DATA_DICTIONARY.md

Data dictionary

The JSON edition is the canonical machine-readable representation. The CSV edition flattens the same product rows and expands source identifiers into URLs.

Top-level summary

summary.stats publishes four named documentation cohorts. Each cohort has a stable id, a value, an optional denominator, a reader-facing label and description, a products list when the count is product-based, and a caveat. For every product-based cohort, value equals the length of products.

Summary ID	Meaning
documentedLocalPath	Products with at least one documented local or on-device speech-to-text path in a supported configuration
noDocumentedLocalPath	Products whose reviewed sources establish cloud speech but no local speech-to-text path
localPlusConnected	Locally capable products that also document an optional provider, cleanup, assistant, vocabulary, or agent path
firstPartySources	Number of first-party sources represented in the top-level sources collection

documentedLocalPath and noDocumentedLocalPath are disjoint and together cover all 18 product rows. localPlusConnected is a subset of documentedLocalPath. A connected path does not necessarily send microphone audio; the cohort includes transcript text, selected text, vocabulary data, and finished-specification paths.

Product fields

Field	Meaning
product	Product name used by its publisher
processing	Where microphone audio becomes a transcript in the documented path
configurableCloudPath / configurable_cloud_path	Optional provider, hosted model, cleanup, assistant, sync, or agent paths that can change what leaves the Mac
offline	Whether the documented speech-to-text path can work without a live connection after required setup
retention	What the publisher says it or a named processor keeps
account	Account, subscription, license, provider-key, or synced-history boundary
platform	Documented platform and hardware requirements
caveat	Qualification needed to avoid overgeneralizing the claim
sourceIds	JSON references into the top-level sources collection
source_urls	CSV list of the first-party URLs supporting the row

Interpretation rules

• processing covers the audio-to-transcript step, not every later use of the resulting text.
• offline is configuration-specific. A local mode does not make optional connected modes local.
• A no-retention statement can describe storage after a cloud request; it does not by itself establish on-device processing.
• Account and license traffic can exist even when speech processing is local.
• Text inserted into another app follows that destination's own storage, sharing, telemetry, and retention rules.
• Missing documentation is recorded as uncertainty, not converted into a favorable or unfavorable claim.
• Summary cohorts describe reviewed documentation, not independent binary verification, security certification, or a universal product ranking.