I’ve been working on a little Mac app called DraftKey, and I’m finally at the point where I want to share it with more people.
I built it because I kept running into the same annoying problem.
I’d be writing an email, message, document, or whatever else, and I’d either make a bunch of typos or get stuck trying to make a sentence sound right.
Then I’d open an AI chat, copy everything over, type something like “make this sound better,” copy the result, go back to what I was doing, paste it, fix a couple things, and continue.
It works, but it completely pulls you out of writing.
I wanted something that just helped while I was already typing.
So I made DraftKey.
What DraftKey actually does
DraftKey is a private AI writing assistant for Mac.
The basic idea is pretty simple.
You write normally, and DraftKey can clean up spelling and grammar when you pause.
If you’re halfway through a thought, it can suggest the next few words.
If a sentence sounds weird, you can select it and make it friendlier, shorter, clearer, more professional, or just tell DraftKey what you want changed.
Then you keep writing.
You don’t have to move everything into another editor or have a conversation with a chatbot every time you want help with one sentence.
That was really the whole reason I wanted to build it.
The AI runs on your Mac
This was probably the biggest thing for me.
A lot of what we type every day is stuff I don’t really want to send somewhere just to fix a typo.
Emails, work messages, random ideas, unfinished drafts, personal notes, things that make absolutely no sense without context.
So DraftKey’s writing model runs locally on your Mac.
Your text isn’t sent to a cloud AI service to generate corrections, autocomplete suggestions, or rewrites.
There are still a few things that need an internet connection, like downloading the model, activating your license, and checking for updates, but the actual writing AI runs on the device.
I really like knowing that I can use AI on something I’m writing without having to upload the writing itself.
I also gave it autocomplete
Autocomplete ended up being one of my favorite parts.
DraftKey can suggest what comes next while you’re typing.
If the suggestion is useful, hit Tab.
If it isn’t, just keep typing and ignore it.
I specifically didn’t want it to feel like AI was constantly trying to take over what I was writing.
It’s more like having a few words ready when you need them.
Sometimes it saves you two seconds.
Sometimes it somehow guesses exactly what you were about to say.
Either way, it’s become one of those things that feels weird when I turn it off.
Rewriting is there when you actually need it
There are also times when the sentence is technically fine, but you know it sounds bad.
Maybe an email sounds colder than you intended.
Maybe you used 40 words to say something that should have taken 15.
Maybe you need to turn a casual message into something you can send at work.
In DraftKey, you can use the text you already have and ask it to change the tone, length, or wording.
You can do things like:
Make this friendlier
Make this shorter
Make this clearer
Make this more professional
Fix the grammar
Or just type what you want it to change
You get to review the new version before anything gets inserted.
I wanted AI to help edit my writing, not quietly replace it.
And then I got carried away with keyboard sounds
This part has basically nothing to do with AI.
I added mechanical keyboard sounds.
There are six different recorded keyboard sound profiles, and you can change the volume, tone, and stereo positioning.
So keys on the left side of the keyboard can actually sound slightly more to the left in your headphones.
Did DraftKey need this feature?
No.
Do I now hate typing without it?
A little bit.
You can actually try the keyboard sounds on the website without downloading anything.
I wanted DraftKey to feel like a Mac app
Another thing I cared about was keeping the app simple.
I didn’t want another giant AI dashboard with 70 buttons, prompt libraries, agents, workspaces, projects, and a sidebar asking me to create a new chat.
DraftKey is supposed to sit quietly in the background and help when you need it.
That’s it.
Write.
Fix something.
Finish a thought.
Keep going.
Who I built it for
Honestly, I originally built it around the way I use my Mac.
But I think it makes sense for anyone who writes a lot during the day.
Developers writing documentation.
Founders sending an unreasonable number of emails.
Students.
Writers.
People working remotely.
Anyone who communicates through Slack, Discord, email, docs, or text all day.
And especially people who like using AI but would rather keep their actual writing on their own computer.
A couple technical details
DraftKey currently works on Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 14 or newer.
The AI features need at least 8 GB of memory.
The writing model is around 1.12 GB and gets downloaded during setup.
DraftKey works with compatible macOS text fields using Accessibility, so there are some editors where support depends on how that app handles its text fields. Secure fields are excluded.
There’s also a lifetime license for up to three Macs instead of another monthly AI subscription.
Anyway, that’s DraftKey
I’ve spent a lot of time building and tweaking this thing, and now I mostly want real people to use it and tell me what sucks.
If you’re on a Mac and any of this sounds useful, give it a try:
I’d especially love feedback on the autocomplete and automatic corrections, since those are the parts you really have to live with for a bit to know whether they feel right.
And if there’s something you wish it did, tell me.
There’s a pretty good chance I’ve either thought about building it already or I’m about to.
Top comments (1)
Context switching is genuinely the biggest friction point in daily writing workflows. Having the tool live directly where you write without breaking your mental flow makes a huge difference. Congrats on the launch!