Using Flow with Linux, WSL, and Terminal Applications

Last updated: October 26, 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; keep your terminal focused until text appears.

  • Dictation shortcut: Push-to-talk defaults to Ctrl+Win on Windows and Fn on Mac; check your binding in Shortcuts if dictation doesn't start.

  • Transcription or paste? Text in Flow but not your terminal means transcription succeeded and stays in History to paste again. If Flow has no text, check permissions 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 attempts the same paste action in every Mac and Windows app; there is no terminal allow-list, and the target 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); Warp, kitty, Alacritty, Hyper (Mac/Windows); Ghostty (Mac)

Yes

The Mac permissions below apply to every Mac terminal.

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.

Terminal inside a remote desktop or VNC viewer (Windows)

Yes

No terminal-specific setup.

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. Accessibility is required for text insertion, but missing access does not itself block dictation from starting.

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.

  1. Enable Wispr Flow on Mac in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

  2. Click into your terminal so it has focus.

  3. Enter insert mode first in Vim, Nano, or other terminal editors.

  4. Dictate a short phrase. If text appears in the terminal, you're done; otherwise recover it below.

Recover text that didn't paste

Action

Mac default

Windows default

Paste last transcript

Ctrl+Cmd+V

Alt+Shift+Z

Copy last transcript

Ctrl+Cmd+C

Alt+Shift+X

Open Shortcuts from Flow's icon menu to change either binding. Paste-failure notifications show your custom binding when set, otherwise the default.

Warning: Wait until dictation finishes before retrying. Paste last transcript cancels a dictation still processing, and retrying while dictating can show “Cannot retry while dictating.” If a long dictation still has audio to transcribe, finishing can take up to five minutes.

  1. Click into the target terminal, including your WSL or VM terminal.

  2. Press your Paste last transcript shortcut, then release every key to paste; interrupting the key sequence cancels the pending paste.

  3. Check for text. If nothing appears, click into the terminal again and retry.

Copy last transcript instead copies plain text without pasting, immediately on key press.

Paste last transcript retries dismissed, failed or unformatted dictations from saved audio before pasting. An enterprise policy that prevents audio storage leaves no audio to retry. An empty result clears the last transcript, so Paste last transcript and Copy last transcript then do nothing, without an error.

Paste manually

After setup, Flow may show a failed-paste notification containing your text and a Copy button; clicking Copy places the transcript on your clipboard. Without that notification your existing clipboard remains unchanged, so ordinary paste cannot recover the transcript that way. This text-containing notification appears at most once per dictation; without usable text, Flow can show a simpler shortcut tip instead.

Warning: On Mac, Flow restores your previous clipboard only once the dictation has landed in the target app, and never overwrites something you copied in the meantime. In slower apps the transcript can stay on the clipboard for up to about seven seconds after a dictation, so a Cmd+V in that window pastes the dictation. Copied files, PDFs, rich text with attachments and audio are not restored. Failed-paste recovery that leaves the transcript on your clipboard replaces previous contents. Third-party clipboard-manager history may not record Flow's text.

  1. Press Copy last transcript if you haven't already used the notification's Copy button.

  2. Focus the terminal.

  3. Paste with Cmd+V on Mac or Ctrl+V on Windows. If text appears, you're done; otherwise continue with the checks below.

Clipboard restore and privacy on Windows

After pasting into a terminal on your own PC, Flow restores your previous clipboard about half a second after the terminal reads the dictated text. A later Ctrl+V can paste that older content; a new copy you make is kept. Recognized remote-desktop/VNC viewers (RDP, Citrix, Horizon, AnyDesk, TeamViewer) wait about five seconds before restoration, allowing extra time for remote pastes; Outlook, Word and WhatsApp wait about three seconds. An app reading after restoration can receive the older contents.

Warning: Windows restores images and HTML rich text, but not RTF-only rich text, copied files, PDFs, audio or CSV. Password-manager sensitivity markings remain protected, keeping those items out of Clipboard History (Win+V) and cloud clipboard sync. Flow also marks its dictation clipboard writes sensitive, so they do not appear in Win+V or sync to the cloud clipboard.

If a failed paste leaves dictated text on the clipboard, previous contents are not restored. Starting another paste cancels a pending restoration rather than overwriting newer clipboard contents.

Use a menu instead of a shortcut

Paste last transcript is also in Flow's menu-bar icon menu on Mac, the right-click tray menu on Windows, and the flow-bar menu beside Transcript history. Windows has no app menu bar.

On Mac, Dictation → Copy last transcript copies instead of pasting; follow the manual-paste steps afterward. Both menu actions are disabled without a stored transcript.

The tray displays your binding but omits Fn and Option keys from its shortcut label; check Shortcuts for the full binding.

If text still doesn't appear

On Mac, missing Accessibility can show “Accessibility Permission Required” (“Flow needs accessibility access to work properly.”) with Open Settings. Microphone settings live in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone on Mac and Settings → Privacy → Microphone on Windows; on Windows, check these system settings rather than an in-app permission status, and a microphone-privacy notification also offers Open Settings.

  1. Recheck Flow's Accessibility permission on Mac in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, then retry dictation.

  2. Verify Microphone access in the settings above, and on Mac confirm Screen Capture too, then retry dictation. Stop if text appears.

Windows administrator or privilege notification

After a blocked paste, “Update admin settings to paste!” / “Run Flow as Administrator to insert text everywhere” means the 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.

  1. Quit Flow.

  2. Right-click the Flow icon → Run as administrator.

  3. Dictate again. If text appears, you're done; otherwise continue below.

  1. Restart Flow and your terminal, then dictate again. Stop if text appears.

  2. 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.

Still stuck?

Contact support if:

  • Direct paste fails 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.