Dictate in any app · Social

Voice typing in Indie Hackers

Indie Hackers runs on founders describing what actually happened, honestly and at length. Typally puts your words into Indie Hackers the moment you release the key, in whichever field you left the cursor.

Disclosure: Typally is our product. We have tried to describe what Indie Hackers already does without talking you out of using it.
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In short

  • Indie Hackers's own dictation: None. Posts and comments are typed.
  • What Typally does instead: sends keystrokes to whichever window is in front, so Indie Hackers needs no plugin or setup.
  • Best used for: milestone posts

Does Indie Hackers have built-in dictation?

None. Posts and comments are typed.

Why dictate in Indie Hackers at all?

The valuable posts are detailed retrospectives — real numbers, real mistakes. Writing one takes an evening, and founders are the group with the least spare evenings.

In practice people use it for: Milestone posts, retrospectives, long comments, product descriptions, and interview answers.

How to dictate in Indie Hackers

You do not configure anything in Indie Hackers. The hotkey works wherever your cursor happens to be:

1

Get Typally running

Install, sign in, and it waits in the tray.

2

In Indie Hackers, click the field before you speak

Text goes wherever Indie Hackers has focus. One click first saves undoing a paragraph in the wrong box.

3

Hold, say it, release

Nothing truncates part-way through.

4

Read it before you move on

The editor supports markdown, so dictated symbols format. Speak plain prose.

What Typally adds in Indie Hackers

Typally types into the editor, so a long honest retrospective costs an evening's worth of value for fifteen minutes of talking. Spoken founder writing keeps the candour that typing quietly edits out.

What this looks like in practice

A founder speaks a retrospective on a failed launch — what was spent, what was assumed, what actually happened. It takes fifteen minutes and generates more useful conversation than a year of polished updates.

One habit that makes it work better

Tell it the way you would to another founder at a bar, including what went badly. Sanitised founder writing is the kind nobody engages with.

What to watch out for in Indie Hackers

The editor supports markdown, so dictated symbols format. Speak plain prose.

Frequently asked questions

Does Indie Hackers have dictation?

No. Posts and comments are typed.

What kind of post performs?

Specific and honest ones with real numbers. Vague optimism gets ignored.

Can I dictate milestone updates?

Yes, and speaking them tends to produce the candour the community responds to.

Try it in Indie Hackers

The free plan gives you 100 minutes a month without a card — enough to find out whether talking beats typing for you.

Try Typally free

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