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⚡ Power Tools for Cursor - Developer's Guide

Power Tools extends your Dictator voice recording plugin with advanced developer-focused features and customizable AI workflows. This guide will help you maximize your productivity with these new capabilities.

🚀 Quick Start

  1. Install/Enable Dictator - Run the "Enable Dictator" command from VS Code command palette
  2. Look for the Flash Icon - Next to the microphone in Cursor's chat interface, you'll see a ⚡ flash icon
  3. Right-click or Left-click the flash icon to open the Power Tools context menu
  4. Customize Templates - Use "⚙️ Power Tool Settings" to add your own prompt templates

🎯 Core Features

1. Predefined Prompt Templates

Ready-to-use AI prompts for common development tasks:

  • 🧪 Generate Tests (Cmd+Shift+T) - Creates comprehensive unit tests
  • 🐛 Bug Analysis (Cmd+Shift+B) - Analyzes code for potential issues
  • 📚 Generate Docs (Cmd+Shift+D) - Creates documentation and comments
  • 👀 Code Review - Provides thorough code quality analysis
  • 🔄 Refactor Code - Suggests improvement and refactoring
  • 💡 Explain Code - Breaks down complex code logic

2. Smart Context Integration

  • Automatic Code Selection - Templates automatically include selected code
  • Intelligent Prompting - Prompts adapt based on your selection
  • Chat Integration - Seamlessly injects prompts into Cursor's chat

3. Customizable Hotkeys

  • Each template can have its own keyboard shortcut
  • Default hotkeys follow VS Code conventions
  • Fully customizable through settings

4. Category Organization

Templates are organized by category:

  • Development - Code generation, refactoring, testing
  • Debugging - Bug analysis, troubleshooting
  • Documentation - Comments, docs, explanations
  • Learning - Code explanation, tutorials
  • General - Custom templates

⚙️ Settings & Customization

Opening Settings

  • Click the ⚡ flash icon → "⚙️ Power Tool Settings"
  • Or use the VS Code command: "⚡ Power Tool Settings"
  • Or use hotkey: Cmd+Shift+,

Adding Custom Templates

  1. Open Power Tool Settings

  2. Fill out the form:

    • Name: Display name for your template
    • Description: Brief explanation of what it does
    • Category: Group it with similar templates
    • Prompt: The actual AI prompt text
    • Hotkey: Optional keyboard shortcut (e.g., cmd+shift+x)
    • Icon: Codicon class name for the menu icon

  3. Click "Add Template"

Template Examples

Custom Code Optimizer

Name: ⚡ Optimize Performance
Description: Analyze and optimize code for better performance
Category: development
Prompt: Analyze the selected code for performance bottlenecks and suggest specific optimizations. Consider memory usage, algorithmic complexity, and runtime efficiency.
Hotkey: cmd+shift+o
Icon: codicon-rocket

Architecture Review

Name: 🏗️ Architecture Review
Description: Review system architecture and design patterns
Category: development
Prompt: Review the selected code from an architectural perspective. Evaluate design patterns, SOLID principles, separation of concerns, and suggest improvements for maintainability and scalability.
Hotkey: cmd+shift+a
Icon: codicon-organization

Security Audit

Name: 🔒 Security Audit
Description: Check for security vulnerabilities
Category: debugging
Prompt: Perform a security audit of the selected code. Look for potential vulnerabilities including SQL injection, XSS, authentication issues, data validation problems, and suggest fixes.
Hotkey: cmd+shift+s
Icon: codicon-shield

🎨 UI Customization

The Power Tools interface is designed to match VS Code's theme and styling:

  • Adaptive Theming - Automatically matches your VS Code theme
  • Responsive Design - Works on different screen sizes
  • Keyboard Navigation - Full keyboard accessibility
  • Visual Feedback - Hover effects and state indicators

🔧 Advanced Usage

Template Variables

Templates automatically include selected code when available:

Your prompt text here.

Code to analyze:

[selected code will be automatically appended]


### Workflow Chaining
You can create templates that work together:

1. Use "🐛 Bug Analysis" to identify issues
2. Follow up with "🔄 Refactor Code" for fixes
3. Finish with "🧪 Generate Tests" for validation

### Integration with Monaco Editor
Power Tools integrates with VS Code's Monaco editor:
- Automatically detects selected text
- Preserves syntax highlighting context
- Works with multiple selections

## 📋 Default Templates Reference

| Template | Hotkey | Purpose |
|----------|--------|---------|
| 🧪 Generate Tests | `Cmd+Shift+T` | Create unit tests with edge cases |
| 🐛 Bug Analysis | `Cmd+Shift+B` | Find bugs and security issues |
| 📚 Generate Docs | `Cmd+Shift+D` | Create JSDoc and documentation |
| 👀 Code Review | - | Quality and best practices review |
| 🔄 Refactor Code | - | Improvement suggestions |
| 💡 Explain Code | - | Detailed code explanation |

## 🛠️ Configuration Options

Power Tools stores settings in localStorage with these options:

```javascript
{
  preferences: {
    showHotkeys: true,        // Show hotkeys in menu
    groupByCategory: true,    // Group templates by category
    compactMode: false,       // Compact menu display
    autoFocusInput: true,     // Auto-focus chat input
    enableTTS: false,         // Text-to-speech (future)
    preferredModel: 'gpt-4',  // Default AI model
    maxTokens: 4000          // Token limit
  }
}

🔮 Future Roadmap

Tier 2 Features (Coming Soon)

  • AI Commit Messages - Generate commit messages from git diff
  • Built-in TTS - Voice responses to complement ASR
  • Theme Switcher - Quick theme switching
  • Prompt Chaining - Link multiple templates together

Tier 3 Features (Advanced)

  • Multi-LLM Support - Switch between GPT, Claude, Mistral
  • Stack Overflow Integration - Search and integrate solutions
  • Clipboard History - Smart copy-paste with AI enhancement
  • Plugin System - Load custom JavaScript modules

🐛 Troubleshooting

Flash Icon Not Appearing

  1. Ensure Dictator is enabled: Run "Enable Dictator" command
  2. Restart VS Code/Cursor
  3. Check browser console for errors

Templates Not Working

  1. Verify power-tools.js is loaded (check browser console)
  2. Try refreshing Cursor interface
  3. Check localStorage permissions

Hotkeys Not Working

  1. Ensure no conflicts with existing VS Code shortcuts
  2. Try different key combinations
  3. Check if focus is in chat interface

Settings Not Saving

  1. Check browser localStorage permissions
  2. Try private/incognito mode to test
  3. Clear localStorage and reconfigure

💡 Tips & Best Practices

  1. Start with Defaults - Use built-in templates before creating custom ones
  2. Consistent Naming - Use clear, descriptive names for templates
  3. Category Organization - Group related templates together
  4. Test Hotkeys - Ensure no conflicts with existing shortcuts
  5. Iterative Improvement - Refine prompts based on AI responses
  6. Backup Settings - Export/backup your custom templates

🤝 Contributing

Want to improve Power Tools? Here's how:

  1. Feature Requests - Open an issue on GitHub
  2. Bug Reports - Include console logs and reproduction steps
  3. Template Sharing - Share useful templates with the community
  4. Code Contributions - Submit PRs for new features

📚 Additional Resources

Happy Coding with Power Tools! ⚡

Power Tools transforms Cursor into a true AI-powered development environment. With customizable templates and intelligent workflows, you'll code faster and smarter than ever before.