How to Use PrayerKey

Quick Start

PrayerKey works without installation, login, or payment. Pick the feature you need:

What Is PrayerKey?

PrayerKey is a free, browser-based AI companion for pastors and believers. It does three things exceptionally well:

• Listens to a live sermon and automatically pushes every quoted Bible verse to a projector screen in real time — no operator needed.
• Generates personalized scripture-grounded prayers from a short text description of what you're going through.
• Searches all 31,102 Bible verses by reference, keyword, or paraphrase, and returns four to six thematic cross-references for any verse.

The whole platform is denomination-neutral, account-free, and free of ads, tracking, and paid tiers. There is no premium plan to upsell.

Live Sermon Verse Detection

The live dashboard at /live turns any laptop with a microphone into a fully automatic verse-display tool. Plug into your church's audio feed (or use the laptop mic), press start, and PrayerKey handles the rest.

Setup (3 minutes)

1. Open prayerkey.com/live in Chrome, Edge, or Brave.
2. Click Allow when the browser asks for microphone access.
3. Click Projector ↗ in the header. A new window opens — drag it to your second screen and press F11 for fullscreen.
4. Choose your translation from the dropdown (KJV, NIV, ESV, NKJV, NLT, and more).
5. When the pastor begins preaching, click Start Listening.

The Dashboard Layout

The live dashboard is split into two rows and a tall right sidebar:

• Transcript (left column) — every word the pastor speaks, scrolling in real time. Verses spotted in the transcript are highlighted in gold.
• Program · Preview — the verse you're about to send live. Stage a verse here before pushing it to the projector.
• Live · Display — the verse currently visible to the congregation. Mirrors what the projector shows.
• Detections / Queue (right sidebar) — toggleable list of every verse the AI heard, plus a queue you can build for sequenced playback.
• Search (bottom row) — manual fallback. Look up any verse by book + chapter or by topic if the AI missed something.

Auto Mode vs. Manual Mode

Toggle Auto in the header to make every confidently detected verse fly straight to the live screen. Leave it off and you stay in control — each verse waits in Detections until you click ▶ Present.

Most operators use a hybrid: Auto on for sermons with rapid back-to-back quotes, manual for verse-by-verse expository preaching where pacing matters.

Building a Queue

When the pastor flags multiple verses ahead of time ("we'll look at Romans 8, then Psalm 23, then Isaiah 41"), click +Q on each detected verse to add it to the queue in order. Switch the right sidebar to the Queue tab and play each one when the pastor reaches it.

Detection Confidence

Every detection card has a colored dot:

• Green — 90%+ confidence (direct reference or near-exact quote).
• Yellow — 70–89% confidence (strong paraphrase).
• Orange — 60–69% confidence (loose theme match — review before sending live).

AI Prayer Generator

Visit /pray and type a few sentences about what you need prayer for. The generator returns a complete prayer in under 10 seconds, including scripture references and a short encouragement note.

Writing a Good Prompt

Better input = better prayer. Three rules:

• Be specific. "I'm anxious about Friday's surgery" produces a far more focused prayer than "I'm worried."
• Pick a mood chip (Grateful, Anxious, Hopeful, Sick, Tired, etc.). The mood guides the tone of the resulting prayer.
• Include the person if relevant. "My daughter Maya is starting kindergarten" gives the prayer a name to lift up.

What the Output Includes

• A short title summarizing the prayer's focus.
• The full prayer body, written in second-person addressed to God.
• 2–4 supporting Bible verses with references, drawn from the prayer's theme.
• A 1–2 sentence encouragement note rooted in scripture.

Saving & Sharing

Each generated prayer has a Copy button (plain text to clipboard) and a Download option that creates a shareable image card you can text, post to social media, or print.

Bible Search & Cross-References

The Bible search at /bible understands three kinds of queries:

• Direct references — John 3:16, Ps 23, 1 Cor 13:4-7.
• Keywords or topics — do not fear, healing, grace.
• Paraphrases — the verse about being still and knowing God.

Cross-References

Click any result to load 4–6 related verses with a one-line "reason" explaining each connection — same theme, related doctrine, or shared imagery. Useful for sermon prep, Bible study, and small-group discussion.

