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CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Project Overview

Windows-only C++ utility that captures real-time content from Windows Live Captions (Win+Ctrl+L) via UIAutomation and optionally translates it using LibreTranslate. Uses C++/WinRT, ASIO, and UIAutomation APIs.

Build Commands

Requires Visual Studio 2022 or 2026, CMake 3.25+, and vcpkg (git submodule). The preset uses "Visual Studio 18 2026" — update CMakePresets.json if using VS 2022 ("Visual Studio 17 2022").

# Configure (run once)
cmake --preset vs2026-x64

# Build Release
cmake --build --preset release

# Build Debug
cmake --build --preset debug

# Build with statically linked zlib/libcurl
cmake --build --preset release-static

Build output goes to builds/vs2026-x64/ or builds/ninja-multi-vcpkg/.

There are no automated tests.

Architecture

The entire application logic lives in src/main.cpp. The Engine class wraps all UIAutomation access:

  • get_livecaptions() — reads text from the CaptionsTextBlock automation element inside the LiveCaptionsDesktopWindow window class
  • parse_captions() / find_first_new_line() — detects newly appeared caption lines since the last poll
  • output_captions() / output_translate() — writes captions to file or stdout, optionally calling LibreTranslate

main() sets up two ASIO coroutine timers:

  • 10-second loop: polls Live Captions and optionally translates
  • 60-second loop: flushes accumulated captions to the output file

Concurrency: mutex (_file_mutex) protects file I/O; _shutdown_requested atomic flag coordinates graceful shutdown on SIGINT/SIGTERM.

Dependencies

Managed via vcpkg (submodule) and CPM:

  • asio — async event loop and timers
  • wil — COM smart pointer helpers
  • argparse — CLI argument parsing
  • curl — HTTP client for LibreTranslate API
  • LibreTranslate-cpp — fetched at configure time via CPM from GitHub

Windows-specific: requires windowsapp, RuntimeObject.lib, UIAutomation, and C++/WinRT.

Key Runtime Behavior

  • Polls every 10 seconds; writes to file every 60 seconds
  • Output file - means stdout
  • --translate <lang> sends captions to LibreTranslate at --translate-host (default http://127.0.0.1:5000)
  • UIAutomation element (CaptionsTextBlock) is cached after first lookup
  • COM initialized as single-threaded apartment (STA) in the Engine constructor