:
- OpenAI-Compatible API sends the transcript to an address you type. That can be a server on your own machine or one on the internet. Whoever runs it decides what happens to the text.
Switch between them
Section titled “Switch between them”- Open Settings… (⌘,) and select Summary.
- Open Provider and pick one.
- The settings for that choice appear directly below the picker, and the ones for the other choices disappear. Nothing you set for a provider is lost by switching away and back.
Nothing is sent before you confirm it
Section titled “Nothing is sent before you confirm it”The three choices that leave your Mac each need a confirmation first, and the notice says who receives the text. Until you give it, summaries are not generated at all rather than being generated somewhere you did not agree to.
Confirmations are counted per recipient, so agreeing to Claude Code does not also agree to Codex, and neither agrees to an address you type. Ask answers and search indexing are separate again, for the same reason.
The language of the write-up
Section titled “The language of the write-up”Summary Language decides what the summary is written in, and it is independent of what was spoken. A call in two languages still produces one write-up in the language you picked here. It has no effect on the transcript, which follows the recording.
Result
Section titled “Result”Settings › Summary names your choice, and everything the chosen provider needs sits under it. If that provider sends anything off your Mac, the notice above those settings says so and records the date you agreed.