⚡ Hotkeys

AI text refiner. Voice to text. Macro recorder. Screen & GIF recorder. All from your system tray.

Select text anywhere → press a hotkey → AI rewrites it and pastes it back in under a second.
Works in Gmail, Notion, Slack, Word, VS Code, Discord — every app on your computer.

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What is this?

Most AI writing tools make you open a browser tab, paste your text, wait, copy the result, switch back, and paste again. That's 7 steps — every single time.

Hotkeys does it in 1 step — without ever leaving whatever you're writing in.

It sits quietly in your system tray and gives you a full toolkit:

✍️ AI Text Refiner	Select any text, press a hotkey — it's rewritten and pasted back in under a second
⌨️ Custom Prompt Hotkeys	Write any instruction, assign it F1–F12, fire it from any app instantly
🎙️ Voice to Text	Hold a hotkey, speak, your words appear wherever your cursor is — fully offline
📝 Quick Notes	Floating scratchpad window — capture thoughts, paste clips, drag to resize from any edge
🔴 Macro Recorder	Record any sequence of keystrokes and mouse clicks, replay it with one key
🎬 Screen Recorder	Capture any window or region of your screen as an MP4
🎞️ GIF Recorder	Record any window or region as an animated GIF — perfect for sharing clips
📸 AI Screenshot	Capture your screen and instantly ask the AI what's in it

No API key needed. Works out of the box on Windows and Mac — just download and run.

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The Prompt Library

All your prompts in one place. Click any card to activate it, drag to reorder, right-click for options:

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The Prompt Library — make it yours

The library ships with 16 ready-to-use prompts. Each one is a single instruction that gets applied to whatever text you've selected.

Hotkey	Prompt	What it does
F1	Refine	Fixes grammar, spelling, and clarity — same meaning, natural tone
F2	Improve & Expand	Makes your text more articulate, detailed, and expressive
F3	Translate	Translates in place (default: Arabic — change it to anything)
F4	System Prompt	Reformats text into a clean, deployable AI system prompt
F5	Simplify	Strips jargon and complexity — immediately understandable
F6	Technical Depth	Adds precision and implementation detail for expert readers
F7	Expand	Develops underdeveloped ideas without going off-topic
F8	Professional	Rewrites in polished, formal language at the same length
F9	Ask Claude	Turns vague thoughts into a sharp, specific AI prompt
F10	Pirate	Rewrites with nautical flair — same meaning, more swagger
F11	ELI5	Explains anything as if the reader is five years old
F12	Tweet	Compresses the sharpest idea into one punchy tweet
—	Brutally Honest	Says exactly what's meant, no softening, no padding
—	Story Hook	Turns any idea into a gripping opening line
—	Devil's Advocate	Argues the exact opposite with equal conviction
—	Haiku	Distils the core idea into a 5-7-5 haiku

These are just the starting point. Hit + Add to write your own.

The only limit is your imagination. Want a prompt that rewrites emails in your exact voice? Converts meeting notes into action items? Translates to your language? Summarises legal contracts in plain English? Turns rough ideas into job postings?

Add it in 10 seconds and it works everywhere, instantly.

Tip: Press any hotkey to see a floating sticky note preview. Edit the prompt on the fly before it fires, then press the key again to apply.

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How to install

⊞ Windows — one click, no setup

1. Download Hotkeys-v3.1-win64.zip
2. Extract the zip — you'll get a Hotkeys folder
3. Open the folder and double-click Hotkeys.exe
4. The ⚡ icon appears in your taskbar tray — you're done

No Python. No pip. No API key. No installing anything. It just works.

Download v2.0 (legacy) · Download v1.0 (legacy)

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🍎 Mac — plug and play

1. Download Hotkeys-mac.dmg
2. Open the DMG — drag Hotkeys.app to your Applications folder
3. Double-click Open Hotkeys.command inside the DMG (bypasses macOS security prompt)
4. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted (one-time, 30 seconds)
5. The ⚡ icon appears in your menu bar — you're done

No Python. No pip. No API key. No installing anything. It just works.

Prefer to install from source? Download install_mac.command — right-click → Open, terminal does everything automatically (~10 min)

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How to use it

Refine any text (AI rewrite)

1. Select text in any app
2. Press Alt + Shift + W
3. Wait ~0.5 seconds — the text is rewritten and pasted back

Use a prompt from the library

1. Select text in any app
2. Press the prompt's hotkey (e.g. F5 for Simplify)
3. A sticky note appears — read the prompt, edit it if you want
4. Press the same key again to fire it

Add your own prompt

1. Press Alt + Shift + E to open the Prompt Library
2. Click + Add
3. Give it a name and write your instruction
4. (Optional) Assign a hotkey via right-click → Assign hotkey
5. Click Save — available everywhere immediately

Quick Notes (floating scratchpad)

1. Press Shift + F7 — a resizable notes window opens instantly
2. Type your note or paste anything from the clipboard
3. Press Shift + F7 again (or Esc) to close — notes are saved automatically
4. Drag any edge or corner to resize; drag the title bar to move

Dictate text (voice to text)

1. Place your cursor where you want the text
2. Press Ctrl + Enter to start recording
3. Speak naturally
4. Press Ctrl + Enter again to stop — your words appear instantly

Runs fully offline — nothing is sent anywhere.

