Flick

System-wide AI text transformation at your fingertips.

Flick is a cross-platform desktop utility that brings AI text transformation directly to your cursor. Simply type a trigger command (for example !translate or !casual) followed by your text anywhere on your computer, and Flick instantly rewrites it in-place.

Visit the live website: rixabhh.github.io/flick

No context switching, no copy-pasting — just native text replacement powered by your selected provider and model.

📋 Table of Contents

• Website
• Features
• How It Works
• Available Commands
• Architecture
• Getting Started
• Installation Guide
• Security & Privacy
• License

Website

Explore the polished landing page, commands, privacy notes, and download links at:

https://rixabhh.github.io/flick/

✨ Features

• Global Integration: Works seamlessly across any application, text editor, or browser.
• In-place Execution: Replaces text natively at the cursor position without opening external windows.
• Provider Selection: Choose between Gemini and OpenRouter from the settings panel.
• Model Control: Select a Gemini model or enter an OpenRouter model manually.
• Customizable Pipelines: Define custom triggers (e.g., !summarize, !professional) tailored to your workflow.
• Hindi + Hinglish Aware: Built-in and custom prompts preserve Hindi, Hinglish, and code-mixed writing unless you explicitly translate.
• BYOK (Bring Your Own Key): Connect directly to your chosen provider using your personal API key.
• Secure Key Storage: API keys are stored in your OS keychain/credential manager.
• Lightweight Footprint: Built on Tauri v2 and Rust for minimal memory usage and lightning-fast execution.

🚀 How It Works

Flick runs silently in your system tray, monitoring keyboard input via an efficient, low-level OS hook.

1. Type a trigger: Start typing anywhere, prefixing your text with a command (e.g., !casual).
2. Detection: Flick captures the buffer and detects the trigger once you stop typing.
3. Processing: The text is routed through your OS clipboard, sent to the selected AI provider, and instantly pasted back to your active cursor position.

⚡ Available Commands

Flick comes with 9 powerful built-in commands designed to handle the most common writing tasks.

Built-in Triggers

Command	What it does for you	Example Input
!fix	Cleans up grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.	"this rly needs fixing!fix"
!formal	Elevates your text into a professional, business-ready tone.	"hey im gonna be late to the meeting!formal"
!casual	Softens your text to sound more friendly and relaxed.	"Please advise on the status of the project.!casual"
!shorter	Condenses long-winded paragraphs into concise summaries.	"(A very long paragraph)!shorter"
!longer	Expands brief notes or bullet points with rich detail and context.	"Product launch next week!longer"
!rephrase	Rewrites your sentence completely while keeping the exact same meaning.	"It's hard to understand this.!rephrase"
!bullet	Structures messy notes into a clean, readable bullet point list.	"milk eggs bread and some juice!bullet"
!explain	Breaks down complex text into simple, easy-to-understand language.	"(Dense academic text)!explain"
!translate:<lang>	Instantly translates your text to the specified language.	"Hello, how are you today?!translate:spanish"

Build Your Own (Custom Triggers)

Need something specific to your workflow? You can easily create custom triggers in the Settings panel:

• Define a trigger (e.g., !code, !tweet, !docs)
• Write a system prompt describing what the command should do (e.g., "Turn this into a concise product update"). Existing {{text}} templates are still supported.

🏗️ Architecture

Flick follows a strict separation of concerns, utilizing Tauri's split-process architecture:

• Core Engine (Rust): Handles the global event hook (rdev), input buffering, trigger detection, OS keychain integration, and the clipboard manipulation pipeline.
• Frontend (Svelte + Vite): A responsive, fluid settings dashboard and floating toast indicators built with modern web technologies.

🛠️ Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20 or higher)
• Rust toolchain (v1.75 or higher)
• Tauri v2 OS dependencies

Build & Run

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/rixabhh/flick.git
   cd flick

2. Install frontend dependencies

   npm install

3. Run in development mode

   npm run tauri dev

4. Build release binaries

   npm run tauri build

� Installation Guide

Windows

1. Download the latest .msi or .exe installer from the Releases page.
2. Run the installer and follow the prompts.
3. If Windows shows a SmartScreen warning, click More info and then Run anyway.
4. After install, launch Flick from the Start menu or system tray.
5. Open Settings and add your API key.

macOS

1. Download the latest .dmg file from the Releases page.
2. Open the .dmg and drag Flick into the Applications folder.
3. If macOS blocks the app because it is from an unidentified developer, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and allow it.
4. You may also need to right-click the app once and select Open the first time.
5. Launch Flick and grant any required accessibility or keyboard permissions if prompted.
6. Open Settings and add your API key.

macOS can be a bit stricter about permissions, so the first launch is often the only tricky step.

Linux

1. Download the appropriate package for your distro:
   • .deb for Debian/Ubuntu-based systems
   • .AppImage for most other distributions
2. For .deb packages, install it with:

   sudo apt install ./flick_*.deb

3. For .AppImage, make it executable and run it:

   chmod +x Flick.AppImage
   ./Flick.AppImage

4. If your desktop environment blocks the app, allow it to run from the file manager or terminal.
5. Launch Flick and add your API key in Settings.

�🔒 Security & Privacy

We take privacy seriously. Flick is designed to be as secure as possible:

• Local Memory Buffer: Keystrokes are temporarily held in an ephemeral memory buffer that is strictly bounded in size. The buffer is immediately cleared upon mouse clicks, Enter, or navigation keys.
• Secure Key Storage: API keys are stored using your operating system's native secure credential manager (Windows Credential Manager, macOS Keychain, or Linux Secret Service).
• Direct API Communication: Flick communicates directly with your chosen provider (Gemini or OpenRouter) and does not route requests through any extra server.
• No Telemetry: The app does not collect analytics or usage telemetry by default.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.