Setting up Typeahead for the first time

Typeahead guides you through setup in four steps on first launch. Here is what each one does.

Enter your license key

A small activation window appears when you open Typeahead for the first time. Paste the license key from your purchase email. Keys look like this: TA-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. Click Activate.

Typeahead verifies your key with our server once, then works offline indefinitely. The key is saved in macOS Keychain, so reinstalling the app will not ask for it again.

Grant accessibility access

Typeahead needs one system permission: Accessibility. This lets it read the text field you are typing in and insert suggestions inline.

The onboarding will prompt you to open System Settings. From there:

1. Click Privacy & Security in the sidebar.
2. Scroll down and click Accessibility.
3. Find Typeahead in the list and toggle it on. You may need your Mac password.
4. Switch back to Typeahead. It detects the permission automatically and continues.

Choose and download a model

Typeahead generates suggestions using a local AI model on your Mac. You choose which one to download:

• Gemma 3 4B (2.5 GB, recommended) — best balance of speed and suggestion quality
• Qwen 3 4B (2.5 GB) — alternative style, similar performance
• Qwen 3 1.7B (1.7 GB) — lighter option for Macs with less memory

Pick one and wait for the download to complete. Most connections take one to two minutes.

Set your shortcuts

The last onboarding step shows your keyboard shortcuts. The defaults are:

• Tab — accept the full suggestion
• Right Arrow — accept one word at a time
• Esc — dismiss the suggestion

You can change any of these here or later in Settings.

Start typing

That is all. Open any app and start typing. Ghost text appears after a brief pause. Press Tab to accept it or keep typing to ignore it.

If suggestions do not appear right away, give the model a moment to load. It only happens once per session.