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# Thinking effort and instant dictation
- URL: https://list2.alterhq.com/thinking-effort-and-instant-dictation/
- Published: 2026-08-07T16:22:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-07T16:22:47.000Z
- Description: Speaking fast, and (thinking) slow
- Author: Samuel ROY
- Tags: #beehiiv, #Import 2026-10-04 19:36

Hey everyone,

We are releasing two quality-of-life improvements to Alter focusing on a core goal: giving you more precise control over the trade-off between reasoning depth and execution speed.

🎶 [Kano - Ikeya Seki](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uiEOM%5F9pDs&utm%5Fsource=list.alterhq.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=thinking-effort-and-instant-dictation) 🎶 (Thank you for the ride Kavinsky)

### Optimizing Model Thinking Effort

Not every task requires the same level of cognitive "heavy lifting." Using a maximum-reasoning model for a simple grammar fix is often a waste of time and latency.

You can now manage the **Thinking Effort** of your models directly from the model picker (accessed via `/`). We have simplified this into three clear options:

1. **Low**: Optimized for speed-sensitive, non-complex tasks. Ideal for correcting grammar, cleaning up dictation, or basic formatting.
2. **Balance**: The default setting, suitable for the majority of general-purpose interactions.
3. **Max**: Full reasoning power for complex logic, deep analysis, and difficult problem-solving.

To switch levels, simply use the left and right arrow keys in the model picker or click the desired effort level with your mouse.

### Instant Dictation

Dictation is a primary way many of you interact with Alter, but the gap between speaking and seeing text on screen has always been a point of friction.

We have implemented a entirely **new dictation pipeline**that is significantly faster than before. When combined with the ability to disable dictation cleanup, the results are nearly instantaneous. Your transcribed text now appears on the screen in real-time, creating a much more fluid and responsive experience.

### Deepseek V4 has been upgraded

You can now use [Deepseek-v4-Flash-0731](https://artificialanalysis.ai/models/deepseek-v4-flash?utm%5Fsource=list.alterhq.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=thinking-effort-and-instant-dictation), a highly efficient and powerful model from Deepseek.

Cheers,  
Olivier & Sam

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## Full Changelog

### New Features & Enhancements

- **Thinking effort**: Choose each model's advertised thinking effort from Hub, QuickHub, or the Action Editor. Alter remembers the choice per model and uses it for future chats and actions.
- **Dictation**: Improve dictation speed for parakeet processor.
- **Custom Endpoints**: Context Window size, thinking and vision capabilities are detected automatically for LM Studio, OpenRouter, Ollama, Bifrost and Gemini.
- **Action Editor**: A new searchable model picker groups the current model, favorites, and other models, with controls for thinking effort, context, image support, and favorites.
- **Dictation shortcuts**: Dictation now accepts modifier-only shortcuts, including Command, left or right Control, and left or right Option.
- **Discord sources**: Web search sources are formatted more clearly in Discord responses.
- **New models**: New models: GLM-5.2 and deepseek v4 flash 0731

### Bug Fixes & Stability

- **Model selection**: Recover automatically when a saved model is no longer available, align switcher metadata consistently, and clarify vision support without redundant selection indicators.
- **Tools**: Code Runner now shows its sandbox tool.

[Join the community](https://discord.gg/gvCMmfBRWZ?utm%5Fsource=list.alterhq.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=thinking-effort-and-instant-dictation)