Use your free trial for a mock interview with a friend. Ten minutes is enough to get used to the overlay and the shortcuts.
Step-by-step guide
How to use Nightjar effectively
Set up once in about five minutes, prepare each interview in ten, and let Nightjar handle the rest while you talk.
Watch first · under 2 minutes
The shortcuts, in a live interview
See each keyboard shortcut used at the moment it matters: from parking the overlay under your webcam to solving a coding round.
Read the transcript
Nightjar works best when your hands never leave the keyboard. Here are the shortcuts that matter in a live interview, and exactly when to use them.
Position the overlay (Ctrl + Shift + arrow keys, Ctrl + Shift + H). Before the interviewer joins, press Ctrl, Shift and the arrow keys to move the overlay right under your webcam. Ctrl + Shift + H hides it, and brings it back.
Get an answer now (Ctrl + Enter). With Auto on, answers start the moment a question ends. If a question is short, or you want an answer right now, press Ctrl + Enter.
Ask privately (Ctrl + Shift + Space). Want to steer the answer? Press Ctrl + Shift + Space and type privately. Ask for a shorter version, or an example from your resume.
Scroll and flip answers (Ctrl + Alt + arrow keys). Long answer? Press Ctrl, Alt and the down arrow to scroll it. Ctrl, Alt, left and right flip between earlier answers, without touching the mouse.
Coding rounds (Ctrl + Shift + Enter). In a coding round, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Nightjar then reads the problem on your screen, and walks you through it: clarify, brute force, the optimal approach, a dry run, then the code.
Clear the transcript (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace). Moving from coding to behavioural questions? Ctrl + Shift + Backspace clears the transcript, so new answers start fresh.
Stealth (Ctrl + Shift + P). With stealth on, Nightjar stays out of screen share and recordings. Ctrl + Shift + P switches it, and the badge always shows whether it's on.
End the session (Ctrl + Shift + Q). When the interview is over, press Ctrl + Shift + Q. If no answer was ever generated, your interview is returned to your account.
Ten shortcuts, and not a single mouse click. Find the full step-by-step guide at nightjar.live/guide.
Set up once
Do this a day before your first interview, not five minutes before it.
-
1
Install Nightjar on Windows
Download the installer and run it. Nightjar works on Windows 10 (version 2004 or newer) and Windows 11.
If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway. The installer isn't code-signed yet, which is why Windows asks.
Download for Windows -
2
Sign in with Google
Open Nightjar and click Sign in to start (or Settings → Sign in with Google). Your browser opens; choose your Google account and you're sent back to the app.
Every new account gets a free 10-minute trial, one per account and per computer. It's only used up once Nightjar gives you its first answer.
-
3
Test stealth with a friend
In Settings → Stealth, turn on Hide from screen share and recordings and click Save settings. The badge at the top turns green: ● Stealth on
Start a Google Meet, Zoom or Teams call with a friend, share your entire screen, and start a trial interview. Ask what they see: the Nightjar windows should be invisible to them while you still see them.
Do this test once on the same computer and call app you'll use for real interviews.
Before each interview
Ten minutes of preparation here is what makes the answers sound like you. Everything is on the Interview tab and saves as you type.
-
4
Describe the role
Fill in Company and Role, then paste the full job description: responsibilities, required skills and tech stack. Answers lean on the technologies and priorities it mentions.
Tip: paste the whole posting, not a summary. "Kafka, Postgres, on-call rotation" in the description means those show up in your answers. -
5
Upload your resume
Click Upload and choose your resume as PDF or DOCX. Nightjar extracts the text into the box below, where you can edit it.
Read it once: fix anything that came out garbled, and make sure your projects include real numbers (users, latency, revenue, team size). Nightjar reuses your real numbers instead of inventing vague claims.
-
6
Add extra context
Use Extra context for what isn't on your resume: the two projects you most want to talk about, why you're leaving, salary expectations, notice period, or a weakness you've prepared an honest answer for.
-
7
Pick the answer style for this round
ConciseA headline and bullets. Best for fast technical rounds and rapid-fire questions.DetailedA spoken paragraph plus bullets. Best for managerial, system design and "tell me about" questions.STARSituation, Task, Action, Result. Best for behavioural and HR rounds.Set Coding language to the language you'll write code in. Auto follows whatever the interviewer asks for, and uses Java otherwise.
-
8
Check Settings once
- Interview language: English, English (India), Hindi, multilingual and more.
- Auto-answer: on. An answer starts as soon as the interviewer finishes a question.
- Transcribe my microphone: on. The AI then knows what you've already said, so follow-up answers build on it instead of repeating you.
