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Command Mode (transform selected text)

Command Mode turns InkSpoke into a voice-driven editor for text you already have. Select something in any app, press the Command Mode hotkey, speak an instruction like "make this more formal" or "translate to Spanish," and InkSpoke replaces the selection with the result.

Regular AI refinement polishes the new words you dictate. Command Mode is the opposite: it operates on text that's already on screen — an email you pasted, a paragraph you wrote, a code comment, a message in a chat box.

When to use it​

Reach for Command Mode whenever you want to change existing text rather than write new text:

  • Tighten a rambling paragraph before you send it.
  • Fix grammar and spelling in a draft.
  • Translate a selection into another language.
  • Shift the tone of a message up (more formal) or down (more casual).
  • Reword something you pasted so it fits the app you're in.

The instruction is free-form — you speak it in plain language and the model rewrites the selection accordingly.

How it works​

The key detail: InkSpoke captures your selection first, before it starts recording your voice. So the order is always select, then trigger — if nothing is selected when you press the hotkey, there's nothing for Command Mode to act on.

Use it in four steps​

  1. Select the text you want to change, in any app.
  2. Press the Command Mode hotkey — Alt + Shift + C on Windows and Linux, ⌥ + ⇧ + C on macOS. The familiar listening overlay appears.
  3. Speak your instruction — "fix the grammar," "make this a bullet list," "shorten it."
  4. Press the hotkey again (or click Send). InkSpoke transcribes your instruction, runs it through your text model with the selection as input, and types the result back over the selection.

The overlay is the same HUD you already know from dictation — waveform, elapsed timer, workspace and language pickers, and a Send button:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ●  Listening…                          ⏱ 0:03 │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ▁▃▅▇▅▃▁▂▄▆▄▂   "make this more formal"        │
│                                                │
│  [ Workspace ▾ ]  [ EN ▾ ]           [ Send ]  │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ESC cancel · Send to run                      │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Press Esc at any time to cancel without changing your text.

Examples​

You select…You say…You get…
A casual note to a client"Make this more formal"A polished, professional rewrite
A paragraph with typos"Fix the grammar and spelling"The same text, cleaned up
An English sentence"Translate to Spanish"The Spanish translation
A long-winded update"Summarize this in one sentence"A single-sentence summary
A block of prose"Turn this into bullet points"A bulleted list
A wordy message"Make it more concise"A tighter version

Nothing is ever lost​

Command Mode is built to be safe. It leaves your selection exactly as it was in every failure case:

  • Empty selection → returns unchanged (there was nothing to transform).
  • Empty command (you triggered it but said nothing) → returns unchanged.
  • The model fails for any reason → returns the selected text unchanged, so a bad network call or a model error never wipes what you had.
Your text is the safety net

Because the worst case is "nothing happens," it's safe to experiment. If a rewrite isn't what you wanted, you selected the text yourself — reselect and try a different instruction.

How your selection is captured​

Reading the selected text out of another application works differently on each platform. InkSpoke handles this for you; the table below is just so you know what's happening under the hood.

PlatformHow the selection is captured
WindowsRead directly via UI Automation, with a clipboard copy as a fallback if the app doesn't expose its selection.
macOSCaptured with a simulated copy (via the clipboard).
LinuxCaptured with a simulated copy (via the clipboard).
Terminals (any OS)A terminal-safe copy (Ctrl + Shift + C) is used, so your shell isn't interrupted by a stray keystroke.
note

Command Mode relies on the app actually having a real text selection. In apps that don't expose their selection to the OS at all, capture may come up empty — in which case, per the rules above, nothing changes.

Trigger it by voice​

If you use InkSpoke's wake word, you can start Command Mode hands-free instead of reaching for the hotkey: select your text, then say the wake-word phrase "command." The overlay opens the same way, ready for your instruction.

Wake-word triggering needs hands-free listening on

The spoken "command" trigger only works when wake-word / hands-free listening is enabled, and the wake word is English-only. If you haven't set that up, use the hotkey instead. See Voice commands for what the wake word can do.

Settings and hotkey​

SettingDefaultWhat it does
Command Mode hotkey (CommandModeHotkey)Alt + Shift + C (macOS ⌥ + ⇧ + C)The key combo that captures your selection and starts Command Mode. Configurable; you can also leave it unset and use the wake word.
Text-processing modelYour active text modelWhich model performs the transform — the same model your dictation refinement uses.

You can rebind the hotkey (or record a new combo) under General & hotkeys.

Power users — the model behind the transform

Command Mode uses whichever text-processing model you have active. If you're running in Local mode, the transform runs on your on-device model — so you can rewrite, fix, and translate text completely offline. If a cloud or bring-your-own-key (BYOK) model is active, it uses that instead. Command Mode can also apply the resolved workspace's domain knowledge, so your custom vocabulary and instructions carry into the rewrite when a workspace matches the app you're in.

Next steps​