Record and replay a macro

1. Press Shift + F1 to start recording — a red pill appears in the corner
2. Do anything: type, click, switch windows, scroll — everything is captured
3. Press Shift + F1 again to stop — the pill shows how many events were captured
4. Press Shift + F1 once more to replay the exact sequence
5. Press Esc at any point to cancel recording or stop playback
6. (Optional) Save frequently used macros and assign them their own hotkey

Record your screen

1. Press Shift + F2 — a setup dialog appears
2. Choose Full screen, pick a window, or drag to select a region
3. (Optional) Enable microphone audio
4. Click Start Recording — dialog disappears, recording begins silently
5. Press Shift + F2 again to stop — a save dialog appears
6. Choose a filename and location — saved as MP4

Record a GIF

1. Press Shift + F3 — a setup dialog appears
2. Choose a window or drag to select a region
3. Set FPS and max duration, then click Start Recording
4. Press Shift + F3 again (or wait for the time limit) to stop
5. Preview the GIF — save it or discard it

AI Screenshot

1. Press PrtSc — the screen is captured instantly
2. A dialog appears with the screenshot and an AI chat box
3. Ask anything: "What does this error mean?", "Summarise this page", "What's in this chart?"
4. The AI answers immediately

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Settings

Everything is configurable. Open the library (Alt+Shift+E) and click the gear icon, or right-click the tray icon.

• AI Provider — switch between Cerebras and Groq, or enter your own API key
• Hotkeys — change any global shortcut to whatever you prefer
• Voice model — choose small (fast) or large (more accurate), pick your microphone
• Transcription — language, beam size, custom vocabulary
• Push-to-talk — hold to record, release to transcribe
• Autostart — launch automatically when your computer starts

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All default hotkeys

Action	Shortcut
Refine selected text with AI	Alt + Shift + W
Open Prompt Library	Alt + Shift + E
Undo last refine	Alt + Shift + Z
Fire prompt 1–12	F1 – F12
Start / stop voice recording	Ctrl + Enter
Cancel / stop anything	Escape
Record / stop / replay macro	Shift + F1
Start / stop screen recorder	Shift + F2
Start / stop GIF recorder	Shift + F3
Explain selected text (AI ask)	Shift + F4
Open / close Quick Notes	Shift + F7
AI screenshot	PrtSc

All hotkeys are customisable in Settings. Per-prompt hotkeys are assigned per prompt via right-click → Assign hotkey.

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AI Providers

Hotkeys works out of the box with no setup required — API access is built in.

If you want to use your own key (for higher limits or your own account), both providers are free:

Provider	Speed	Free tier	Sign up
Cerebras	~0.3 s	✅ Yes	cerebras.ai
Groq	~0.5 s	✅ Yes	console.groq.com

Sign up → copy your API key → paste it into Settings → done.

Voice-to-text (Whisper) runs fully offline — no API key, no internet required.

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Privacy

• 🔒 Voice is transcribed locally — the Whisper model runs on your computer, nothing is sent anywhere
• 🌐 Text refinement goes to Cerebras or Groq — same as any AI assistant you already use
• 🚫 No analytics, no telemetry, no account required

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Feature list

	Feature	Notes
✍️	AI text refiner	Works in any app, any text field
📚	Prompt library	16 built-in prompts, unlimited custom ones
⌨️	Per-prompt hotkeys	Assign F1–F12 to any prompt; fires from any app
🗒️	Sticky note popup	Preview and edit a prompt before it fires
🔤	Live spell check	Misspellings underlined in red as you type in the library
🔍	Prompt search	Find prompts instantly as you type
🔄	Drag to reorder	Organise prompts by drag and drop
↩️	Undo last refine	Instantly revert an AI rewrite with Alt+Shift+Z
🎙️	Voice to text	Fully offline, Whisper model runs on-device
🔇	Noise reduction	Works cleanly in noisy environments
🚀	Push-to-talk	Hold to record, release to transcribe
📋	Transcription history	Browse and copy past recordings
⚡	Instant paste	Output types directly where your cursor is
🖥️	System tray / menu bar	Zero UI clutter — always available, never in the way
🔴	Macro recorder	Record & replay any sequence of keystrokes and mouse clicks (Shift+F1)
💾	Saved macros	Name, save, and assign hotkeys to your most-used macros
🎬	Screen recorder	Capture any window or region as MP4, optional mic audio (Shift+F2)
🎞️	GIF recorder	Record any window or region as an animated GIF (Shift+F3)
📸	AI screenshot	Capture screen and ask AI anything about it (PrtSc)
📝	Quick Notes	Floating scratchpad window, resizable from all edges, auto-saves (Shift+F7)
🔁	Hotkey watchdog	Auto-recovers if hotkeys ever stop responding
🍎	macOS support	Full feature parity on Mac — same plug-and-play experience

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Running from source

git clone https://github.com/sprawf/hotkeys.git
cd hotkeys

# Windows
python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\pip install -r requirements.txt
venv\Scripts\python main.py

# Mac
python3 -m venv venv
venv/bin/pip install -r requirements_mac.txt
venv/bin/python3 main.py

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Tech stack

Component	Library
UI	CustomTkinter + tkinter
Speech-to-text	faster-whisper (runs offline)
Voice activity detection	Silero VAD
AI text refinement	Cerebras / Groq API
Spell check	pyspellchecker
Global hotkeys	keyboard
Macro recorder	pynput
Screen capture	mss (cross-platform)
Screen / GIF recorder	PyAV (FFmpeg)
System tray	pystray
Packaging	PyInstaller

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License

MIT — free to use, fork, and build on.

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