Reference · Flit 1.0

Every spoken command, in one place.

67 punctuation, symbol, pair and structure commands, plus 115 spoken emoji names. Every one is resolved by a fixed rule rather than by a model, so the same phrase produces the same character every time, on every Mac, forever.

Where they apply

Spoken commands are always on in verbatim apps, meaning terminals and code editors, where a helpful autocorrect would break the thing you dictated. Everywhere else they are opt-in, so ordinary prose never turns a spoken word into a symbol by accident. Commands are English only: dictation itself runs in 99 languages, but a half-understood command is worse than none.

Punctuation

Say the name of a punctuation mark and you get the mark, attached to the previous word with no space before it, the way you would type it.

Say	You get	Spacing
period / full stop	.	Glues to the word before it
comma	,	Glues to the word before it
question mark	?	Glues to the word before it
exclamation point / exclamation mark	!	Glues to the word before it
colon	:	Glues to the word before it
semicolon	;	Glues to the word before it
ellipsis / dot dot dot	…	Glues to the word before it
percent / percent sign	%	Glues to the word before it
dash Binds rightward on purpose, so "dash dash force" becomes --force and command flags survive dictation.	-	Glues to the word after it
hyphen Joins both sides: "well hyphen known" becomes well-known.	-	Glues to both sides
em dash	—	Spaced like a word
underscore	_	Glues to both sides
apostrophe	'	Glues to both sides

Symbols

Symbol names become symbols with the spacing each one actually needs, which is how a dictated email address or file path comes out usable rather than spread across three words.

Say	You get	Spacing
at sign "name at sign gmail dot com" becomes name@gmail.com.	@	Glues to both sides
dot	.	Glues to both sides
slash / forward slash	/	Glues to both sides
backslash	\	Glues to both sides
dollar sign	$	Glues to the word after it
euro sign	€	Glues to the word after it
pound sign	£	Glues to the word after it
hash / hashtag / hash sign	#	Glues to the word after it
tilde "tilde slash projects" becomes ~/projects.	~	Glues to the word after it
ampersand	&	Spaced like a word
asterisk / star	*	Spaced like a word
plus sign	+	Spaced like a word
equals sign	=	Spaced like a word
greater than	>	Spaced like a word
less than	<	Spaced like a word
pipe	\|	Spaced like a word
caret	^	Spaced like a word

Pairs and quotes

Opening delimiters bind to what follows and closing ones to what precedes, so a dictated parenthetical or quotation needs no cleanup.

Say	You get	Spacing
open paren / open parenthesis Speech engines reliably hear "paren" as "parent", so "open parent" is accepted too.	(	Glues to the word after it
close paren / close parenthesis	)	Glues to the word before it
open bracket	[	Glues to the word after it
close bracket	]	Glues to the word before it
open brace	{	Glues to the word after it
close brace	}	Glues to the word before it
open angle bracket	<	Glues to the word after it
close angle bracket	>	Glues to the word before it
quote / open quote	"	Glues to the word after it
unquote / close quote / end quote	"	Glues to the word before it
open single quote	'	Glues to the word after it
close single quote	'	Glues to the word before it

Structure and case

Commands that shape the text rather than insert a character: line breaks, tabs, and casing spans that run until you end them.

Say	You get	Spacing
new line / newline	A line break
new paragraph	A blank line, then a new paragraph
tab key	A tab character
no space For the one place a rule would guess wrong.	Joins the words on either side
all caps on … all caps off	AN UPPERCASE SPAN
camel case …	joinsTheRestLikeThis
snake case … "snake case user auth service" becomes user_auth_service.	joins_the_rest_like_this

Saying the word instead

Prefix any command with "literally" and Flit writes the words rather than obeying them, so you can dictate about punctuation without fighting the tool.

Say	You get	Spacing
literally comma	the word "comma"
literally new paragraph	the words "new paragraph"
literally fire emoji	the words "fire emoji", not 🔥

Correcting yourself

You do not need a command. Say the correction the way you would to a person and Flit keeps the second value: "the demo on Monday no wait Tuesday" keeps Tuesday.

Phrases it listens for

no wait · i mean · i meant · sorry · make that · make it · or rather · correction

What it will replace

Clock times: "meet at 9:30 I mean 10:30" keeps 10:30
Amounts and percentages: "the budget is $300, no wait, $400" keeps $400
Plain numbers and ordinals
Weekdays: "the demo on Monday no wait Tuesday" keeps Tuesday
Months

The rule is deliberately narrow. A correction fires only when both sides are the same kind of thing, which is the case where the replacement is certain rather than guessed. Anything looser is left to the formatting model, which is where ambiguity belongs.

Spoken emoji

Say the name, then the word "emoji". The trigger word is required, so ordinary speech can never emojify by accident, and an unknown name is left exactly as you said it. All 115 names:

Faces & feelings

thinking thinking face smiley smiley face happy face smiling face laughing joy laughing face sweat smile grinning wink winking face sad face crying crying face sob loudly crying angry face neutral face worried face surprised face shocked face screaming heart eyes mind blown exploding head rolling eyes eye roll facepalm shrug salute skull ghost poop clown sunglasses cool face melting face upside down face

Hands & people

thumbs up thumbs down raised hand raised hands clap clapping praying folded hands pray ok hand wave waving hand handshake muscle flex crossed fingers victory peace pinched fingers pointing up pointing right eyes brain

Symbols & objects

heart red heart broken heart fire rocket sparkles star party party popper tada confetti check mark check cross mark warning red flag hundred one hundred light bulb bulb bell lock key magnifying glass pencil books laptop phone email envelope bug bird dog cat trophy medal target dart hourglass clock calendar chart increasing chart decreasing money money bag sun moon rainbow coffee pizza cake gift

Questions

Fair questions.

What voice commands does Flit support?

About 67 spoken punctuation, symbol, pair, and structure commands, plus 115 spoken emoji names. Every one is resolved by a fixed rule rather than by a language model, so the same phrase always produces the same character. The complete list is on this page.

How do I dictate punctuation on a Mac?

Say the name of the mark while you speak: "period", "comma", "question mark", "open paren". In Flit these are always on in terminals and code editors and opt-in elsewhere, and each mark attaches to the correct side, so "comma" joins the previous word with no space before it.

How do I say a symbol without Flit typing it?

Put the word "literally" in front of it. "Literally comma" writes the word comma, "literally fire emoji" writes the words rather than the emoji. It works for every command on this page.

Can I dictate an email address or a file path?

Yes, and the spacing is the reason it works. "name at sign gmail dot com" becomes name@gmail.com because "at sign" and "dot" bind to both sides, and "tilde slash projects" becomes ~/projects. A tool that inserts symbols without spacing rules gives you "name @ gmail . com".

How do I correct myself mid-sentence while dictating?

Just say it: "the demo on Monday no wait Tuesday" keeps Tuesday. Flit acts on a correction only when both sides are the same kind of value (two weekdays, two amounts, two clock times), because that is the case where the replacement is certain rather than guessed.

Do the commands work in other languages?

The spoken commands are English only. Dictation itself works in 99 languages, but a half-understood command is worse than none, so the command layer stays in the language its vocabulary was written for.

This reference is generated from the same rules the app ships, and is current for Flit 1.0.