Keyboard shortcuts — web + desktop reference

Every shortcut is the same key combination on web and desktop. macOS users: substitute ⌘ wherever you see Ctrl. Linux users: same as Windows.

Live session shortcuts

These work inside /interview (web) and the live overlay window (desktop). The desktop versions register as global shortcuts — they fire even when the AI overlay isn't focused (so you can fire AI while Zoom is focused).

Action	Shortcut	Notes
Answer current question	Ctrl+Enter	Fires the AI on the latest question in the transcript. Manual-mode trigger.
Capture & analyze screen	Ctrl+Shift+X	Screenshots active screen, sends to AI with last question for grounded answer (e.g., "what's wrong with this code?"). See Screen Analysis.
Copy latest AI answer	Ctrl+Shift+C	Plain-text copy to clipboard. Strips inline-advice pills + markdown.
Toggle microphone	Ctrl+M	Mutes/unmutes your mic capture. Doesn't affect interviewer audio.
Toggle interviewer audio	Ctrl+Shift+S	Pause/resume system-audio capture (the interviewer's voice channel).
Focus chat composer	Ctrl+/	Jumps cursor into the bottom message input.
End Session	Ctrl+Shift+E	Ends the session immediately — same as clicking End Session button.
Hide / show live window	Ctrl+H	(Desktop only) Toggles overlay visibility.
Hide / show window (global)	Ctrl+Shift+H	(Desktop only, global) Even works when another app has focus. Emergency hide.
Clear answers	Ctrl+Backspace	Wipes the AI answer stack. Transcript stays.
Clear transcript	Ctrl+Shift+Backspace	Wipes the live transcript. Answers stay.

Navigating AI answers

When the AI gives you multiple answers in a row, navigate the stack without scrolling:

Action	Shortcut
Previous AI answer	Ctrl+←
Next AI answer	Ctrl+→
Scroll AI answer up	Ctrl+↑
Scroll AI answer down	Ctrl+↓

The stack shows newest at top (changed 2026-05-18 — see release notes). Ctrl+← goes to the older answer below.

Desktop overlay controls

These are desktop-only since they don't apply in a browser tab:

Action	Shortcut	Notes
Move to next screen	Ctrl+Shift+→	Multi-monitor setups — moves the overlay to the next display.
Increase overlay opacity	Ctrl+Shift+↑	Brighter overlay. Useful in bright rooms.
Decrease overlay opacity	Ctrl+Shift+↓	Dimmer overlay. Useful for stealth + dark rooms.
Reset overlay (emergency)	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R	If overlay misbehaves — re-mounts the live window + resets click-through.
Force quit app (emergency)	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q	Triple-modifier kill — needed when stealth-mode hides tray + Task Manager isn't an option.

Home page shortcut (web only)

Action	Shortcut	Notes
Command palette	Cmd+K / Ctrl+K	(Web /home) Opens search palette → filters help articles.

Why so many shortcuts on desktop?

The desktop app runs as a transparent overlay. You'll often have an interview app (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams) focused — your mouse is on THAT window. Without global shortcuts, you'd have to alt-tab to the overlay first, click in, then trigger AI — interviewer notices. Global shortcuts let the overlay fire from wherever your cursor is.

Why Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q are weird

Triple-modifier shortcuts are intentionally hard to accidentally trigger while typing. Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R while answering a question is vanishingly unlikely — but it's there for the stealth + tray-hidden edge case where the app misbehaves and you can't reach it via Task Manager either.

What's NOT a shortcut

Things people often ask about that don't have a shortcut today:

• Switch tone mid-session — UI only (topbar Settings)
• Switch model mid-session — UI only (topbar Model dropdown)
• Toggle Auto-Answer — UI only (Auto/Manual pill in topbar)
• Toggle Coaching mode — UI only (topbar Settings → Coaching tips)
• Toggle Inline Advice — UI only (topbar Settings → Inline advice)

These are deliberately UI-only — they're settings that should be set BEFORE the session, not pivoted mid-session. (Tone is an exception — switching it mid-session is intentional UX.)

Customizing shortcuts

Not supported yet. The shortcut config is in apps/desktop/shortcuts.config.js as the single source of truth. If a shortcut conflicts with another app you use (Zoom uses Ctrl+M for mute too — see Gotchas), let us know via Help & Feedback.

Gotchas

• Ctrl+M collision with Zoom. Zoom uses Ctrl+M for mute. When the desktop overlay registers the global hotkey, our app eats it before Zoom — so Zoom's mute stops working while the overlay is running. Workaround: use Zoom's mic icon in its toolbar, or unregister our shortcut via Settings (planned).
• Ctrl+H on web hides browser history. On Firefox/Chrome inside /interview, Ctrl+H opens history. Use Ctrl+Shift+H for the live-window toggle on the web version (desktop only registers Ctrl+H because it's not a browser).
• macOS function-row mode. On MacBooks with the function-row stuck in "media keys" mode, Ctrl+↑/↓ might fire system volume instead. Toggle the Fn lock or hold Fn while pressing.

Where it lives in code

Single source of truth: apps/desktop/shortcuts.config.js. Web mirror: apps/web/lib/shortcuts.ts. Test that pins they stay in sync: apps/api/tests/test_shortcuts_unified_2026_05_07.py.

Still stuck?

Help & Feedback → Contact us with category "How do I…?" if you want a shortcut that doesn't exist — or if one conflicts with your interview app.

Video walkthrough

Coming soon.