Read Terminal Aloud — Hear Logs, Man Pages & Output
Select any line, block, or scroll-back in Terminal. A floating ▶ button appears next to your selection. One click — natural voice playback starts with a highlight that glides word-by-word across the real Terminal window.
macOS native · Free · No login · 40+ languages
~ $ cat readme.txt
$ git log --oneline -n 3 — b03ee82 fix(seo): point chrome-extension cluster to actual indexed URL; af7cb0d chore(seo): add pdf-to-mp3 variants; 9a6050b feat(seo): add pdf-to-audiobook cluster.
Highlight follows each word in your actual Terminal scroll-back.
One App Covers Every Native Mac Editor
Same gesture, same word-level highlight — across every Mac text editor that exposes its text natively.
TextEdit
Plain / RTF documents
Stickies
Yellow sticky notes
Notes
Apple Notes
Script Editor
AppleScript IDE
BBEdit
Pro text & code editor
CotEditor
Open-source editor
TextMate
GPL code editor
Terminal
zsh / bash shell
Three Steps — No Setup
CastReader runs as a menu-bar app. Terminal stays exactly as it is.
Install
Download CastReader for Mac (.dmg). Grant Accessibility permission once — that is how it reads selected text from the Terminal window.
Select
Run any command in Terminal. Drag to select an output line, a log block, or an entire man page paragraph.
Click ▶
A small play button appears next to your selection. One click — audio starts with a highlight that tracks each word inside Terminal.
When Terminal Power Users Add Read-Aloud
Terminal is where Mac developers live. CastReader adds one thing the terminal has never had: a natural voice companion that reads your output back.
Audit long stack traces
Hearing a Python or Node traceback read aloud helps spot the actual error line — eyes slide past repeated frames.
Listen to man pages
Select any man page paragraph and hear it read. Much easier than scrolling through dense text when researching a flag.
Review PR diffs in terminal
Using gh pr diff or git diff? Select the hunks you care about and hear them spoken — catches subtle typos and logic issues.
Review command output
docker logs, kubectl describe, systemd journals — select a chunk and listen instead of squinting at wrapped lines.
Read multilingual output
Logs with non-English messages? CastReader auto-detects the language of your selection across 40+ voices.
Accessibility for low vision
Terminal fonts are compact. CastReader reads the selection at natural pace, freeing eyes for higher-level scanning.
Why CastReader Beats macOS Built-in Speech
Terminal inherits macOS Edit → Start Speaking, but no highlight, no speed control, no natural voices. CastReader fixes every gap.
Word-level highlight on your actual scroll-back
A transparent overlay tracks each spoken word directly inside the Terminal window. Your eyes follow the voice — not a separate reader pane.
40+ natural AI voices
Auto-detects the language of your selection. Kokoro-quality voices for English, Mandarin, Japanese, French, German, Spanish and more.
Adjustable rate, jump to any paragraph
Change speed 0.5×–2× on the fly. Click any paragraph to jump playback — not possible with macOS Speech.
Zero cost, zero signup
No account, no credit card, no daily limits. CastReader is completely free.
Common Questions
How do I read Terminal output aloud on a Mac?▾
Terminal inherits macOS Edit → Speech → Start Speaking, but no highlight, no speed control, and only old system voices. For natural voice and word-level highlight overlaid on your Terminal window, install CastReader for Mac. Select text, click the floating ▶, and Terminal starts reading.
Does it work with iTerm2 or Warp?▾
This page covers macOS Terminal.app specifically. iTerm2 and Warp use their own text rendering and may not expose text through the same AX path — CastReader's Terminal support is verified for Apple's Terminal. iTerm2 / Warp support is being investigated.
Will it read ANSI colors or escape sequences?▾
CastReader reads the character content, not the colors. ANSI color escapes are stripped by Terminal before rendering, so they never appear in the AX text — what you see is what gets read.
What about tmux or screen sessions?▾
Yes. Whatever is rendered in the Terminal window is what CastReader reads. tmux/screen multiplexing doesn't change that — select visible text and it plays.
Does CastReader modify my Terminal session?▾
No. CastReader reads your selection through macOS Accessibility APIs and overlays a transparent highlight on top of the real Terminal window. Your shell session, history, and buffer are never modified, copied, or uploaded anywhere.
Why does CastReader need Accessibility permission?▾
The Accessibility (AX) API is the only way a Mac app can read the currently selected text from another app. CastReader uses it to capture Terminal selections and compute pixel-level bounds for the highlight.
Can it read Chinese or Japanese terminal output?▾
Yes. CastReader auto-detects CJK text and uses native Mandarin / Japanese / Korean voices. Mixed-language output switches voice at sentence boundaries.
Is there a keyboard shortcut?▾
Yes. Open CastReader's menu-bar icon → Preferences to bind a global hotkey to 'Read Selection'. The floating ▶ button is optional for pure keyboard users.
Is it really free?▾
Yes. 100% free. No account, no credit card, no premium voice gate, no daily word limit. Download the .dmg and use it forever.
Ready to Hear Your Terminal Output?
Install once. Select any text in Terminal. Click ▶. Listen.