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    Never Type a Prompt Again with a Global Dictation App

    John Lindquist
    John Lindquist

    The biggest bottleneck when using AI coding assistants is often the act of typing itself. Switching from writing code to composing a detailed, natural language prompt can break your concentration and slow you down. The ideal interaction would be as seamless as talking to a pair programmer.

    This lesson introduces a powerful workflow to achieve just that: using a global dictation app. By setting up a tool that can be triggered with a simple keyboard shortcut anywhere on your system, you can speak your thoughts directly to the AI without ever leaving your flow state.

    The Solution: Dictation + Trigger Words

    We'll demonstrate this using an app called Superwhisper, but many similar tools exist. The core idea is to enable system-wide dictation. More powerfully, these tools allow you to create "dictation snippets" or "trigger words"—short, custom voice commands that expand into longer, pre-defined prompts.

    Workflow demonstrated in this lesson:

    • Activate Dictation: Use a global keyboard shortcut to start dictating a prompt directly into your AI assistant.
    • Create a Trigger Word: Go into the dictation app's settings (e.g., the "Vocabulary" section).
    • Define a Replacement: Create a new entry where a short spoken phrase (e.g., "Gus summarize") is automatically replaced with a full, detailed prompt (e.g., "Please summarize this conversation into a bulleted list.").
    • Invoke the Snippet: Use your trigger word to instantly insert a complex prompt, turning a two-word command into a powerful instruction for the AI.

    Key benefits:

    • Maintain Flow State: Dictate prompts without the context switch of typing, keeping your hands on the keyboard and your mind on the code.
    • Increase Speed: Speaking is significantly faster than typing for complex, natural language sentences.
    • Create a Voice-Powered Prompt Library: Build a collection of reusable prompts that can be invoked with simple, memorable voice commands.
    • Reduce Repetitive Typing: Automate the insertion of your most common and complex prompts.

    Prompts

    The user dictates a complex, multi-step prompt to the AI.

    Please summarize the conversation so far and turn it into a lesson that I could present to people about the power of the GitHub CLI.

    The user dictates a trigger word, "Gus summarize", which is replaced by a full prompt.

    Gus summarize

    The expanded prompt that replaces the trigger word.

    Please summarize this conversation into a bulleted list.

    Dictation Snippet Configuration

    The following demonstrates how a "trigger word" is configured in a dictation app like Superwhisper. A simple spoken input is mapped to a much longer text replacement, creating a voice-activated snippet.

    Input: "Gus summarize"

    Replace with: "Please summarize this conversation into a bulleted list."
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