Getting started with Classroom Diaries

Classroom Diaries runs on your Mac. It records and transcribes lessons locally, uses your own Anthropic API key to pick out what you taught, and, if you connect Google, publishes each lesson to the class’s own Google Doc.

Before you start

You’ll need:

• A Mac with Apple silicon, running macOS 14.2 or later. macOS 26 or later gives the best transcription.
• An Anthropic API key, from console.anthropic.com. You pay Anthropic directly; an hour-long lesson usually costs a cent or two to extract.
• A Google account, if you want to publish lessons to Google Docs. Everything else works without one.

Install

1. Move the app to Applications

   Unzip the download and drag Classroom Diaries into your Applications folder. It’s signed and notarized, so it opens without a warning.

2. Allow the permissions as you need them

   macOS asks once for each: Microphone the first time you record, Speech Recognition the first time you transcribe, and Screen & System Audio Recording the first time you record an online lesson. Allow each one. The English speech model downloads the first time you transcribe.

Set up extraction and Google Docs

1. Add your Anthropic API key

   Open Settings›Extraction (⌘,), paste your key and click Save. The key is stored in your Mac’s Keychain.

2. Sign in with Google (optional)

   In Settings›Google Docs, click Sign in with Google, choose your account and allow access. One sign-in covers every class Doc.

3. Create a class and link its Doc

   Create a class, open its Settings and paste the address of its Google Doc. While you’re there, tick the class’s Coursebooks: they decide how its subject lines are written. A class without a Doc simply has no Publish button.

   Tip: set the class’s default recording mode, Microphone or Online lesson, so each recording starts the right way.

Your first lesson

Pick the class and work through Record, Transcribe, Extract and Review & Edit. Then Save the lesson to the class history, Copy it, or Publish it to the Doc. See Record a lesson and Publish a lesson to Google Docs for the details.