Thisper

Thisper is a typing-first communication translator. It rewrites raw text into clearer text while staying as close as possible to the original meaning, voice, uncertainty, and tone.

Current Desktop Scope

Desktop text-to-text rewrite UI with diff review
Rewrite modes: Preserve Voice, Clean, Readable, Formal, Concise
Gemini-backed cloud rewrite provider with typed model selection
Secure Gemini API key storage through the system credential store
Global cross-app rewrite shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + R
System tray support with background operation
Non-destructive clipboard replacement flow: selected text is only replaced after the full rewrite succeeds
URL protection: links are treated as protected content and must survive rewrites unchanged
Local-only runtime observability for rewrite attempts, failures, model use, and last error category

Desktop Workflow

Main Window

Paste or type raw text.
Choose a mode and model.
Run Rewrite.
Review either the final output or the diff.
Copy the result.

Cross-App Rewrite

Select plain text in another app.
Press Ctrl + Alt + R.
Thisper copies the selection, rewrites it in Preserve Voice, then pastes the full replacement only after the provider returns a complete result.
The previous text clipboard contents are restored after the operation when they were available as plain text.

If no API key is configured, Thisper brings the main window forward instead of attempting a destructive rewrite.

Tray And Background Behavior

Thisper starts with a tray icon on desktop platforms where tray icons are supported.
Closing the window does not quit the app by default. The first close shows a tray hint, and later closes hide the window to the tray.
The tray menu provides:
- Show Thisper
- Run Clipboard Rewrite
- Quit
The global shortcut remains active while the window is hidden.
Quit from the tray exits the app fully.

Known Limitations

Cross-app rewrite is designed for plain-text targets first. Rich editors, browser text surfaces, and heavily customized inputs are best-effort.
Secure fields and some application surfaces may block selection, copy, paste, or synthetic key events.
Clipboard restoration currently preserves prior plain-text clipboard contents. Non-text clipboard formats are not yet restored.
If a rewrite attempts to drop a protected URL, Thisper now fails that rewrite instead of silently removing the link.
Model fidelity still depends on prompt behavior. High-value detail protection is planned, but not part of the current Phase 2 completion scope.

Setup

Prerequisites

Rust stable toolchain
Node.js LTS
A Gemini API key from Google AI Studio

Credentials

Use the in-app Settings dialog to save the Gemini API key into your system credential store.

For development, Thisper also accepts:

$env:GEMINI_API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"

Run Development

npm install
npm run tauri dev

License Auditing

Thisper includes automated license-audit commands:

npm run licenses:npm
npm run licenses:rust
npm run licenses:all

Current status:

automation is present
the final commercial allowlist policy is still pending
current Rust audit output includes weak-copyleft and platform-stack licenses that need an explicit policy decision before monetization

Architecture

Frontend: Vanilla TypeScript, HTML, CSS, Vite
Backend: Tauri v2, Rust
Provider boundary: pluggable rewrite provider trait
Current provider: Gemini
Desktop integration: global shortcut, clipboard pipeline, tray/background mode

Project Tracking

See:

THISPER_STATUS.md for current completion status
LEGACY_HARDWARE_VALIDATION.md for the Phase 2 validation checklist and report
PHASE3_SPEECH_PLAN.md for the queued next-phase speech scope

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