eviscerations/whisper-windows-mcp

A Windows-native MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that lets Claude Desktop transcribe audio and video files locally using whisper.cpp — with GPU acceleration, multilingual support, and batch processing. All transcription runs locally — no audio, video, or file paths ever leave your machine.
> **Why does this exist?**
> The popular whisper-mcp package was built for macOS and assumes a Unix environment. It does not work on Windows. This package was written specifically for Windows users who want local AI transcription integrated with Claude Desktop.
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What you can do with it
Once installed, you can say things like this directly in Claude Desktop:
- *"Transcribe C:\Users\Me\Downloads\meeting.mp3"*
- *"Transcribe this folder of recordings and save each as a text file"*
- *"Generate Japanese and English subtitles for this video"*
- *"Start a batch transcription of everything in this folder"*
- *"How long will it take to transcribe these files?"*
- *"Check if GPU acceleration is working"*
- *"Transcribe this file in privacy mode"*
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Requirements
1. **Node.js 18 or later** — nodejs.org
2. **whisper.cpp binaries with Vulkan GPU support** — see Step 1
3. **A Whisper model file** — see Step 2
4. **FFmpeg** — required for video files and non-WAV/MP3 audio
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Step 1 — Install whisper.cpp binaries
Option A — Pre-built Vulkan release (recommended)
Download whisper-vulkan-win-x64.zip from the releases page.
This is a custom-compiled build with **Vulkan GPU acceleration** enabled. Works with AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel GPUs — no vendor-specific SDK required.
Extract to C:\whisper\Release\. You should end up with:
GPU acceleration is automatic — no additional configuration needed.
Option B — Build from source
Requires: Git, CMake, Visual Studio Build Tools 2022+ with "Desktop development with C++", Vulkan SDK from lunarg.com.
Copy the binaries from build\bin\Release\ to C:\whisper\Release\.
> **Note:** The official whisper.cpp Windows releases on GitHub do not include a Vulkan build. You must use the pre-built release above or compile from source with -DGGML_VULKAN=ON.
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Step 2 — Download a Whisper model
| Model | Size | Speed | Accuracy | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ggml-tiny.en.bin | 75 MB | Very fast | Basic | Quick tests |
| ggml-base.en.bin | 142 MB | Fast | Good | Everyday English |
| ggml-small.en.bin | 466 MB | Moderate | Better | Important recordings |
| ggml-medium.en.bin | 1.5 GB | Fast on GPU | Very good | Best quality English |
| ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin | 1.6 GB | Fast on GPU | Excellent | **Recommended for English GPU batch work — ~6x faster than large-v3 with minimal accuracy loss** |
| ggml-large-v3.bin | 2.9 GB | Fast on GPU | Excellent | Multilingual, maximum accuracy |
| ggml-medium.en-q5_0.bin | 514 MB | Fast | Very good | **Best CPU-only English option — high accuracy at low memory** |
| ggml-large-v3-turbo-q5_0.bin | 547 MB | Fast | Excellent | **Best CPU-only multilingual option** |
| ggml-large-v3-q5_0.bin | 1.1 GB | Moderate on CPU | Excellent | Multilingual, CPU-friendly |
Use download_model in Claude Desktop to install any of these directly. For **English-only** use: large-v3-turbo (GPU) or medium.en-q5_0 (CPU) are the best starting points. For **multilingual** use: large-v3-turbo or large-v3-turbo-q5_0 (CPU). English-only models (*.en.bin) output [FOREIGN] on non-English audio and cannot be used for other languages.
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Step 3 — Install FFmpeg
FFmpeg is required for video files and non-native audio formats.
Install via winget:
Or download from ffmpeg.org and add to your PATH.
Verify:
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Step 4 — Install this MCP server
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Step 5 — Configure Claude Desktop
Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config.
Add the whisper entry:
Config file location: C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
> Use **double backslashes** in all paths.
Save and **fully restart** Claude Desktop. You should see **whisper** listed with a green running badge in Settings → Developer.
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Step 6 — Verify your setup
In Claude Desktop, ask:
> *"Check your whisper config"*
Then:
> *"Check your system hardware"*
This confirms your GPU is detected and Vulkan acceleration is active.
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Available tools
transcribe_audio
Transcribe a single file. Supports blocking (default) or background mode for long files.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| file_path | Absolute path to the file (required) |