§ Keys + dictation
Keys and dictation on Linux
Hold F9, talk, let go. The text lands in the window that had focus when you pressed the key. On Omarchy these are the chords Omarchy already binds for dictation, so there is nothing to relearn.
Who this is for
Anyone changing the dictation keys or picking a mode, and anyone wondering why a dictation arrived as a paste.
Default keys
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| Hold F9 | Dictates while held. The text lands on release. |
| Super+Ctrl+X | Starts or stops a longer take. |
| Super+Ctrl+Escape | Cancels the take. |
| Super+Ctrl+Shift+X | Inserts the last transcript again. |
Changing a chord
~/.config/dettivo/config.toml
toml
[hotkeys]
hold = "F9"
toggle = "SUPER CTRL, X"
cancel = "SUPER CTRL, Escape"
reinsert = "SUPER CTRL SHIFT, X"Chords use Hyprland notation. After a change, run dettivo setup omarchy (or your compositor) again so the binding snippet matches the file.
Raw, Polish and Enhanced
Pick a mode in the app, in the bar panel, or with [dictation] mode in config.toml. dettivo polish test "<sample>" shows what each step does to a sentence.
| Mode | What you get |
|---|---|
| Raw | The engine's words with your replacements and spoken punctuation. File names, paths, URLs and version numbers come back byte for byte. |
| Polish | Grammar fixes, fillers removed and smart punctuation, with a preset per app: email, code, chat, notes or generic. |
| Enhanced | Polish, then a rewrite by a local language model. If the model does not answer in time, the Polish text goes in and the pill says so. |
How the text gets in
Dettivo types through the Wayland virtual keyboard when the window accepts it, and pastes when it does not. Terminals get Ctrl+Shift+V. dettivo insert target shows which backend the next insertion would use.
Every take goes to the window that was focused when the key went down. It never goes to Dettivo's own windows or to a window that appeared while you were talking.
While you talk, the recording pill shows Listening, then Transcribing, then where the words went. On Omarchy the pill lives in the bar panel and takes its colours from the active theme.
Free and open source · GPL-3.0
Dettivo for Linux 0.2.0 is on GitHub.
The release page has the pacman package and its checksum. Bug reports go to the issue tracker. On a Mac? The native Mac app does all of this with Apple Silicon models.