How to use Murmur

When you dictate a request in AI coding and AI chat tools, the cleaned-up text goes in first. If Murmur can tell what kind of request it is, up to three steps are added after it.

The plain cleanup always lands. Up to three steps are added after a blank line only when all of these hold:

• The sentence is at least 40 characters long.
• It reads as one single kind of request (nothing is added when it reads as two or more, or as none).
• You have not already said how to approach it, for example “don’t change anything yet”, “just explain” or “fix it while you’re there”.

Otherwise only the cleanup lands. Sentences under 15 characters or words skip the skill. Nothing is added when cleanup fails or when translating.

Seven coding skills: Fix a bug, Build a feature, Change or refactor code, Explain code, Review code, Plan the work, Write tests.

Five chat skills: Research, Write, Decide, Summarize, Reply.

AI coding tools get the seven coding skills. AI chat tools can use all twelve. Other apps recognised as an AI assistant get the five chat skills. Prompt skills do not run in terminals.

The skills page shows what the skills do and lists all twelve by name. You can also paste a sentence there to try it.

In those apps and web pages, press the dictation key as usual and say the request. Web pages need “Cleanup by scene” on. The result lands at your cursor. There is no extra key.

Off by default. Turn it on in Settings → Cleanup → Prompt skills. A confirmation page comes first. Each of the twelve skills has its own switch on the same card. While it is off, the recording bar tells you once where to turn it on, the first time you say a long enough sentence in one of these apps.

The cleanup tone follows the app and field you dictate into. Email reads like email, chat stays casual, and the terminal and code editors keep their terms.

Dictate as usual, with no extra key. The card shows which scene the front app is recognised as, and you can set a scene for one app.

When cleanup is set to leave text alone, this does nothing.

On by default. Settings → Cleanup → Cleanup by scene.

A Pinyin input method for the Mac that comes with Murmur. It shares one vocabulary with dictation. Requires macOS 26 or later.

Settings → Input Method → the Input method card. Update and Uninstall are on the same card. Uninstall keeps your words, dictionary and settings.

The basic keys of Murmur Pinyin.

It works as soon as you switch to Murmur. There is no switch for it. Delete to undo does not work in Chromium-based apps.

Double pinyin: two keys per character, one for the initial and one for the final. Fuzzy pinyin: a pair of sounds you mix up, such as z and zh, works both ways.

Pick a double pinyin layout and type as usual. The candidate bar still shows full pinyin. After switching, the input method takes a few seconds to get ready.

With z ⇄ zh on, typing zongguo also gives 中国. Every extra pair makes whole sentences slightly less accurate, so tick only the ones you really mix up.

Settings → Input Method → Pinyin style and fuzzy pinyin. Full Pinyin is the default; Flypy and Ziranma double pinyin are the other two. Fuzzy pinyin has nine pairs, all off by default.

Punctuation rules in the input method, plus URL and email pass-through.

Settings → Input Method → Smart input. Each rule has its own switch. Off by default: pairing brackets and quotes, a space between Chinese and English, and the emoji panel. The rest are on.

The size, accent colour and direction of the candidate window.

Three sizes: Small, Standard, Large. Five accent colours: Coral, Blue, Green, Purple, Graphite.

Horizontal or vertical. In the vertical layout each candidate gets its own line, and long ones wrap instead of being cut off. Light and dark follow the system appearance.

Settings → Input Method → Candidate window look. Standard, Coral and horizontal are the defaults. The card has a preview, and changes apply right away with no restart.

For long input, the cloud suggests one whole-sentence candidate. It is a preview for now.

There is a fixed cloud slot at the end of the candidate bar. A request is sent only when you click it or press ⌥↩.

The result fills the same slot. Click it or press ⌥↩ again to commit. It takes no number key and never commits by itself. It does not work in password fields or in apps on the deny list.

Off by default. Sign-in required. Turn it on in Settings → Input Method → Cloud candidates (preview). A confirmation page comes first. "Request automatically when I pause" is also off by default.

The input method and dictation each keep their own list. The two lists are separate and never mix.

When typing. Write your own “code → phrase”, e.g. dz → your address. Type the code in Murmur Pinyin and the phrase is the first candidate.

When speaking. In dictation, say the trigger phrase on its own and the whole template goes in. If you say even one extra word, it does not count as a match.

Input method: Settings → Input Method → Dictionary · Words I've typed (learned by the input method) → Manage shortcut phrases.

Dictation: the Dictionary page in the main window sidebar, Snippets card.

Words the input method learns. They are stored on this Mac. On by default. Nothing typed in a password field is recorded.

When you dictate, these words go with the recognition request as hints, same as the dictionary. If you choose offline recognition, they stay on your Mac.

When you press ⌥⇧Space for the AI cleanup card, the words the sentence touches go with that request, at most 500. This happens with offline recognition too.

Words do not sync between devices in this version.

Settings → Input Method → Dictionary · Words I've typed (learned by the input method). Switch off "Learn the words I type" to stop learning. Switch off "Let AI use my own words" and the AI cleanup card sends none.

To clear them: Settings → System → Clear data.