Press the big red button on the dashboard (or use the menu bar icon) and Parrot starts recording two tracks at once: the system audio, which is everyone else on the call, and your microphone, which is you. Because the tracks are separate, the transcript already knows who said what.
If the Assistant is on, a card under the record button holds everything it will know from the first second: pick a call profile, type a brief for this call, and check the documents in play. The brief is a line or two in your own words, like "renewal call with Northwind, legal wants to know where the data is stored". The documents line shows which files the Assistant can quote for the chosen profile, and the Knowledge link next to it takes you straight to the place to add more. Profiles are explained in Call profiles, documents in Knowledge base.
When Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, FaceTime or any other app starts using your microphone, Parrot notices the call and a notification asks "Zoom call started. Record it with Parrot?" The same question shows as a banner at the top of Parrot's window and in the menu bar icon, so you'll see it even with notifications turned off. When the call app lets go of the mic, Parrot asks whether to stop too. Parrot only sees that the mic is in use (the same thing the orange dot in the menu bar shows), never the audio of another app.
That question is a macOS notification, so Parrot needs permission to send notifications. The welcome tour asks for it on its "Make it automatic" step, and if notifications are off, Settings → Recording → Call Detection says so with a button to turn them on.
Pick what happens in Settings → Recording → Call Detection: Ask me (the default), Record automatically, or Off. In automatic mode Parrot starts on its own and stops when the call ends. Recording laws differ by place, and many require telling everyone on the call, so automatic mode puts that on you. Dictation apps (FluidVoice, Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, MacWhisper, VoiceInk) are never mistaken for a call. If another app keeps getting mistaken for one, choose Never for This App on the notification. Settings lists those apps with an "Ask Again" button.
Detection only works while Parrot is running, so turn on Open Parrot at login in Settings → General.
The parrot in your menu bar is Parrot's quick menu, there even when the window is closed. While you record, the call time sits next to it, plus a crossed-out mic when you're muted, so you can see at a glance that Parrot is listening and whether you're muted.
Click it to Start Recording, pick the call profile under Profile, open or copy your last call's report under Last, or Ask Parrot about your meetings. During a call the same menu has Mark Moment, Mute Me and Stop Recording, each with its shortcut, plus Turn Assistant Off when you only need the recording. Open Parrot brings the window back, even after you closed it.
Connect your calendar in Settings → Recording → Calendar (or in the welcome tour) and a call that lines up with a calendar event takes its name and guest list. Guests show up as one-click name suggestions when you name the voices after the call. For a call Parrot noticed itself, an event title like "Interview: Jane" or "Acme demo" also picks the matching call profile, but only when exactly one profile fits. Parrot uses the calendars already on your Mac (iCloud, Google, Outlook), reads them and never changes them.
Only your own events name a call: ones you organise, accepted or said maybe to. Invites you haven't answered or declined are left out. Under Calendars Parrot reads you can untick a whole calendar too, like a shared team calendar or events found in Mail.
Two extra switches appear once it's connected. Brief the Assistant from the invite lets the live Assistant read the event's title, guests and notes. It's off by default because that's someone else's writing, and an Assistant running on a cloud AI would receive it. Remind me before meetings sends a notification a minute before a meeting with guests or a video link.
With the calendar connected, the menu bar menu also shows your next call today, like Next “Acme demo” at 14:00. From 10 minutes before it starts, it turns into Join & Record: one click opens the event's Zoom, Meet or Teams link and starts recording, named after the event and under the profile its title picks. Only calls count, meaning events with guests or a video link, so a focus block never shows up there.
The bar at the top shows your input and output devices and a live level meter for each track. If you switch AirPods mid-call or your Bluetooth headphones die, Parrot rebuilds the microphone connection on its own and keeps going.
One warning is worth knowing about: if the text "mic muted by another app" appears in orange, it means your call app grabbed exclusive control of the microphone and macOS is feeding Parrot silence. Parrot keeps trying to reclaim it every few seconds and usually gets it back. The other side of the call keeps recording the whole time, so worst case you lose some of your own words, not the meeting. There's more on this in Troubleshooting.
The Consent button at the top of the call screen copies a short notice ("Heads-up: I'm recording this call with Parrot…") to paste into the call chat, or notes that everyone agreed out loud. Either way the meeting keeps a record of it, shown under its title and in exports. Edit the notice in Settings → Privacy. With the reminder on, the button stays orange until you've used it.
Something important just happened? Click Mark at the top of the call screen, choose Recording → Mark Moment, use the menu bar icon, or press ⌃⌥M from any app, even while Zoom or your browser is in front. The button offers a box to say what it was ("pricing question"); typing is optional. Marked moments show up in the report under Moments you marked, and the report is written knowing they mattered to you. After the call, hover over any transcript line and click the bookmark icon at its end (or right-click the line's time and choose Bookmark This Line).
The ⌃⌥M shortcut only exists while a recording is running, and it's the only key Parrot can see. Turn it off in Settings → Recording → Bookmarks.
Parrot listens to your microphone on its own, so muting in Zoom, Teams or Meet doesn't reach it. To keep your side off the record for a bit, click Mute me at the top of the call screen, choose Recording → Mute Me, use the menu bar icon, or press ⌃⌥⇧M from any app. While you're muted, your side records as silence, nothing is written under your name, and the bar under the controls says so in orange. The other side keeps recording. Click Unmute me or press the shortcut again to come back. Like Mark's, the shortcut only exists while a recording is running.
Hit Stop and Parrot finishes writing the last words, saves both audio files, and starts working on the report in the background. The meeting opens with a Call saved box: give it a Title and a Note while it's fresh, or click Skip. Leave the title blank and Parrot names the call once the report is written, and adds a line or two at the top saying who it was with and what it was about. A title you typed or one from your calendar is kept. Your note shows at the top of the meeting too, so you can tell calls apart without scrolling.
If nobody has spoken for 15 minutes, Parrot sends a "Still recording?" notification, and again every 15 minutes after that until someone talks or you stop. macOS asks once whether Parrot may send notifications; if you say no, the Dock icon bounces instead. A silent room isn't written down as words, so a forgotten recording only costs disk space. To cut off anything after the call, right-click a line and choose Delete Everything After This Line.
If you quit Parrot while recording, it finishes the recording first and then quits. And if your Mac crashes or the app is force-quit mid-call, the next launch finds the interrupted meeting and rescues it: the transcript that was already written is kept, speakers are re-checked, and the report runs as usual. You lose nothing that was already said.