How Keak Works

Keak is an app that lets you talk and it types for you. You speak out loud and clean text appears wherever your cursor is, in Gmail, in Notion, in Word, in Slack, anywhere on your computer.

But Keak is more than dictation. It also comes with an AI assistant you can talk to out loud. It talks back, it sees your screen, and it can do real things for you. And it runs on AI you already have, so there is no extra cost.

There are two versions of Keak:

• Keak on the web (keak.app) works in your browser, no download needed. Great for getting started.
• Keak for desktop (Windows and Mac) gives you the full power including the Ctrl+Win and Ctrl+Alt shortcuts that work in every app on your computer.

This guide explains both.

When you open keak.app and sign in, you see the dashboard. Here is what everything does:

The big microphone button

This is the main thing. Tap it, speak, stop. Keak transcribes what you said and shows it to you. You can copy the text or use it directly.

Styles

A dropdown next to the mic that says things like Professional, Casual, or Creative. This tells Keak how to clean up your speech. If you pick Professional it removes fillers and makes your text sound formal. If you pick Casual it keeps a more relaxed tone. You can change this any time.

Translate: Off

If you want to speak in one language and get text in another, turn this on and pick your target language. Speak Spanish, get English. Speak French, get German. Works for any combination.

Monthly usage bar

Shows how many minutes of dictation you have used this month. The free plan gives you 15 minutes. Starter gives you more. It resets every month.

Kodes

Go to the Kodes section in the left sidebar. Here you create voice shortcuts. For example: say "sign" and Keak types your full email signature. Say "address" and it types your full home address. You set it up once and it works forever.

Vocabulary

Go to Vocabulary in the sidebar. Here you teach Keak how to spell words it might get wrong. If your name is Xiomara, add it here so it never writes Simara again. Works for technical words, brand names, anything.

History

Every transcription is saved here. You can go back and find anything you said in Keak.

Settings

Change your language, your default style, your email, and your plan.

This is the most used feature in Keak. You hold Ctrl and Win (the Windows key) at the same time, speak, then let go. Keak types what you said right where your cursor is.

It works in literally any app on your computer. Gmail. Notion. Slack. WhatsApp Web. Google Docs. Microsoft Word. The search bar. Your code editor. Any text field anywhere.

What makes it different from just talking?

Keak does not just paste your raw speech. It cleans it up. It removes um, uh, and like. It adds proper punctuation. It capitalises correctly. You get clean, ready to send text.

What about language?

Keak detects your language automatically. You can also set a default language in settings. If you turn on Translate in settings, Ctrl+Win becomes a live translation shortcut. You speak your language and it types in the target language you chose.

How do I start?

1. Download the Keak desktop app from keak.app
2. Sign in with the same account you use on the web
3. Press Ctrl + Win anywhere on your computer and start talking

That is it. No setup, no microphone configuration, it just works.

Hold Ctrl and Space at the same time, speak in your language, and Keak types the translation in the target language you picked. Same shortcut feel as dictation, only the output is translated on the fly.

Speak Spanish, get English in the email you're writing. Speak French, get German in your Slack message. Speak Catalan, get English in a Google Doc. It works in any app on your computer, in any text field, exactly like Ctrl + Win.

How to set it up

1. Open Keak on your desktop and go to Settings.
2. Find "Translate to" and pick the language you want the output in.
3. Save. That is your target language for Ctrl + Space.

You can change the target language any time. Keak detects the language you speak in automatically, so you never have to switch input languages.

When it's useful

• Writing to clients or teammates in another language, without slowing down.
• Answering emails in a language you understand but write slowly.
• Chatting with anyone in the world in their own language, in real time.
• Learning a language, seeing how what you say translates.

The rest works like Ctrl + Win. Keak cleans it up, punctuates properly, and drops it exactly where your cursor is.

Hold Ctrl and Alt at the same time and the Keak AI assistant appears. You can ask it anything out loud and it answers out loud.

What can Keak AI do?

Almost anything you would ask a smart assistant. Here are real examples:

• "Write a reply to this email" (it sees your screen and does it)
• "What is on my calendar today?" (if you connected your calendar)
• "Summarise what is on this page"
• "Translate this paragraph to French"
• "Write me a LinkedIn post about what I just said"
• "What does this code do?"

It sees your screen

Keak AI can look at what is on your screen and use that as context. You do not have to paste or copy anything. Just ask.

It knows you

Anything you have told Keak about yourself (in the Notes or Second Brain section) stays with Keak AI. So it already knows your name, your job, what you are working on. It gets more useful the more you use it.

