Getting the Most Out of Cotypist

Most suggestions are useful for the first word or two, then drift away from what you actually meant. That is why Tab inserts just the next word by default — not the whole suggestion. Pressing Tab repeatedly walks you through a suggestion word by word, and you can stop any time and keep typing.

This is the single habit that changes Cotypist from “a fun autocomplete” into a real speed-up. Partial acceptance is what keeps your voice intact.

If a suggestion is close to what you want but not quite right, don’t dismiss it — just keep typing. Cotypist updates the suggestion in real time after each keystroke. Usually one or two letters is enough for the prediction to snap to the word you actually had in mind.

Once you notice this, it removes the temptation to look for a “next suggestion” shortcut. Typing a letter is almost always faster than cycling through alternatives.

When a suggestion really does match your intent end-to-end, you don’t have to walk through it word by word. The key directly above Tab (`, §, or ^ depending on your layout) accepts the entire suggestion at once.

On a few layouts that key produces a commonly-used character, so Cotypist leaves the shortcut unassigned by default. It’s worth picking one — see Shortcuts for the full list and how to customize them.

Cotypist can adapt to how you actually write, rather than producing the statistically “average” phrasing. Two settings do most of the work:

• Collect Inputs for Personalization. Off by default. When enabled, Cotypist quietly records the text you type in the fields where it’s active, so future suggestions reflect your vocabulary, names, and turns of phrase.
• Personalize Word Choice slider. Once some typing history has accumulated, the slider controls how strongly it nudges suggestions. Medium is a good starting point.

You can also write Custom AI Instructions — a short note about your occupation, the kinds of writing you do, and any stylistic preferences. Keep it to a few sentences; longer instructions tend to dilute the model’s focus rather than help.

See the Personalization overview for the full picture, including per-app and per-domain instructions.

Cotypist doesn’t have to behave the same way everywhere. In App Settings, you can add any app or website and give it its own configuration:

• Different languages in different places. For example, if you write email in German but Slack in English, attach language-specific Custom Instructions to each.
• Different tone per context. A domain for client work, another for casual writing — each can have its own instructions.
• Skip sensitive apps entirely. Turn off input collection for specific apps where you type confidential content, while keeping personalization on elsewhere.

You can reach the same per-app toggles by clicking the small Cotypist icon that appears next to any text field.

Cotypist works in most Mac apps without any setup, but a few places benefit from a small nudge:

• Google Docs, Arc, and Dia need a one-time setup step each — see the compatibility list.
• Code editors (VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf) are disabled by default. Enable them in settings to get completions in the sidebar AI chat panels, which is where natural-language prompts live.
• Terminals (Terminal.app, iTerm) activate automatically when Cotypist detects you are typing in an AI agent’s prompt, such as Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor Agent. For regular commands, use the force-activate completions shortcut to temporarily turn suggestions on.

Suggestions should help, not interrupt. A few quick controls cover most situations:

• Esc dismisses the current suggestion and suppresses further completions in the current field — useful when you want to finish a thought without Cotypist chiming in.
• Option+Tab sends a regular Tab through, even when a suggestion is showing. Handy for jumping to the next form field.
• A temporary per-app toggle (Ctrl+Option+Cmd+` by default) turns completions off for a few minutes in the current app without changing any settings — good for short focus bursts or screen shares.
• A global toggle shortcut (unassigned by default) turns Cotypist off everywhere until you press it again. Useful for calls, presentations, or deliberate deep work.

If Tab conflicts with how a specific app or website uses the key, there are several calm ways to handle it — see Shortcuts.

Cotypist extends what you write; it does not modify it. It fills in the predictable middle of a sentence — not the creative leap. Keeping that in mind makes it more useful:

• It shines on thoughtful writing — email, documents, notes, replies with some substance. It is less useful for terse chat messages where there is little context to predict from.
• Expect the first word or two of a suggestion to be what you wanted, and for longer completions to deviate after that. This is why single-word Tab is the default rhythm.
• It does not correct spelling or grammar. If you make a typo and Cotypist builds on it, pause and correct the typo before accepting more of the suggestion.

Cotypist tracks how many words it has completed for you, broken down per active day. It’s a useful sanity check a week or two in — both to see how much typing you are skipping, and to spot apps where you are not getting as much value as you could.

If you only remember three things from this page, make it these:

• Press Tab once to take the next word, then keep typing. Partial acceptance is what preserves your voice.
• Keep typing when a suggestion is close but not quite right — it updates in real time, usually within a letter or two.
• Turn on personalization and write a short Custom Instruction. A little context up front pays off on every suggestion after.

The rest is fine-tuning. Give it a week of real use, check your statistics, and adjust from there.

Happy typing — and if you find a tip worth adding to this page, let us know.