User Guide

FastPrompter User Guide

Overview

High-speed keyboard-driven scratchpad + prompt workbench. Alt+X summons at cursor. Write. Close (Esc). Zero manual save — SQLite syncs every 10s.

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Key Concepts

1. Summon (Alt+X)

Global hotkey. Window appears at mouse cursor. Esc closes. All keystrokes flush to disk via auto-save timer (10s tick) + sync flush on close.

Double-tap Alt+X toggles always-on-top. Shift+Alt+X opens pie menu (theme/scale/tools).

2. Projects (Tabs)

Named project tabs in header. Right-click: Create, Rename, Delete. Up to 100 projects. Switch via click or num-box mode (Settings → Window → Layout → Number boxes per row). Each project holds 100 silos + 10 snippets.

3. Silos

Independent markdown canvas slots. 100 per project. Auto-numbered 00-99.

Navigation:

• Ctrl+1..Ctrl+0 — jump to silo 1-10
• Alt+↑/↓ — walk silos
• Ctrl+N — new empty silo (appends at bottom)
• Right-click NEW — append at bottom

Per-silo actions (hover):

• 📌 Pin — locks silo to top of list (sorted above unpinned)
• ✅ Tick — marks done (visual indicator)
• 🎨 Color box — per-silo color highlight (toggle in Settings)
• 📁 File container — open asset drawer for this silo
• 📁 Folder link — links silo to external project folder/executable
• Middle click — send to trash

Hierarchy: Drag silo onto another to nest as child. Max depth 2 (1 → 1.1 → 1.1.1). Shift+drag swaps. Collapse arrow (▾/▸) on parent hides children.

Recency heatmap: Recently edited silos get warm background tint. Configurable via Settings → Silos.

4. Sidebar Gaps

User-defined spacer bars in silo list. Help organise silos into groups. Ctrl+drag a gap to re-park it elsewhere. Settings → Silos → Gap height controls thickness.

5. Multi-Select Silos

• Shift+click — range select
• Ctrl+click — toggle selection
• Right-click selection — batch Save, Delete, Clear (deletes high-index-first to avoid slot shift issues)

6. Snippet Macros (F1-F10)

10 quick-paste slots per project. Bound to F1-F10 or Ctrl+Shift+1-9.

• Ctrl+S — open Snippet Manager (edit name + content)
• Right-click F-button — rename inline
• Supports variable placeholders for prompt templates

7. Markdown Editor

VaultTextEdit — extended QPlainTextEdit.

Features:

• Live syntax highlighting — headings, bold, italic, links, code fences, checkboxes, blockquotes
• Line gutter — numbers + fold arrows (▾)
• Section folding — click ▾ to collapse headers
• Code fence copy button — hover fence, click copy icon
• Checkbox click — click - [ ] to toggle - [x]
• Collapsible images — ![alt](url) renders as compact pill button (150px). Ctrl+click opens, Ctrl+rclick opens folder
• Smart paste — drops table/list/code formatting cleaner

Formatting shortcuts:

• Ctrl+B/I/U/T — bold/italic/underline/strikethrough
• Ctrl+Return — toggle checkbox
• Ctrl+E — insert header (configurable: rule, bullet, timestamp, alignment)
• Ctrl+W — insert divider --- with smart line split (strips duplicate bullet)
• Alt+W — insert divider upward + bullet above
• Ctrl+Shift+Q — blockquote toggle
• Ctrl+Click on bullet — toggle - / •
• Ctrl+MiddleButton — delete line under cursor (smart reflow: ordered lists renumber)
• Alt+Z — toggle line numbers
• Alt+Backspace — word delete

8. Hide Markup Mode (T-603)

Toggle in Settings → Editor → Hide Markup. Conceals bold, italic, strike and code markers so text reads clean. Caret block keeps its markers so editing stays possible. Only repaints the 2 blocks around caret movement.

9. Kanban Board

Insert Kanban creates a markdown kanban board (pure text, survives save/db round-trip).

• Alt+↑/↓ — move card up/down within column
• Alt+←/→ — move card to adjacent column
• Enter on empty board line — new card row
• Alt+click — tick checkbox on card

10. Table Builder

Insert Table creates a markdown table. Tab/Shift+Tab walks cells. Tab off last cell grows a new row. Enter adds row (not split cell).

11. File Container

Each silo gets data/silo_files/<project>/<slot_idx>/ on disk.

• Drag files onto drawer overlay → copy into silo folder
• Drop overlay (4 options): Insert Text, Insert Link, Copy to Files, Shortcut
• Templates: IN/OUT, Assets, Drafts, Custom
• Image preview + open with default app
• Ctrl+click 📁 — export silo text as .md

12. Watcher Engine (Alt+C)

Prompt drainage + auto-send to target app.

• Alt+C — queue current line under caret (block-anchored)
• Alt+Shift+C — Queue Master dialog (inspect/reorder/clear queues)
• Arming: target app (CDP for Electron, Win32 for native), skill/prompt wrapper
• Rate limits: settle=2.5s, min gap=4s, max 25 sends per session
• Skills: /review, /refactor, custom prompt templates

See Watcher Engine Architecture for full details.

13. Hashtag System

#tag in silo text indexed for cross-silo search. Alt+Shift+T opens Hashtag Dialog — search by tag, see all matching silos, click to jump.

14. Timers & Pomodoro

Countdown timers: Set via Ctrl+Shift+T or timer button. Configurable name, duration, sound, volume, color urgency. Timer toast notification with snooze (Win95 3D bevels).

Pomodoro: Work/break state machine. Configurable intervals. Tray notification + sound on phase end. Timer label beside clock shows remaining time + urgency color.

15. Zen Mode (Ctrl+D)

3-stage cycle:

1. Zen — hide sidebar, snippet bar, file container, status bar, frame borders. Only editor visible.
2. Solo — minimise all other desktop windows. Editor stays.
3. Back — restore desktop + normal layout.

16. Window Snap (Ctrl+Q)

Cycle through: Top-Left, Top-Right, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right, Center, Full, Cursor Position. FancyZone overlay shows 7 visual zones on click. Window presets page saves up to 10 user-defined geometries (as screen fractions — survive monitor changes).

17. Finder & Archive

• Archive silo — move completed silo to archive (keeps text, removes from active list)
• Archive tab — browse archived silos per project
• Trash dialog — browse/restore soft-deleted silos and files
• Silo sync to disk (T-591) — one-way .md export to external folder per project

18. Number-Box Mode (T-607)

Settings → Window → Layout → Number boxes per row. Replaces project combo with numbered buttons. Right-click for add/rename/delete. Wheel still switches. Project cap 100.

19. Toolbar Customize

Settings → Customize Toolbar. Drag buttons to reorder. Visible gap widgets show where a button lands. Reset restores default order.

20. Overflow Menu

When header < 700px: hidden buttons collected in » popup. Every action still reachable — formatting, navigation, silo ops, tools.

21. SAIPEN Integration

Ctrl+Shift+C opens SAIPEN viewer (STATE/BOARD/LOG from .saipen/). Toolbar buttons for quick access when project folder has .saipen/.

22. Backup

Layers:

1. SQLite WAL — crash-safe writes (synchronous=NORMAL)
2. .bak — at startup + every 60s (full SQLite backup to .bak file)
3. Daily markdown mirror — ~/Documents/.fastprompter/ (silos per project + archive + snippets)
4. Portable ZIP — manual backup via Backup dialog