Using Flow with Linux, WSL, and Terminal Applications

Last updated: September 25, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows

Flow transcribes but nothing appears in your terminal or WSL window? Use Paste last transcript to recover text that didn't paste. There is no native Linux application.

Quick checks

Focus: Flow pastes into the active window, so click into your terminal before dictating.
Windows shortcut: Push-to-talk defaults to Ctrl+Win, but bindings are editable — check yours if dictation doesn't start.
Transcription or paste? If text appears in Flow but not your terminal, transcription succeeded and the transcript stays available to paste again; continue with paste recovery below.

Note: In terminals, Flow does not warn you to click into a text field first, so a paste into an unfocused or non-editable terminal goes nowhere with no error.

Terminal compatibility

Flow uses the same paste action across Mac and Windows apps, so a terminal doesn't need to be on a special supported-app list — but the target program must accept the paste.

Terminal	Direct paste	Requirements or differences
Command Prompt, PowerShell, Windows Terminal, WezTerm (Windows)	Yes	No terminal-specific setup.
Terminal.app, iTerm2 (Mac)	Yes	Enable Accessibility for Flow.
Warp, Ghostty, kitty, Alacritty, Hyper (Mac/Windows)	Yes	Mac requires Accessibility for Flow.
Terminal inside a remote desktop or VNC viewer (Windows)	Yes	No terminal-specific setup.
Terminal inside a VNC viewer (Mac)	No	Use Paste last transcript.
VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf integrated terminals	Yes	No terminal-specific setup.
VS Code Remote SSH (Windows)	Yes	Use this extension if your SSH client doesn't accept Flow's paste.
WSL windows, Linux VMs, remote SSH sessions	No	Flow transcribes, but you must use Paste last transcript.

Dictate into your terminal

Note: On Mac, only Flow needs Microphone and Accessibility permissions; your terminal needs none. Without Accessibility, dictation fails to start with an "Accessibility is not enabled" error — not just the paste.

Warning: Flow's context-aware formatting (capitalization, spacing, punctuation) applies in terminals too and can transform shell commands unexpectedly. Use Paste last transcript if formatting interferes.

Enable Wispr Flow in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility on Mac.
Click into your terminal so it has focus.
Enter insert mode first in Vim, Nano, or other terminal editors.
Dictate a short phrase using Flow.
Check for text in the terminal. If it appears, you're done; otherwise, use paste recovery below.

Recover text that didn't paste

Action	Mac default	Windows default
Paste last transcript	Ctrl+Cmd+V	Alt+Shift+Z
Copy last transcript (copies without pasting)	Ctrl+Cmd+C	Alt+Shift+X

Both shortcuts are configurable, and Flow's paste-failure notifications show your custom binding when one is set.

Click into the target terminal, including your WSL or VM terminal.
Press your Paste last transcript shortcut, then release every key to paste. Interrupting the key sequence cancels the pending paste.
Check for text. If nothing appears, click into the terminal again and retry.

If the last dictation produced no usable text, Paste last transcript does nothing and shows no error. Wait until the current dictation finishes, then press it again.

Flow may also notify you after a failed paste and leave the text on your clipboard. To paste it manually, focus the terminal and press Cmd+V on Mac or Ctrl+V on Windows, then check that text appears.

Warning: On Mac, previous clipboard contents return shortly after pasting, except copied files, PDFs, rich text and audio. When Flow's failed-paste notification leaves the transcript on your clipboard, it replaces the previous contents. Third-party clipboard-manager history may not record text pasted by Flow.

Clipboard restore and privacy on Windows

After pasting, Flow puts your previous clipboard contents back after about half a second; if you copy something else while Flow is waiting, your new copy is kept.

If you copied something a password manager marked as sensitive, Flow restores that marking exactly as it was, so the item stays out of Clipboard History (Win+V) and cloud clipboard sync. Flow marks its own dictation clipboard writes the same way, so dictated text doesn't appear in Win+V or sync to the cloud clipboard. Images and rich text still restore and paste normally.

Use a menu instead of a shortcut

Use "Paste last transcript" in the tray menu, or Dictation → "Copy last transcript" in the Mac app menu. Windows has no app menu bar — tray and shortcut only. The tray Paste last transcript entry shows your binding and is greyed out when there's no stored transcript.

If text still doesn't appear

Windows administrator or privilege notification

This notification means your terminal runs at a higher privilege level than Flow.

Important: If the target app runs as Administrator, Flow must too. Windows blocks input from lower-privilege apps to higher-privilege ones.

Quit Flow.
Right-click the Flow icon → Run as administrator.
Dictate again. If text appears, you're done; otherwise, continue below.

Recheck Flow's Accessibility permission on Mac in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, then retry dictation.
Verify Flow's Microphone permission — Mac: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone; Windows: Settings → Privacy → Microphone — then retry. On Mac, also confirm Screen Capture.
Restart Flow and your terminal, then dictate again. Stop if text appears.
Test in Terminal.app on Mac or PowerShell on Windows. If it works there, the issue is specific to your third-party terminal — use Paste last transcript if direct paste keeps failing.

If you revoke Flow's permissions, Flow notifies you and opens the relevant System Settings pane so you can re-enable them.

Still stuck?

Contact support if:

Direct paste fails in a supported terminal after restarting and rechecking permissions.
Paste last transcript doesn't work anywhere, including a plain text editor.
You see an error not covered here.

Include your platform, terminal name and version, and what you tried.