- Model: GPT-OSS 120B for the best answers; GPT-OSS 20B if you want the fastest first words.
- Thinking effort: Medium for most rounds, High for hard coding rounds, Low for the quickest answers.
Click Save settings after changing anything.
-
9
Set up your audio
Join the call on the same computer that runs Nightjar. Nightjar listens to your computer's sound output, so it hears the interviewer exactly as you do.
Wear headphones. With speakers, your microphone also picks up the interviewer, which can blur who said what.
During the interview
Nightjar does the work. Your job is to stay natural and keep eye contact.
-
10
Start a few minutes early
Click Start interview about two minutes before the call. The overlay appears with a timer showing the time left: 2 hours for a paid interview, 10 minutes for the trial. You'll get a warning at 10 and 2 minutes left.
If the overlay shows Start listening, click it once so it can hear the call audio.
-
11
Place the overlay near your camera
Drag it (or press CtrlShiftArrows) just below your webcam, and make it small. Reading close to the camera keeps your eyes looking at the interviewer. Lower Overlay opacity in Settings if it distracts you.
-
12
Let answers come to you
With Auto on, the answer starts appearing as soon as the interviewer stops talking. If a question was short or mumbled, press CtrlEnter to answer the latest question right away.
Speak, don't read. Glance at the first line, start talking in your own words, and use the bullets as cues for what to say next. Answers sound natural when they come out in your voice and order. -
13
Steer with a private question
Press CtrlShiftSpace to type to the AI without anyone hearing. Useful prompts:
- "Shorter, two sentences."
- "Give an example from my payments project."
- "What clarifying question should I ask here?"
- "Explain the time complexity simply."
-
14
Move between answers
CtrlAlt← → flips back to earlier answers, and CtrlAlt↑ ↓ scrolls a long one, all without clicking away from the call.
-
15
End the session
Press CtrlShiftQ or the ✕ on the overlay when the interview is over. If you end a paid session before Nightjar gave any answer (say, the interview was cancelled), the interview is returned to your account automatically.
Solve what's on screen
For a problem on a shared editor, HackerRank, LeetCode or a whiteboard, press CtrlShiftEnter. Nightjar takes a screenshot of your screen and walks through it the way interviewers want to hear it:
ClarifyBrute forceBottleneckOptimalDry runCode
- Talk through each stage out loud before typing. Interviewers score the reasoning, not only the final code.
- Copy code with the Copy button at the top right of each code block, then type or adapt it in the editor.
- Choose Thinking effort: High before a hard DSA round for more careful solutions.
Pro tips
Update the company, role and description before every interview. Answers tuned to the wrong job are the most common mistake.
Moving from coding to HR? CtrlShiftBackspace clears the transcript so new answers aren't influenced by the old topic.
CtrlShiftH hides or shows the overlay instantly.
Each session allows up to 6 answers and 2 screenshots a minute, which is plenty for a real conversation.
A session runs on one computer at a time. Continuing it on another computer ends it on the first.
Keyboard shortcuts
They work anywhere during a call, even while Zoom or Meet is the active window. Watch them in action ↑
Answer the latest questionCtrlEnter
Screenshot the screen and solve itCtrlShiftEnter
Type a private questionCtrlShiftSpace
Hide / show the overlayCtrlShiftH
Move the overlayCtrlShiftArrows
Scroll the answerCtrlAlt↑↓
Previous / next answerCtrlAlt←→
Clear the transcriptCtrlShiftBackspace
Toggle stealthCtrlShiftP
End the sessionCtrlShiftQ
If something isn't working
No transcript appears when the interviewer talks
Make sure the call's sound plays on this computer's default speakers or headphones (check the call app's audio settings). If the overlay shows Start listening, click it. Switching or unplugging headphones mid-call is fine: Nightjar reconnects on its own.
My friend can see the overlay when I share my screen
Check the badge says Stealth on (CtrlShiftP toggles it), and that Windows is version 2004 or newer. Test once more by sharing the whole screen in the same call app you'll use.
Answers take too long to start
In Settings, choose Thinking effort: Low or the GPT-OSS 20B model. Both give the first words faster. Keep High effort for coding rounds.
"Your interview is running on another computer"
A session runs on one computer at a time. End it on the other computer, or wait 3 minutes after closing Nightjar there, then start again on this one.
Start says I have no interviews left
Your trial and credits are used. Buy an interview on your account page. Credits show up in the app within a few seconds of paying; click back into the Nightjar window if they don't.
Something else
Write to us from the contact page with what you saw and when. We reply within 7 days.
Ready for your next interview?
Install Nightjar, try it free for 10 minutes, and walk in prepared.
