---
title: Zap coach (a nudge when you type something you could one-tap)
---

# Zap coach (a nudge when you type something you could one-tap)

## What it is

The **Zap coach** is a local, no-AI background check that notices when you hand-type a phrase you
could have sent in ONE tap — your **Zap** preset (Alt+Z), a **saved quick reply** (Alt+S), or the
**"Please continue"** button — and drops ONE gentle inbox card naming the shortcut, so you can use it
next time. It's the exact opposite of the [repeated-phrase nudge](quick-reply-nudge.md): that one
finds phrases you DON'T have a button for and offers to save them; the Zap coach finds phrases you
typed by hand DESPITE already having a shortcut.

It runs entirely on your machine, uses no AI, and costs nothing.

**Off by default.** Turn it on at **Settings → Features → "Tip me when I type something I could send
in one tap"** (`zapCoachEnabled`). **Tips & Guidance** also gates it.

## Where to find it

Its switch is the Features toggle "Tip me when I type something I could send in one tap", at **Settings → Features**, and it is off until you turn it on. Once it is on there is nothing to open: the coach works in the background and its tip arrives as an inbox card, which you can dismiss.

## How it behaves

### How to use it

1. Turn it on: **Settings → Features →** the Zap-coach toggle (off by default).
2. Keep working — a background scan (about every 6 hours) counts the phrases you hand-type.
3. When you've typed a phrase **5+ times in 30 days** that already has a one-tap shortcut, you get ONE
   inbox card, e.g. _"You already have a one-tap shortcut for this — You've typed 'yes, continue' 8
   times in the last 30 days — it's already one tap away: press Alt+Z (your Zap)."_
4. Each phrase is tipped **at most once, ever** — the coach never nags you about the same one twice.
5. Dismiss the card, or flip the toggle off, any time.

### How it works

- **Two layers.** A **tracking engine** silently records these "you could've one-tapped that" moments
  (whenever agent alerts are on), and the **card** surfaces one tip per phrase (only when you opt in) —
  so the day you turn it on, there's already history to surface.
- It reuses the same freeze-safe, off-the-main-thread scan as the repeated-phrase nudge and inherits
  its exclusions: Omniscio's own auto-replies, tapped question-card answers, and machine-composed
  session openers never count.
- Before showing a card it **re-checks the shortcut still exists** — if you've since deleted that saved
  reply or turned off your Zap, it won't point you at it.
- Matching is typo-tolerant for common one-word misspellings, so typing something like _"yes contine"_
  can still match a saved _"yes continue"_ shortcut. The same shared rule keeps the repeated-phrase
  nudge from offering to save that typo as a brand-new quick reply.
- It records at most one tip per phrase in the `zap_coach_detections` table (a `nudged_at` stamp);
  nothing leaves your machine.

## For agents

### Where it lives

**Where it lives:** `src/main/services/zap-coach/` (targets, scan, scheduler),
`src/main/db/queries-zap-coach-detections.ts` (the ledger), the `zapCoachEnabled` setting + a Features
toggle. Contract: `.claude/memory/contracts/zap-coach-contract.md`.

## Related

- [Repeated-phrase quick-reply nudge](quick-reply-nudge.md) — its inverse (offers to SAVE phrases you don't have a button for).
- [Use Quick Responses](use-quick-responses.md) — the Zap button (Alt+Z), snippets (Alt+S), and AI chips.