Documentation

Requirements & startup

Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Internet for AI features; the app runs offline for the character and local chat.
Start with the free installer from the download page, or with npm run dev in the repository (Vite + Electron).
First run opens a fresh, empty chat — no demo conversations are seeded.

The main window

Sidebar — Chat, New chat, Recent history (sorted newest-first), the DOT Mini row that shows/hides Amethyst, and the profile slot with sign-in and Settings.
Composer — Enter sends, Shift+Enter adds a newline; the send button is purple only when there is text; Stop replaces it while generating. It auto-resizes.
Dictation — the mic puts a transcript in the composer for you to edit; it never sends by itself. 60-second cap.
Attachments — up to 8 files per message (4 images): images ≤ 20 MB, documents ≤ 15 MB, extracted text capped at 6,000 characters per file. Parsing happens on your device; extracted text and picked images are sent with your prompt.
Read aloud — the speaker icon on any reply reads it out, one message at a time.
History — conversations live in a local SQLite database; startup loads titles only and opens threads page by page (50 messages, “Load earlier messages” for more). Rename with the pencil; delete is immediate and durable.
Settings — inside the profile menu: theme (Light / System / Dark) and the teaching mode toggle.

Amethyst modes

Pill (default) — hover the character: Look at my screen · Text chat · Voice chat. The pill collapses when the cursor leaves both the character and the pill.
Screen — an input docks under Amethyst; Send captures and answers; back returns to the pill. Session conversations are kept.
Text — compact input, streamed replies, Enter to send. The thread appears only after the first send.
Voice — hold to talk, ✕ to discard, ■ to cancel processing or playback.
Teach — lessons open in a non-focusable panel so the app you are learning keeps focus.

Each time Amethyst becomes visible, a session starts; the first send creates exactly one conversation for that session. Hiding Amethyst ends the session. The main window’s open thread is never hijacked.

Teaching mode

Ask a screen question that teaches (“walk me through…”, “how do I…”) and the answer becomes ordered steps after it finishes streaming.
Text-only (default) — the whole lesson at once, with one union highlight of every grounded step.
Guided — one step at a time: caption, spoken narration, highlight; Pause / Replay / Next / Stop controls.
Leaving mid-lesson asks “Leave this lesson?” — hiding Amethyst and closing the main window both go through that confirmation.

Keyboard & shortcuts

Ctrl+Shift+Space: Show / hide Amethyst (system-wide)
Enter: Send message
Shift+Enter: New line

Where your data lives

Conversations: dot404-chats.db (+ WAL files) in the OS app-data directory.
Preferences (theme, sidebar, Amethyst position/visibility): local storage on this device.
Screenshots, mic audio, overlay geometry: never persisted anywhere.

Needs confirmation (draft)

Auto-start on login, tray behavior, uninstall steps and packaged-app data locations — not documented yet.
Whether the account can be deleted from inside the app (today: manage via the account surface opened from the profile menu).