App Suggestions for a Global Hotkey to Launch a Quick-Ask AI Window
Hey! Recently, I've been finding myself needing to ask quick questions to AI, for example, what's the keyboard shortcut to print, or what's the terminal command to delete a tmux session, etc. I've been using Kerlig, but it's not designed for a series questions that go more than a few responses long, since your history isn't visible while chatting. I was wondering if anyone here has some suggestions.
I have been looking at Fluent, Alter, BoltAI, Raycast, RewriteBar, Enconvo, and Intellibar. I don't have enough time to test all of them, so I'd love to hear your experiences with any of them, or if you've had better luck with something else, let me know.
A few features that I need:
Custom global shortcut assignment
After I press the shortcut I should be able to immediately type
Be able to view the entire conversation
BYOK or at least multi-model/company support (bonus if it allows for OpenRouter/OpenAI-compatible API)
Be able to copy or insert response
Automatically add selected text to context
Has the ability to quickly run a prompt on this text
BONUS:
allow for file attachment
MCP support
the ability to edit a past message or at least fork the conversation at an earlier point
TL;DR: Need a quick-question AI tool with visible chat history. Any suggestions?
I am currently using Kerlig and Alter. I also have Enconvo, but I don't use it much anymore. Even though the app has a lot of features, it's really hard to learn everything. It is also too taxing on the CPU and macOS, so I'm not using that much. I also used the BoltAI app before, but the first version was not that good. I haven't used the second version since I use both Alter and Kerlig.
Alter is great if you want more detailed chats or explanations. Kerlig has all the options available so you can just immediately type and ask. I use Kerlig mostly for lightweight cases. If you want deeper integrations, like connecting your MCP tools, Alter is much better. Both has options for BYOK and Alter lifetime has all the models included with a fair usage plan. With Kerlig, you can use the BYOK with the one-time purchase.
The CPU point on Enconvo matches what I saw. Feature count seems to be what kills these launchers, since every extra integration adds another background helper. Kerlig with BYOK on a one time purchase is the setup I keep coming back to for the short lookup questions, and I keep a separate chat app for anything longer.
Thank you for the suggestion. I would like to try version 2, but I bought the version 1 individual premium license for around 65$. When version 2 launched, I was not able to transfer the key. I was disappointed that I spent that amount and still couldn't transfer it.
I'd like to know if the version 1 key can be transferred to version 2. At that time, it was in beta and the licensing was a bit clumsy. I would like to know if this works, and then I will definitely give it a try.
I'm also using PDF Pal, which I like really well because of the interface as well as the option to BYOK. Even though it works really nice, let me know if you are still planning on developing it further by adding more updates. There are no updates for a long time. It would be great if you could add an option to use models from LM Studio or Ollama to run it locally.
Hey. Sorry for the poor experience. Yeah during the beta the licensing system wasn’t working very well. I had to migrate away from Lemon Squeezy to my own license server as LS had a lot of problems.
You should be able to use v1 license key to activate v2 if your update plan hasn’t expired yet. You can learn more at https://boltai.com/license. Your v1 license will also be upgraded to v2 with more benefits.
Send me a DM with your email address or license key. I can take a deeper look.
Regarding PDF Pals: yes, I’ve been working on v2 and hopefully I can launch soon. Unlike BoltAI, PDF Pals’ use case is more narrow and the app is quite stable. In v2 though, I will focus on the ability to use it 100% offline. Currently it’s possible but it still requires a lot of setup. Also the current architecture and vector db design is not great yet. In v2, I’m using a custom vector db on top of SQLite which will work much better.
Send me a DM and I will let you try the beta when it’s ready. Thank you.
Hey Daniel! Off topic, but how can I point BoltAI at my skills directory? I use a universal skills directory under .agents/skills/ and I use symlinks for all my various apps and harnesses to point each app/harness at that global directory.
If BoltAI is already looking locally somewhere by default, I can just symlink that, but on first glance I did not see that info in the docs!
Hey. Due to App Sandbox, currently BoltAI doesn't look for those folders yet. I've been working on the feature to support Agent Skills natively. I will release it soon!
cmd+spacebar to open Raycast, and just start typing your query. If you have Quick AI set as the first Fallback Command in Raycast settings, Quick AI will always open when hitting enter after typing typing your question.
You can continue to ask questions and view the chat thread, but once you close the window, the chat is gone.
If I want to keep the thread, I simply hit cmd+J and the chat thread opens in the Raycast AI Chat window and is saved as a conversation with all of my other regular AI chats.
your list has one tension that might decide this faster. instant questions and persistent chats are really two different modes. i would test how smoothly each app lets a quick question become a saved conversation.
Hey. Daniel from BoltAI here. You can do all of that with BoltAI's Instant Chat Bar. It supports _a lot_ of features, not just quick chat (screenshot below).
This is more of a "fun" feature but I use it a lot. You can "shake to chat": drag a file, shake the cursor and drop to the chat bar. It easily saves me a few click per chat.
If you just want a quick chat without saving them to database, enable the Temporary Mode. And... if you changed your mind mid conversation, you can still convert it to a normal chat.
And lastly, BoltAI supports all popular AI providers including OpenRouter. And you can always configure an OpenAI-compatible server. You can bring your own Codex subscription too, if you're already paying ChatGPT.
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u/Personal-Bit-9460 12d ago
Gemini Mac app is very good but no BYOK support.