Documentation
From setup to your first useful edit.
The standalone guide for Capper 0.1.7: built-in local writing tools, no account or external server required.
Check standalone download availability before following this guide. Existing external-provider choices are retained when you upgrade.
Welcome → Permissions → Setup → First use → Done
Open the DMG, drag Capper into Applications, and open that installed copy. macOS 14 or later is required on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
- Welcome. See the 14-day trial offer and when it starts, then begin setup for Capper’s built-in writing and dictation tools. No Ollama, Homebrew, Xcode, API key, or account is needed. Returning trial and licensed users see their actual access status.
- Permissions. Grant Accessibility to capture and edit supported text. Microphone access is optional: skip it to continue with writing. Screen Recording is not required.
- Setup. Review the compact confirmation showing required downloads and optional network checks, then approve setup. Choose whether to use Caps Lock or retain the alternate shortcut shown by Capper. Capper selects an appropriate setup automatically. Downloads need internet and can be cancelled or retried; verified completed downloads are retained. Installed tools are checked and prepared without unnecessary redownloads.
- First use. Try the normal editing popup in the practice editor. Generate a response, review it, and choose Replace. Only verified replacement advances automatically; Copy or generating text alone does not. A separately labelled, timed Skip lets you move on without claiming a successful replacement.
- Done. See your trial status or full local access. Enter License opens Settings directly at the license field; existing customers see Manage License. Opening Settings does not finish onboarding. Choose Done to leave Capper running in the menu bar, ready for your next edit.
Your local trial
The 14-day local trial starts at your first local request after setup, including a local request in practice. Downloading, installing, or simply opening onboarding does not start it. Reinstalling or reopening onboarding does not restart it.
A valid paid license or active trial allows local requests. After expiry, a paid license is needed for new requests; work already in progress is not interrupted. Existing buyers retain full local access. The trial includes no Cloud subscription or credits.
Enter your purchased key under Settings → License and choose Activate. No key is needed to start the trial. Settings → On this Mac shows the trial end date or full local access. New users see onboarding automatically; completed setup is preserved on upgrade. Reopen it from the Capper menu-bar icon → Open Onboarding.
How a normal request works
Focus a supported text field, select the text you want to rewrite, and use your configured shortcut or the menu bar. Enter an editing instruction and press Return. Review the response, then choose Copy or Insert/Replace. Capper keeps no conversation history.
Eight automatic writing modes
The popup recognizes the writing context and labels its mode. Press ⌘M to cycle styles for this invocation; cycling or opening the popup does not start a request. Advanced users can edit or add styles in Settings.
Chat message
Short, casual messages.
Try: Make this message warmer and shorter.
Professional sentences, preserving an existing greeting and sign-off.
Try: Make this reply more direct without changing the request.
Document
Prose with paragraph structure preserved.
Try: Clarify this paragraph. Keep the facts and structure.
Code
Code or a requested commit message, without an added prose wrapper.
Try: Write a commit message for this change.
Notes
Terse bullets and fragments.
Try: Turn this note into concise bullets.
Search box
Concise search keywords, not an internet search.
Try: Shorten this into search keywords.
Generic
Neutral rewriting that preserves register and meaning.
Try: Improve grammar without changing the meaning.
Define
A brief definition from local learned knowledge.
Try: /define recursion
Define a short term
Select a term or proper noun of one to five words, open Capper, and press Return without an instruction. Or enter /define recursion. The result is one or two sentences labelled exactly from the local model.
Define uses local learned knowledge. It does not perform online lookup, web search, browsing, or fetching, and it offers no freshness guarantee. It gives definitions, not dates, version numbers, current prices, ownership updates, or historical narratives. Explicit questions such as /define who created Python? can ask for a reliably known creator without a date or history.
For an unfamiliar or uncertain term, Capper responds: I'm not familiar enough with that term to define it reliably.
Review results: familiar acronyms can still be ambiguous, and definitions can be wrong.
Comparative, current, advisory, and how-to requests are outside Define. Rejected /define requests fall back to generic local rewriting, never to Cloud or web search. Asking for a definition does not download additional tools.
Optional dictation
Allow microphone access when you want to dictate. With On this Mac selected, speech processing runs inside Capper, and audio is held in memory rather than written to disk. Skipping microphone permission does not block writing. Review the text before using it.
Local requests do not automatically fall back to Cloud. Cloud is closed to new subscriptions; existing subscribers retain their entitlement and explicit processing choice. Mixed processing identifies which part uses Cloud. Read the data-handling details.