Read VS Code Aloud — Hear Your Code, Docs & AI Output
Select any text in VS Code on Mac — a markdown cell, a function header, a PR comment, a Copilot chat reply. A floating ▶ button appears next to your selection. One click — natural voice playback starts with a highlight that tracks each word inside the real VS Code window.
macOS native · Free · No login · 40+ languages · Works with VSCode + any fork
// parse markdown headings into a TOC, preserving nesting depth. Skips fenced code blocks so that inline comments do not leak into the table. Returns an array of { depth, text, anchor } ready for sidebar rendering.
Highlight follows each spoken word on your real VS Code editor surface.
One App Covers Every AI Coding Tool on Mac
Same gesture, same word-level highlight — across every IDE and CLI developers actually use.
VS Code
Microsoft's editor
Cursor
AI-native IDE
Xcode
Apple's IDE
Windsurf
Codeium AI IDE
Claude Code
Anthropic CLI
Gemini CLI
Google AI CLI
Codex
OpenAI coding CLI
Copilot CLI
GitHub gh copilot
Aider
AI pair programmer
Three Steps — No Extension
CastReader runs as a menu-bar app. VS Code installs nothing, opens no extra window.
Install
Download CastReader for Mac (.dmg). Grant Accessibility + Screen Recording permission once — Electron apps like VS Code need screen capture for word-level alignment.
Select
Drag-select any text in VS Code — markdown paragraph, function docstring, Copilot chat output, terminal panel line.
Click ▶
A small play button appears next to your selection. One click — audio starts and the highlight glides word-by-word inside the actual VS Code window.
When VS Code Power Users Add Read-Aloud
VS Code is where Mac developers spend eight hours a day. CastReader adds one missing piece: a natural voice that reads your selection back.
Audit your own markdown drafts
Blog posts, README files, RFCs — hearing them read aloud catches phrasing issues your eyes skim past after the fifth revision.
Listen to PR descriptions before merging
gh pr view piped into VS Code's terminal panel? Select and listen. Much harder to overlook what a PR actually claims to do.
Hear Copilot / Cursor / Claude output
AI explanations are often walls of text. Select a paragraph of agent output, listen while you stretch, skim back visually for the code block.
Review code comments and docstrings
Selected a long JSDoc or Python docstring? Listening catches ambiguous pronouns and missing steps that eyes slide past on the third read.
Study technical documentation in the editor
Open MDN, language docs, or an RFC as a markdown file. Drag-select sections and listen while you sketch on paper.
Accessibility for long coding sessions
Eye fatigue is the number-one developer complaint. Listening to long prose while code stays on screen halves screen time for documentation-heavy work.
Why CastReader Beats macOS Speech + VS Code Speech Extensions
VS Code's Marketplace has half a dozen read-aloud extensions. None of them has a highlight that tracks each spoken word on the editor surface. CastReader does.
Word-level highlight on the real VS Code window
A transparent overlay tracks each spoken word directly inside your editor pane. No side panel, no clone text pane — your eyes stay on the code you are already looking at.
40+ natural AI voices with auto-detect
English docs, Chinese comments, Japanese RFCs — CastReader detects the language of your selection and picks a native voice. Kokoro-quality audio, not the old system voices.
Adjustable rate + click-to-jump
Change speed 0.5×–2× on the fly. Click any paragraph to jump playback instantly — impossible with macOS Speak Selection.
Zero cost, zero signup, zero extension
No VS Code extension to install. No account. No credit card. No daily limit. Just a menu-bar app that reads your selection — forever free.
Common Questions
How do I read VS Code text aloud on a Mac?▾
VS Code does not ship a native read-aloud feature on macOS. Extensions exist but none offer word-level highlight on the real editor surface. Install CastReader for Mac (.dmg), grant Accessibility + Screen Recording permission, then select text in VS Code and click the floating ▶. Audio starts and highlight glides across your actual code.
Why does VS Code need Screen Recording permission when Terminal did not?▾
VS Code is an Electron app — its text is not exposed through macOS Accessibility APIs the way native apps like Terminal or Xcode are. CastReader uses Vision-framework OCR on a small region around your selection to align audio to the real pixels. Screen Recording permission is required for that OCR path.
Does this work with Cursor, Windsurf, and other VS Code forks?▾
Yes. Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium, and other Electron-based VS Code forks all use the same selection + clipboard mechanism, so CastReader handles them identically. See the dedicated pages for Cursor and Windsurf for fork-specific notes.
Will it read Copilot Chat or inline suggestions?▾
Yes. Select any visible text in the Copilot Chat panel or any chat-style AI output and click ▶. For inline suggestions (ghost text), accept the completion first, then select and listen.
What about remote dev (SSH, WSL, Dev Containers)?▾
Works. CastReader reads whatever VS Code is currently rendering on your Mac screen, regardless of whether the files live locally or on a remote host. The underlying storage does not matter.
Will it read source code symbols and punctuation?▾
CastReader reads the literal characters in your selection. For a function signature it will speak 'open paren, arg, comma, arg, close paren'. Most users select prose — markdown, comments, chat output — not raw code, but it is your call.
Does it work with Zed, Sublime Text, or Neovim?▾
Zed uses a custom text renderer without AX exposure — not currently supported. Sublime Text uses system text views and works via the AX path. Neovim in Terminal.app is fully supported through the terminal page.
Can I read Chinese or Japanese code comments?▾
Yes. CastReader auto-detects CJK text and switches to native Mandarin, Japanese, or Korean voices. Mixed-language selections switch voice at sentence boundaries.
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 VS Code Editor?
Install once. Select any text in VS Code. Click ▶. Listen.