Vendor setup · Intelligence · Local

Set up LM Studio

LM Studio runs a language model on your own Mac and shapes your transcript into your template without sending it to any vendor. It is the only fully local note-shaping path in DirectScribe.

Intelligence (note-shaping) Fully local — no BAA needed No API cost

Role in DirectScribe
Intelligence — molds the transcript into your note template.
Where the text goes
Only to a server running on your own Mac (loopback). This step runs entirely on your machine; no third party receives the transcript.
Privacy paperwork
None — there is no external vendor to sign an agreement with.
Cost
No API fee. You provide the hardware and electricity.

Remember what LM Studio does and does not cover: it makes note-shaping local. At launch, transcription is still a cloud step — you pair LM Studio with a cloud transcription vendor such as Deepgram.

Get it running

  1. Install LM Studio

    Download LM Studio for macOS from lmstudio.ai and install it.

  2. Download a model

    In LM Studio, search for and download an instruction-tuned model that fits your Mac's memory (a Gemma- or Llama-class instruct model is a good start).

  3. Start the local server

    Open LM Studio's Developer / Local Server tab, load your model, and start the server. It listens on http://localhost:1234/v1 by default.

  4. Point DirectScribe at it

    Open Settings → Providers → Intelligence, choose LM Studio, set the base URL to http://localhost:1234/v1, and pick your loaded model from the list.

A local-path trade-off, disclosed

Enable the bearer token

On macOS, a local server on localhost is not authenticated between processes — in principle another program on your Mac could bind the same port. DirectScribe permits plaintext HTTP only for loopback addresses and checks the server's response shape, but we recommend turning on LM Studio's optional bearer token and entering it in DirectScribe for an extra layer. We disclose this rather than pretend the local path has no trade-offs.

Back to download How local paths are handled