How to use Promptly

Getting started

Promptly is a macOS app. Download the .dmg, drag Promptly into your Applications folder, and open it. On first launch, you'll see a Quick Setup modal asking for three things:

• Microphone access — so Promptly can hear you and scroll the script as you speak.
• Accessibility permission — only needed if you plan to use slide or app action cues (explained below). Lets Promptly send keystrokes to your presentation app.
• Zoom capture setting — a one-time toggle in Zoom's settings that keeps Promptly invisible on screen share.

You can skip any of these and come back to them later via the Setup button in the editor's header.

Your first session

Three steps to go live:

1. Paste your script into the editor. Plain text, no formatting needed.
2. Click Go Live at the bottom right. The editor hides and the overlay appears near the top of your screen.
3. Start talking. Promptly listens and scrolls your script automatically.

The overlay

The overlay is a floating panel that sits on top of any video-call window. You can:

• Drag it by the top bar to reposition it — park it right next to your webcam for natural eye contact.
• Resize it from the four corners.
• Adjust opacity from the slider in the top bar so it's visible to you without dominating your screen.
• End the session with the × button in the top-left, from the editor, or from the menu bar tray icon.

Invisible on screen share

When you share your screen in Zoom, Meet, or Teams, the overlay is invisible to your audience. They see only what you're sharing (slides, browser, etc.); you see the overlay floating on top of it.

Voice tracking

Promptly listens to your voice in real time and scrolls the script so the next word you're about to say is always at the cue line — just under your webcam. The faster you speak, the faster it scrolls. If you slow down, it slows down with you.

The system is deliberately forgiving:

• Pauses at punctuation (commas, dashes) are expected and won't trigger any alarm.
• Mispronounced or fuzzy words still match — the matcher tolerates small differences.
• Reading ahead with your eyes while your mouth catches up is fine. Promptly keeps a buffer of upcoming words visible below the cue line.

Action cues

Action cues are little inline commands you drop into your script. When Promptly reaches one, it fires automatically — advancing slides, opening links, switching apps, or reminding you of something.

Insert them via the Action button in the bottom bar, or type them directly using this syntax:

Types of cues

• [[slide:next]] — advances to the next slide in your presentation app
• [[slide:prev]] — goes back to the previous slide
• [[link:claude.ai]] — opens a URL in your default browser when you reach it
• [[cmd:npm run demo]] — copies a shell command to your clipboard (you paste when ready)
• [[app:Keynote]] — brings an app to the front
• [[note:take a breath]] — a speaker reminder, visible only to you on the overlay, never executes

Two modes: Auto and Remind

Every cue has a mode:

• Auto (default) — Promptly fires the cue on its own the moment you reach it.
• Remind — the cue is visible on the overlay as a dashed chip but never fires. You handle it yourself. Prefix the cue with ? to mark it as a reminder: [[?slide:next]].

When a cue fires

Cues fire the moment you speak the word right after the cue. Place them where you'd naturally pause, so the action lands just as you start the next sentence. Feels intentional, not abrupt.

Staying on script

Sometimes you'll stop reading — to answer a question, ad-lib, handle a tech hiccup. Promptly handles this without you needing to do anything:

Auto-anchor

If Promptly hasn't heard a scripted word for a few seconds, the overlay dims slightly and a quiet amber dot pulses near the cue line — a signal that it's patiently waiting. The last word you were on gets a soft amber highlight so you can see exactly where to pick up. The moment you start reading again — from anywhere in your script — Promptly silently re-syncs to the new position.

Peek scroller

See that thin bar on the right edge of the overlay? Drag it to scroll ahead or behind in your script visually, without affecting voice tracking. When you release, the overlay smoothly snaps back to wherever tracking is. It's a "peace of mind" feature for glancing at what's coming.

Pin to reposition

If tracking ever lands in the wrong place, click the pin icon (📍) in the overlay's top bar. Scroll freezes, a crosshair cursor appears, and you can click any word to set it as the new tracking position. Keyboard shortcut: ⌘ ⇧ R.

Manual scroll

During a session you can also nudge the scroll manually with ⌘ ⇧ ↑ / ⌘ ⇧ ↓. Tracking picks up wherever you land.

Slides & apps

When your script has [[slide:next]] cues, Promptly asks which window to send the slide keystrokes to. This is important if you have multiple monitors or multiple windows of the same app (two Chrome browsers, for example).

Picking your target window

1. Click Go Live. The target modal appears.
2. Click Pick my presentation window. The editor hides and a floating banner reminds you what to do.
3. Click the exact window you'll be presenting in — could be Keynote, PowerPoint, Chrome with Google Slides, whatever.
4. Hold your cursor still on it for a moment so Promptly knows it was a deliberate pick.
5. The modal reappears showing what was captured. Click Go Live to start.

During the session, every slide cue will activate and raise that exact window before sending the keystroke. It works even if your presenter is in fullscreen on a different macOS Space.

Customize the overlay

• Font size — bottom bar, size pill. Bigger text for reading further from the screen.
• Opacity — adjust in the editor's bottom bar or live in the overlay's top bar. Lower opacity lets slides or whatever's behind bleed through slightly.
• Position — drag the overlay by the top bar. Park it close to your webcam for the natural-eye-contact effect.
• Size — grab any corner to resize.

Script management

Click the menu icon (☰) in the editor's header to see all saved scripts. Click + New prompt to start a new one. Scripts autosave as you type. Each script keeps its own title and body, searchable on open.

Reopen a minimized editor

When you click Go Live, the editor hides. Bring it back with ⌘ ⇧ E, the menu bar tray icon, or the Dock icon.

Keyboard shortcuts

Troubleshooting

Voice tracking isn't working

• Make sure the microphone permission is granted: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → Promptly.
• Check that your mic isn't muted at the OS level (control center) or by a hardware switch.
• If you're on a call and Promptly is hearing other participants, Promptly deliberately prefers your built-in microphone. If you use a headset, unplug and replug it, or restart Promptly.

Slide cues aren't advancing slides

• Accessibility permission is required for slide cues. Grant it: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → Promptly. Quit and relaunch Promptly after granting.
• Make sure you picked the right target window when Go Live asked. Click Re-pick if needed.
• For Chrome with multiple windows: Promptly targets the specific window you picked by ID. If the window closes, you'll need to re-pick on the next session.

Overlay is visible to my audience on screen share

• Zoom requires a specific capture mode for the overlay to stay invisible. Set Zoom → Settings → Screen Share → Advanced → "Use advanced screen sharing with window filtering". Restart Zoom after changing it.
• For Meet and Teams, the invisibility works through macOS's standard screen-protection API and should work out of the box with browser-based Meet and the Teams desktop app.

Tracking jumped to the wrong place

• Click the pin icon (📍) in the overlay's top bar or press ⌘ ⇧ R. Scroll freezes and you can click the correct word to set a new position.

The overlay disappeared

• If you accidentally closed it with the × button, click Go Live again — it'll come back.
• If it's behind another window, it shouldn't be (overlay is always on top). Try ending the session and starting a new one.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with a short description of what you're seeing. Include your macOS version and whether you're on Intel or Apple Silicon.