Source: AI Tools · ai_tools.md · updated 2026-05-19 · 🔒 secret gist

Synced verbatim from gist.github.com/bl9.

AI Productivity Tips & Tools

A curated list of creative tools, workflows, and ideas to supercharge how you use AI.

Input & Capture

Whisper-based dictation (Superwhisper, MacWhisper, Wispr Flow) — way better than macOS native, works system-wide via hotkey
Text expanders (Espanso, Raycast, Alfred, aText) — save long prompts as snippets like ;review or ;email
Karabiner-Elements — remap a key (like Caps Lock) to instantly trigger your AI tool
Clipboard managers (Raycast, Paste, Maccy) — paste previous prompts/outputs without losing them
Voice memos → AI — record rambling thoughts on a walk, transcribe, ask AI to organize
Screenshot → AI — drag any screenshot in to ask about errors, charts, UIs, handwriting
Apple Watch dictation → notes app → AI later — capture ideas anywhere
Hotkey to send selected text to AI — most launcher apps support this

Raycast AI — invoke AI from anywhere on Mac with a hotkey, no app-switching
Keyboard Maestro / Hammerspoon — automate any repetitive Mac task and chain AI calls into them
Shortcuts app — build "share sheet" actions that send selected text to AI for summarizing, translating, rewriting
AI browser extensions — summarize any page, ask questions about it
Reader-mode → AI pipeline — clean article, then summarize
Multi-monitor workflow — keep AI chat always open on a side screen
Split-screen editing — draft in one window, AI critiques in another

NotebookLM — dump 20 PDFs in, ask questions with citations, no hallucinations beyond sources
Perplexity — for research that needs current info with citations
YouTube transcripts → AI — get the gist without watching
Podcast summaries — Snipd, Airchat, or transcript → AI
Reading mode — paste a dense article, ask for ELI5 or for the 3 key takeaways
Learning loops — ask AI to quiz you on a topic after explaining it
Flashcard generation — feed notes, get Anki-ready cards
Spaced repetition prompts — schedule AI to quiz you on past learnings
Book / movie summaries — decide if it's worth your time
Reading list curator — describe interests, get recommendations with reasoning

Claude Code / Cursor / Windsurf — AI in your terminal/editor instead of copy-pasting
Code explainer — paste any unfamiliar code, get a walkthrough
Codebase Q&A — tools like Cursor or Claude Code can answer "where is X defined?"
Documentation writer — point AI at code, get docs
Test generator — paste a function, get unit tests
Boilerplate killer — describe what you need, skip the scaffolding
AI for regex / shell commands / SQL — describe what you want in plain English
Error message decoder — paste any stack trace, get plain-English explanation
Git commit messages — paste diff, get a clean commit message
PR descriptions — same idea, from diff to description
API exploration — paste docs, ask "how do I do X?"
JSON / YAML / config translators — paste one format, get another
Bulk file renaming / sorting — describe the pattern, get a script

Personal context doc — keep an "about me" file (role, projects, style) to paste at start of chats
Project-specific context docs — one per ongoing project, paste when relevant
Prompt library — Notion/Obsidian page with your best prompts, organized by use case
Custom GPTs / Projects / Claude Projects — pre-loaded contexts for recurring tasks
Memory / persistent context features — let AI remember preferences across chats

AI as a rubber duck — explain your stuck problem out loud, AI responds, often unblocks you
"What am I missing?" prompts — ask AI what an expert would push back on
Pre-mortems — describe a plan, ask AI what could go wrong before you commit
Draft → critique → revise loop — iterate instead of trying to one-shot
Two-AI workflow — use one AI to critique another's output
AI as second opinion — before any important send, paste it and ask "anything I'm missing?"
Decision frameworks — describe a choice, ask AI to lay out pros/cons or apply a framework

Tone shifter — paste blunt draft, ask for "diplomatic version" or "casual version"
Length compressor — "make this 50% shorter without losing key points"
Length expander — "turn these bullets into a full paragraph in my voice"
Refactoring prose — paste anything you wrote, ask for tightening
Translation in real-time — paste any foreign text, get instant context
AI for naming things — files, variables, projects, products — endless options instantly
AI for emoji / formatting — never hunt for the right emoji again
Markdown → anywhere — write in markdown, AI converts to whatever format you need

Email triage — paste inbox subjects, ask AI to rank by urgency or draft replies
Cold email drafting — paste recipient's bio, get personalized opener
Slack / email tone-check — paste before sending, catch misreads
Out-of-office / auto-reply drafting — context-specific responses
Saying no gracefully — paste request, get polite decline
Difficult conversation rehearsal — role-play with AI before the real talk
Feedback drafting — turn harsh thoughts into constructive feedback
Negotiation prep — describe situation, ask for likely counterarguments

Morning planning — dump your todo list, ask AI to prioritize and time-block it
End-of-day brain dump — dictate everything you did, ask AI to format it as a status update
Calendar prep — paste your day's meetings, ask for prep notes and questions to ask
Calendar invite descriptions — turn vague meeting into a clear agenda
AI for meeting notes — Granola, Otter, Fireflies record and summarize automatically
Onboarding docs — generate from your codebase or process notes

Image generation for placeholders, mockups, slide visuals (Midjourney, DALL-E, Ideogram)
Image editing via prompt — Photoshop's generative fill, Canva's AI tools
Background removal / upscaling — single-purpose AI tools beat manual editing
AI presentation builders — Gamma, Tome for first-draft decks

Voice + dictation combo — talk while walking, edit when you sit down
The compounding rule — every time something feels tedious, pause and ask if AI could do it