The latest articles on DEV Community by Patrick J. Melo Ramos (@patrickmelorrlang). https://dev.to/patrickmelorrlang https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4240033%2F57e29a0e-d25f-495d-a043-eb8f0bd44331.jpg https://dev.to/patrickmelorrlang en Patrick J. Melo Ramos Thu, 12 Nov 2026 01:00:34 +0000 https://dev.to/patrickmelorrlang/i-built-a-free-tool-that-saves-windows-11-live-captions-so-i-can-study-from-my-lectures-npl https://dev.to/patrickmelorrlang/i-built-a-free-tool-that-saves-windows-11-live-captions-so-i-can-study-from-my-lectures-npl <h2> The problem </h2> <p>In class, knowledge fades. I wanted the text of what was actually explained, so I could study from it later — not just from my own notes.</p> <h2> What it does </h2> <p><strong>Patroclito_class</strong> is a small Python app that reads the text Live Captions already shows on screen and saves it, with timestamps, into a <code>.txt</code> file. It runs in the background, so other windows can be on top.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fqdkhpo8vssrrd6o6cxo5.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fqdkhpo8vssrrd6o6cxo5.png" alt="Patroclito_class screenshot" width="800" height="606"></a></p> <ul> <li>Stop manually, after N minutes, or at an exact time</li> <li>Numbers and symbols are preserved</li> <li>Very low CPU use (speech recognition is done by Windows itself)</li> </ul> <h2> My study workflow </h2> <ol> <li>Record the class</li> <li>Clean up the text — even good transcription can have grammar errors, foreign words rendered phonetically, or local expressions</li> <li>Save as <code>.md</code> </li> <li>Give it to an AI (tagged like HTML) so it has the context of hours of lecture</li> </ol> <h2> Privacy </h2> <p>Everything stays <strong>local</strong>. No server, no account, no telemetry. Whether to ask permission before recording a class is your own responsibility.</p> <h2> Try it </h2> <ul> <li>Repo (MIT): <a href="https://github.com/patrickmelorr-lang/Patroclito_class" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/patrickmelorr-lang/Patroclito_class</a> </li> <li>Ready-to-run <code>.exe</code>: <a href="https://github.com/patrickmelorr-lang/Patroclito_class/releases" rel="noopener noreferrer">Releases</a> </li> </ul> <p>It was proposed in my hackathon <em>Nuevas Fronteras 2026</em> (2nd place — <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DfCtF83iIei/" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced by the organizer</a>). I made it for students — feedback welcome. What would you add?</p> ai python opensource education