OpticCue

A lightweight, beautiful teleprompter app built with Python and Tkinter. Zero third-party runtime dependencies — runs on any system with Python 3.6+ installed, or as a standalone executable.

Features

• Smooth auto-scrolling with adjustable speed (0.1x – 5.0x)
• Reading guide — highlighted center line with dimmed text above for easy eye tracking
• Edit mode — type or paste your script directly in the app
• File loading — open any .txt file via native file dialog
• Mirror mode — horizontal flip for teleprompter glass/beam-splitter setups
• Fullscreen — distraction-free presenting with F11
• Countdown timer — configurable on-screen timer for timed presentations
• Progress bar — see how far through your script you are
• Auto-hiding toolbar — controls fade away during playback, reappear on mouse movement
• Adjustable font size — scale from 16pt to 96pt
• Dark UI — easy on the eyes with a clean, modern dark theme
• Command-line support — open a file directly: teleprompter.py myscript.txt
• Cross-platform — works on Windows and Linux

Quick Start

Run from source

python teleprompter.py

Or open a file directly:

python teleprompter.py my_speech.txt

No pip install required — only Python's built-in standard library is used.

Build a standalone executable

python build.py

This installs PyInstaller (if not present) and produces a single-file executable in dist/:

• Windows: dist/teleprompter.exe
• Linux: dist/teleprompter

The resulting binary can be distributed and run without Python installed.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Space	Play / Pause
Up / Down	Decrease / Increase scroll speed
Ctrl + + / -	Increase / Decrease font size
Ctrl + O	Open a text file
E	Enter edit mode
Escape	Exit edit mode / fullscreen
M	Toggle mirror mode
R	Reset scroll to top
H	Hide / Show control bar
Home / End	Jump to start / end of script
F5	Start / Stop countdown timer
F6	Reset countdown timer
Ctrl + Up / Down	Add / Remove 30s from timer
F11	Toggle fullscreen
Mouse wheel	Manual scroll

Requirements

• From source: Python 3.6+ with Tkinter (included in standard Python installs)
• Linux note: Ensure python3-tk is installed (sudo apt install python3-tk on Debian/Ubuntu)
• Standalone exe: No requirements — fully self-contained

Project Structure

OpticCue/
├── teleprompter.py   # Main application (single file, ~500 lines)
├── build.py          # Build script for standalone executable
├── .gitignore
└── README.md

License

MIT