Hearby
Your AI writes a lot. Listen to it instead.
Select a reply in Claude Code, Cursor or any terminal and press ⌃⌥S. Hearby reads it aloud in a natural voice and skips the asterisks, backticks and code dumps, so you hear what the reply actually says.
You're on the list.
What will you mostly use Hearby for?
Preview mode: no sign-up endpoint is configured yet, so this address was not saved.
$19 once, no subscription. Waitlist members get the launch price.
Hear the difference
> fix the crash when the queue is empty⏺ Fixed the crash in `AudioPlayer.swift`. The **`play()`** method was force-unwrapping `currentTrack` when the queue was empty. ## Changes- Added a `guard let` check before playback- Matched the pattern in [the AVFoundation docs](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation) ```swiftguard let track = currentTrack else { return }``` All 14 tests pass ✅
Read as written
What a plain read-aloud tool hears
Read by Hearby
Same reply, same voice
Same reply, same voice, generated on a Mac. Read as written, about two thirds of the time goes to symbols nobody needed to hear. Hearby says what the reply means and tells you a code block is there instead of spelling it out.
Built for people who build with AI.
You ask for a fix and get four screens back. You skim, miss the one line that mattered, and scroll up again. With Hearby you lean back, keep your eyes on the code, and let the explanation play.
Works in Terminal, iTerm2, VS Code, Cursor, Claude and ChatGPT in the browser, Mail, PDFs and anywhere else you can select text. In terminals that capture the mouse, Hearby copies the selection for you and puts your clipboard back afterward.
| On your screen | What you hear |
|---|---|
| ```swift … 40 lines … ``` | “Code block: 40 lines of Swift.” |
| **`parseHTMLResponse()`** | “parse HTML Response” |
| /Users/you/Projects/app/src/main.swift | “main.swift” |
| [the docs](https://github.com/org/repo/blob/main/README.md) | “the docs” |
| | max_length | 400 | | “max length, 400.” |
| ## Next steps | “Next steps.” and a pause |
| ⌘⇧P | “Command Shift P” |
| ⏺ ⎿ ✅ | Nothing at all |
Your code never leaves your Mac.
Most natural-sounding read-aloud apps make their voices in the cloud, so everything you listen to is sent to their servers first. That's a bad fit for a terminal full of client code. Hearby generates speech on your Mac's own processor. There is no account and no server to send text to.
Try it: turn off Wi-Fi, select something, press ⌃⌥S. It keeps talking.
Cloud readers
Hearby
- Code under NDA
- Logs with API keys
- Unreleased features
- Client contracts
- Customer data in a diff
- Confidential email
Pay once. Keep it.
Hearby costs less than one month of Speechify Premium billed monthly, and about seven weeks of it billed yearly.
Hearby
$19 one time
- Speech is generated on your Mac
- Reads Markdown, code and terminal output cleanly
- No account, no usage limits
- Updates included
Speechify Premium
$139 per year
- $29 a month if billed monthly
- Renews every year
- Built for articles, PDFs and books
Speechify Premium prices as published by Speechify in 2026. Speechify is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with Hearby.
Three steps. No new habits.
Hearby lives in your menu bar and stays out of the way until you press the shortcut.
Select text
A Claude Code reply, a diff, an error log, a README. Anything you can highlight.
Press ⌃⌥S
Or right-click and choose Services, then Speak with Hearby. Speech starts in a second or two.
Listen
Keep working while it reads. ⌃⌥X stops it, and a new selection replaces the old one.
- 28 English voices
- American and British, speed from 0.5× to 2×
- Works offline
- After a one-time voice download of about 350 MB
- macOS 13 or later
- Apple Silicon and Intel Macs
- Menu bar app
- No Dock icon, opens at login if you want
Questions
Isn't this already built into macOS?
macOS has Speak Selection under Accessibility, and it reads exactly what you select, symbols included. Hearby uses a modern neural voice, understands Markdown and code, and has a shortcut that works in terminals.
Does it work with Claude Code, Codex and Cursor?
Yes. Select the reply in your terminal or editor and press ⌃⌥S. Hearby works with any app that shows text, so it doesn't need a plugin for each tool.
Will it read my code out loud?
Not line by line. Hearby announces a code block and its length, like “Code block: 12 lines of Python,” and reads the explanation around it. Short inline code such as a function or file name is read as words.
Is my text really private?
Yes. The voice model runs on your Mac. Hearby connects to the internet only to download its voices once and to check for app updates. Nothing you select is sent anywhere.
Is it a subscription?
No. Hearby is $19 once, and that includes updates.
Which Macs does it run on?
Any Mac running macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple Silicon or Intel. Voices are fastest on Apple Silicon.
Stop scrolling back up. Start listening.
Join the waitlist and get Hearby at the launch price.
You're on the list.
We'll email you when Hearby is ready.