Desktop Controls & Shortcuts
Desktop Controls & Shortcuts
Project AIRI is engineered as a lightweight desktop companion that sits harmoniously alongside your work, coding, and gaming windows. This guide explains how to control AIRI's floating windows, manage stage overlays, and use keyboard shortcuts.
1. The Floating Control Strip
The Control Strip is a compact, floating dock that gives you quick access to all essential companion controls without opening the full settings menu.
Control Strip Buttons
- Microphone (STT): Toggle open-mic listening or push-to-talk state.
- Stop: Instantly halts any ongoing speech or text generation.
- Chat: Opens or focuses the 3-column Desktop Chatbox window.
- Captions / Subtitles: Toggles the floating subtitle overlay on/off.
- Customizer: Opens the floating live customization drawer for quick expression and lighting tweaks.
- Settings: Opens the comprehensive application configuration hub.
TIP
Customizing the Dock: You can reorder buttons, pin favorite tools, or switch between compact and expanded layouts in Settings → Appearance → Control Strip.
2. Window Modes & Positioning
AIRI's desktop interface consists of several modular windows that can be repositioned and pinned anywhere on your monitors:
Stage Window (Avatar Display)
- Dragging: Click and drag the model stage to place your avatar anywhere on your screen (e.g., bottom-right corner or perched on your taskbar).
- Always on Top: By default, the Stage window floats above other applications so your companion remains visible. You can toggle this off in Appearance settings.
- Mouse Transparency (Click-Through): Enable click-through mode so clicks pass through the avatar to the desktop or game underneath. Hold
Ctrl+Shiftto temporarily interact with the stage while click-through is enabled.
Floating Caption Overlay
- Subtitles on Demand: Displays live transcribed user speech and character TTS responses in real time.
- Docking & Resizing: Drag the caption plank below your avatar, or detach it to position anywhere on screen.
- Theme & Opacity: Adjust subtitle background transparency, font size, and text contrast in Settings → Appearance → Captions.
3. Global Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action | Scope |
|---|---|---|
Ctrl + Shift + A | Focus / Toggle Chatbox | Global |
Ctrl + Space (Default PTT) | Hold to Speak (Push-to-Talk) | Global |
Ctrl + Shift + S | Emergency Stop Speech / Generation | Global |
Ctrl + Shift + C | Toggle Floating Captions | Global |
Ctrl + Shift + M | Toggle Mute / Deafened Mode | Global |
(You can customize all hotkeys in Settings → General → Shortcuts.)
4. Multi-Monitor Setup
If you use multiple monitors:
- You can drag the Stage window and Control Strip across different displays.
- AIRI remembers window positions across restarts and restores each window to its designated screen.