Stop opening a second app to rewrite one sentence on Mac

Most AI writing tools still make you do the same annoying loop:

1. Select text in the app where you are writing
2. Copy it
3. Open a chat tab or separate writing app
4. Explain what you want
5. Copy the result back
6. Fix the formatting that got weird
7. Try to remember where you were

That is fine for a full essay.

It is terrible for the small edits that happen 50 times a day.

• make this sentence clearer
• soften this reply
• turn this rough note into a real paragraph
• shorten this comment
• make this sound less robotic
• autocomplete the next few words without leaving the field

The problem is not that the AI is bad. The problem is the context switch.

The best writing UI is usually the text field you are already in

For most day-to-day writing, I do not want another editor.

I want help inside the app I already chose.

If I am writing an email, the email composer is the right place. If I am writing in Notes, Notes is the right place. If I am writing a support reply, the support tool is the right place.

A separate AI editor can be powerful, but it turns every small edit into a task.

That friction changes behavior. Instead of improving ten small things, you only use AI for the big obvious ones.

Local AI makes this feel different

Cloud AI is useful, but there are plenty of situations where I do not want to ship my half-written text to another service just to clean up a sentence.

Local models are not perfect, but for small writing operations they are getting good enough:

• rewrite selected text
• finish the current sentence
• shorten a paragraph
• change tone
• turn fragments into a clean draft

The real unlock is not just privacy. It is speed and comfort.

When the model runs locally and the command is available from the keyboard, the interaction starts to feel more like a writing feature than a separate product.

The Mac has one annoying constraint

There is a catch: macOS does not give every app the same clean text access.

Tools that work inside existing text fields usually rely on Accessibility APIs. That means they work best in normal native text fields and may be limited in custom editors, secure fields, terminals, code editors, or apps that render their own text surface.

That limitation is worth being honest about.

But even with that constraint, there is a big category of writing where in-place AI help is simply a better workflow than copy/paste/chat/copy/paste.

What I want from this kind of tool

My ideal version is simple:

• select text, hit a shortcut, rewrite it
• type a command like “make this shorter” without opening a new app
• keep private drafts on-device where possible
• avoid subscriptions for basic writing help
• stay out of the way until needed

That is the direction I think Mac writing tools should go.

Not another inbox. Not another dashboard. Not another blank document.

Just better words, in the field where the words already live.

I have been building DraftKey around that idea: private AI writing help for Mac that works in compatible text fields, with local autocomplete/rewrite and a little mechanical keyboard feel built in.

If that sounds useful, the site is here: https://www.getdraftkey.com/

Curious how other Mac users think about this. Do you prefer a dedicated AI writing app, or commands inside the text field you already use?