About Lumen

Last updated: October 6, 2026

Lumen is a Windows desktop layer that can see what you are looking at, so you can ask questions about it without switching windows.

What we are

Most AI assistants make you describe what is on your screen. You describe it badly, they guess wrong, and you end up copying screenshots by hand. Lumen removes that step. Press Ctrl+Space, drag a box around the thing you are stuck on, and ask.

It reads equations, code, error dialogs, dense PDFs, and anything else on screen. It can pull the whole text out of the window in front of you, scroll through it, and answer questions about it. It also transcribes audio, so it works on a lecture or a call.

Why we built it this way

The screenshots never sit on our servers. A capture is processed for the request you made and then discarded. Our Privacy Policy explains exactly what happens to your data, because a tool that reads your screen has an obligation to be precise about that.

The app contains no API key. Your requests go through our server, which holds the credentials and bills against them, so there is nothing valuable inside the install for anyone to extract.

Who it is for

Students working through problem sets, developers reading stack traces, researchers working through dense papers, and anyone who has ever alt-tabbed away from the thing they were reading to ask about it.

Get in touch

We read everything: hello@lumenoverlay.com for anything else, support@lumenoverlay.com for help, and legal@lumenoverlay.com for anything contractual.