Your First Dictation
After you finish Setup & Permissions, Stirae lives in your menu bar. Put your cursor in any text field and try it.
Click the Stirae icon in the menu bar to check settings and app status. You can also open Settings from the Dock.
Start recording
Hold the 🌐fn key by default. If you switched to Toggle mode, press the shortcut once instead. You'll see a small floating HUD when Stirae starts listening.
Say what you want to write
Do not worry about pauses, filler words, or perfect grammar. Capture the thought first.
Stop recording
In Push-to-Talk, release the key. In Toggle mode, press the shortcut again.
Text appears
Stirae transcribes your speech, optionally applies Refinement, and inserts the result into the app you started from.
What the HUD shows
When recording starts, the HUD shows the target app and profile, plus the Quick Action name if one is active.
After recording, you'll see Transcribing, followed by Refining, Translating, or Refining + Translating when needed. Sent to names the app that received the paste command; it does not confirm that the text appeared in the field.
How Stirae knows where to type
When you start recording, Stirae remembers the app you were writing in. When you stop, it uses the settings selected for that dictation, such as Refinement, Writing Style, and output language. Changes you make after stopping apply to your next dictation.
Where does text go?
Stirae sends the result to the app you started from and keeps a copy on your clipboard. If it cannot send the paste command, it shows Copied to Clipboard and asks you to paste manually. If your words do not appear, use ⌘V to recover them. For repeated problems, see Troubleshooting.