diff --git a/Sources/parrot/Transcription/WhisperKitTranscriber.swift b/Sources/parrot/Transcription/WhisperKitTranscriber.swift
index 8003194b..c031104d 100644
--- a/Sources/parrot/Transcription/WhisperKitTranscriber.swift
+++ b/Sources/parrot/Transcription/WhisperKitTranscriber.swift
@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@ import Foundation
 import WhisperKit
 
 actor WhisperKitTranscriber: Transcriber {
+    /// Where model weights live. WhisperKit defaults to `Documents`, which iCloud
+    /// replicates and evicts to dataless stubs — CoreML's mmap of an evicted
+    /// weight file then blocks forever and the daemon never finishes loading.
+    private static let modelStore = URL.applicationSupportDirectory.appending(path: "parrot/huggingface")
+
+    /// Earlier versions downloaded into WhisperKit's `Documents` default. Say so
+    /// once rather than silently re-downloading gigabytes behind the user's back.
+    private static let legacyModelStore = URL.documentsDirectory.appending(path: "huggingface")
+
     let modelID: String
     private let model: TranscriptionModel
     private var pipeline: WhisperKit?
@@ -19,12 +28,29 @@ actor WhisperKitTranscriber: Transcriber {
         guard let whisperKitID = model.whisperKitID else {
             throw TranscriberError.missingEngineID
         }
+        Self.noteLegacyStore()
         FileHandle.standardError.write(Data("loading \(model.id)...\n".utf8))
-        let config = WhisperKitConfig(model: whisperKitID, verbose: false, prewarm: true, load: true)
+        let config = WhisperKitConfig(
+            model: whisperKitID,
+            downloadBase: Self.modelStore,
+            verbose: false,
+            prewarm: true,
+            load: true
+        )
         pipeline = try await WhisperKit(config)
         FileHandle.standardError.write(Data("✓ \(model.id) ready\n".utf8))
     }
 
+    /// Point at leftover models from the old `Documents` location so the disk
+    /// space is reclaimable instead of just abandoned.
+    private static func noteLegacyStore() {
+        let path = legacyModelStore.path(percentEncoded: false)
+        guard FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: path) else { return }
+        FileHandle.standardError.write(Data(
+            "models now live in \(modelStore.path(percentEncoded: false)) — \(path) is unused, delete it to reclaim space\n".utf8
+        ))
+    }
+
     func transcribe(_ audio: [Float]) async throws -> String {
         if pipeline == nil { try await warmUp() }
         guard let pipeline else { throw TranscriberError.notLoaded }