quickstart.mdx

title	Quick Start: Run Otter Shell on PikaOS in Five Minutes
sidebarTitle	Quick Start
description	Launch your terminal, start the clipboard daemon, bind compositor hotkeys, and take your first screenshot in under five minutes on PikaOS.

This guide walks you through the essential first steps after installing Otter Shell. In under five minutes you will have a working terminal, a persistent clipboard daemon running in the background, and a screenshot workflow ready to go — plus a few extras like sticky notes and weather at your fingertips.

Start by opening the Otter Shell terminal emulator. Run the following command from your compositor's run launcher or an existing terminal session:

```bash
otter-term
```

A lightweight, GPU-accelerated terminal window opens immediately. You can use this terminal for all subsequent steps.

`otter-clip` manages your clipboard history, but it needs to run as a background daemon to capture copies made in other applications. Start it now:

```bash
otter-clip daemon &
```

The `&` sends the process to the background so it keeps running after you close the terminal. For a permanent setup, add this command to your compositor's **autostart** configuration so it launches automatically every time your session starts.

With your compositor's hotkey bound (see the tip below), press it to invoke the screenshot tool — or run it directly:

```bash
otter-screenshot
```

Your cursor changes to a crosshair. Click and drag to select the region you want to capture. When you release, the screenshot is automatically copied to your clipboard and is ready to paste anywhere.

`otter-note` lets you keep persistent notes on your desktop. Create your first note with:

```bash
otter-note new
```

A floating note window appears. Type your content and it is saved automatically. For quick access throughout the day, bind `Super+N` in your compositor config to this command.

Get a snapshot of current conditions right from the command line:

```bash
otter-weather
```

The weather widget displays your current location's conditions inline. You can pin it to a scratchpad or compositor widget layer for persistent visibility.

**Bind hotkeys in your River compositor config** to make the most-used tools instantly accessible. Add entries like the following to your River init script:

# Screenshot — select a region and copy to clipboard
riverctl map normal Super Print spawn otter-screenshot

# Screen recorder — start/stop recording
riverctl map normal Super R spawn otter-rec

# Transcription — toggle listening on/off
riverctl map normal Super T spawn 'otter-transcribectl toggle'

# Sticky notes
riverctl map normal Super N spawn 'otter-note new'

Re-run your River init script for changes to take effect without restarting your session.

What's Next

Dive deeper into any individual Otter Shell component or learn how to configure the environment to fit your workflow.

Explore `otter-term` features, configuration, and keyboard shortcuts. Learn region capture, fullscreen mode, and annotation options in `otter-screenshot`. Set up clipboard history, search past entries, and manage the `otter-clip` daemon. Customise keybindings, theming, and per-application settings across Otter Shell.