Hey Keak

You can also just say "Hey Keak" out loud instead of pressing the shortcut. A small orb sits in the corner of your screen, always listening. Say Hey Keak and it wakes up.

It runs on your own AI, for free

Keak AI does not have its own brain. It connects to the AI you already have. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Mistral, or a local model on your own machine. Because it uses your account, there is no extra cost inside Keak. Read the next section to understand how to connect your AI.

To use Keak AI, you need to connect an AI account. Go to Connect your AI in the left sidebar of the desktop app. You will see these options:

Claude (by Anthropic)

If you already pay for Claude.ai, you can connect it with one click. No API key needed. Click Sign in with Claude and follow the steps. If you do not have Claude, you can get a free API key at console.anthropic.com. The free tier is enough to start.

ChatGPT (by OpenAI)

If you already pay for ChatGPT Plus, click Sign in with ChatGPT. It takes about 30 seconds. No API key needed. If you do not have ChatGPT, you can get a free API key at platform.openai.com.

Gemini (by Google)

Gemini requires an API key. Go to aistudio.google.com, sign in with your Google account, and click Get API key. It is free. Paste the key into Keak.

Grok (by xAI)

Go to console.x.ai, create an account, get an API key, paste it into Keak. Free credits included.

DeepSeek

Go to platform.deepseek.com, create an account, get an API key, paste it into Keak. Very cheap to use.

Mistral

Go to console.mistral.ai, create an account, get an API key, paste it into Keak.

Local (Ollama)

This is the completely free option. Ollama runs an AI model directly on your computer, no internet needed, totally private. Download Ollama from ollama.ai, install it, and Keak will connect automatically. Good option if you want zero ongoing cost and full privacy.

Which one should I pick?

If you already pay for ChatGPT or Claude, start there. It costs you nothing extra. If you want free forever, use Ollama. If you want the best quality for money, DeepSeek is excellent and very cheap.

Agents are custom AI assistants you create inside Keak. Each one has a name, a job, and a personality you define.

Think of it this way: instead of asking Keak AI to write this like a professional marketer every single time, you create an Agent called Marketing Expert with those instructions already baked in. Next time you talk to it, it already knows.

Examples of agents you can make:

• Sales Coach, reviews your pitches and gives feedback
• Spanish Tutor, only speaks Spanish back to you
• Code Reviewer, checks your code for bugs
• Daily Briefer, gives you your morning summary
• Email Assistant, rewrites your emails more professionally

Go to the Agents section in the sidebar and click the + button to create one. Give it a name, write what it does in plain English, and pick which AI it uses.

The Second Brain is where Keak stores what it knows about you. It is basically a private file of information that gets fed to Keak AI every time you ask it something.

You can add things like:

• Your name and job
• What projects you are working on
• Your company, clients, goals
• Anything you want Keak to always remember

The more you add here, the smarter Keak AI gets about your specific life and work.

You can read and edit everything at any time. Nothing is stored on Keak's servers. It stays on your computer.

Routines are tasks you schedule so Keak runs them automatically, without you having to ask.

Examples:

• Every morning at 7am: "Give me a summary of today's calendar"
• Every Sunday night: "Write me a weekly review based on my notes"
• Every day at 9am: "Send me a motivational message"

Go to the Routines section, click the + button, describe what you want Keak to do, pick when, and that is it. Keak runs it and delivers the result to you directly.

Connections lets you link your other apps to Keak so it can actually do things, not just talk about them.

What you can connect:

• Google Calendar. Keak AI can read your schedule and add events
• Gmail. Keak AI can read and draft emails
• Microsoft Outlook. Same as Gmail for Microsoft users
• Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp. Keak can send messages
• And more being added regularly

Once you connect an app, Keak AI can interact with it when you ask. "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" actually reads your real calendar. "Draft a reply to that email" actually opens a draft in Gmail.

Go to Connections in the sidebar to see what is available and connect your accounts with one click.

Recap records audio from your computer and gives you a clean summary at the end.

Use it for:

• Team meetings on Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet
• Phone calls
• Client interviews
• Lectures or webinars

Click Record at the start of the meeting and Stop at the end. Keak gives you a summary, the key decisions made, and the action items. Everything stays on your machine. Keak does not upload your recordings to any server.

Work is a full chat interface inside Keak. If you prefer typing over talking, this is where you go.

It is connected to your own AI and your agents. You can use it to:

• Research a topic
• Write a document
• Build a plan
• Generate a report
• Ask anything you would ask ChatGPT or Claude

The difference is that it already knows your context from the Second Brain. So it writes and thinks in terms of your real situation, not a blank slate.