Guide · Lumen

Using Lumen

Lumen is a small overlay that listens to the conversation and drafts answers from your own material. Here's how to get it ready, run an interview and practise between them.

First launch

The first time it opens, Lumen downloads its speech model. That's about 250 MB, or more on a computer with an NVIDIA graphics card. The panel shows Service offline until the download finishes, then Ready. Later launches are quick.

Sign in from the start screen with Sign in with HacknetAI. Once you're signed in, the start screen shows your plan, how many interview minutes you have left this month and when they reset.

Prepare your material

Lumen answers from what you give it, so a few minutes here pays off. On the start screen, or later with Ctrl Shift S, add:

Your CV (PDF or Word).
The job description: paste the posting.
STAR stories: a few examples of your work, one per paragraph with a blank line between them. These make the biggest difference to how specific the answers are.

Lumen then writes prepared answers to the questions you're likely to be asked. A question that matches one is answered instantly. Preparing doesn't use your minutes.

Run an interview

Join your call, then press Start session. The timer in the top bar counts down the minutes left on your plan (300 a month on Pro, 1,800 on Pro Max). One long session or many short ones: it's up to you.
Allow the two permissions Windows asks for:
- Microphone: for your own voice.
- Screen share: this is how Windows passes on the other person's audio. Choose a screen and make sure Share audio is ticked. Without it, Lumen can't hear the interviewer.
When a question is asked, two panels fill in:
- The fast panel gives the first words in under a second: one or two sentences to start on, plus prompts.
- The thinking panel follows a moment later with a full answer you can draw on.
Press Ctrl Enter to ask about something yourself, or Ctrl Shift Enter to include a screenshot, for example of a coding problem.
When you're done, end the session with Ctrl Shift E.

Minutes. A session uses minutes while it's on, counted by the second, so end it when your call ends. If Lumen hears no question for 20 minutes, the session stops by itself and you're only charged up to its last answer plus a minute. The timer turns amber with 5 minutes left; at zero the panels stop answering.

Use it fairly. Lumen is for preparing and for keeping your own experience to hand. Answers are drafts for you to put in your own words. Follow the rules of each interview or assessment you take part in.

Practise

Ctrl Shift R lists the questions you're likely to get for this role.
Ctrl Shift U critiques the answer you just gave out loud against your material.

Practice doesn't use your minutes. It has a daily limit.

Shortcuts

`Ctrl` `\`	Show or hide Lumen
`Ctrl` `Enter`	Ask
`Ctrl` `Shift` `Enter`	Ask about what's on screen
`Ctrl` `Shift` `L`	Start or stop listening
`Ctrl` `Shift` `M`	Mute or unmute your microphone
`Ctrl` `Shift` `S`	Prepare: CV, job, stories
`Ctrl` `Shift` `K`	Re-read your material
`Ctrl` `Shift` `R`	Likely questions
`Ctrl` `Shift` `U`	Critique my answer
`Ctrl` `Shift` `E`	End the session
`Ctrl` `Shift` `=` / `-` / `0`	Larger / smaller / reset size
`Ctrl` `Shift` `]` / `[`	More solid / more see-through
`Ctrl` `Shift` `↑` `↓` `←` `→`	Move the overlay
`Ctrl` `Shift` `Q`	Quit Lumen

Privacy

Speech is turned into text on your own computer. Audio is never uploaded. Only the text of a question, and the parts of your material that are relevant to it, is sent to write an answer. Your CV and stories are stored on your computer, not on our servers.

Still stuck? See common fixes or send us a message.