Switching Translations

The translation dropdown affects both the search index and the verse text shown. Eleven translations are available (see the Translations section).

Prayer Library — 544+ Pre-Written Prayers

Visit /prayer to browse the curated prayer library, organized three ways:

• By Category (16) — Health, Mental Health, Daily Prayer, Family, Finance, Protection, Faith, Grief, Celebration, Education, Salvation, Purpose, Relationships, Thanksgiving, Ministry, Nation.
• By Time of Day (6) — Morning, Night, Daily, Short, Powerful, Fasting.
• By How You Feel (12) — Anxious, Depressed, Grieving, Angry, Lonely, Afraid, Hopeful, Grateful, Stressed, Confused, Joyful, Sick.

Every prayer is grounded in real scripture and ready to read aloud, share, or use as a starting point for your own words.

Bible Translations Supported

PrayerKey supports 11 translations across all features:

• KJV — King James Version
• NIV — New International Version
• ESV — English Standard Version
• NKJV — New King James Version
• NLT — New Living Translation
• NASB — New American Standard Bible
• AMP — Amplified Bible
• CSB — Christian Standard Bible
• MSG — The Message
• CEV — Contemporary English Version
• GNT — Good News Translation

Projector & Second-Screen Setup

The projector window is a separate route at /live/projector that mirrors only the live verse — no controls, no transcript, just the verse on a clean dark background suitable for any congregation.

Recommended setup

1. Connect your laptop to the projector via HDMI or wireless cast.
2. Set your displays to Extended mode (not Mirrored).
3. Open the live dashboard on your laptop screen.
4. Click Projector ↗. A new window opens.
5. Drag the new window onto the projector display and press F11 for fullscreen.

Browser & Device Requirements

Recommended

• Google Chrome 110+ on Mac, Windows, or Chromebook.
• Microsoft Edge 110+.
• Brave or Opera (Chromium-based).
• Stable internet — at least 1 Mbps for live detection.
• Microphone — built-in or USB lapel for live sermon mode.

Limited support

Safari and Firefox can use the prayer generator, prayer library, and Bible search without issues. Live sermon detection is restricted because their Web Speech API support is incomplete.

Mobile

Every feature except the live sermon dashboard works on iOS and Android. The live dashboard is desktop-first because it needs a microphone and a second display.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Live Dashboard)

• ↵ Enter — Send the staged verse live
• esc — Clear the live screen
• A — Toggle Auto mode
• Q — Add the staged verse to the Queue
• C — Blank the projector (e.g. between sermon points)

Privacy, Audio & Data

PrayerKey is built privacy-first. We do not record audio. We do not store sermon transcripts. We do not have user accounts, so there is no profile, history, or behavioral data tied to you.

During a live session, audio is converted to text inside your browser using the Web Speech API. Only the resulting text is sent to our servers for verse matching, and that text is discarded the moment the session ends. Read the full Privacy Policy.

Troubleshooting

Microphone won't start

Check your browser's permission icon (left of the URL bar). Click it, set Microphone to Allow, and reload the page. On Mac, also confirm your browser has microphone access in System Settings → Privacy → Microphone.

Verses are detected but the wrong translation shows

The translation dropdown in the header controls all output. Switch it before going live and reload if needed.

Detection is missing verses

Three usual causes: ambient noise, distance from the speaker, or the pastor paraphrasing rather than quoting. Move the laptop closer or use a lapel mic, and use Context Search as a manual fallback for paraphrases.

Projector window opens behind the dashboard

Some browsers open new windows on the active display. Drag it to the projector, then press F11 to fullscreen. If pop-ups are blocked, click the blocked-pop-up icon and allow prayerkey.com.

Prayer generator returns an error

Usually a temporary network blip. Wait 5 seconds and click Generate again. If it persists, refresh the page.

Denominations & Theology

PrayerKey is denomination-neutral. The Bible search returns the actual text of the translation you select; the prayer generator is tuned for broad theological sensitivity rather than a single tradition.

It's used by Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Reformed, Evangelical, and non-denominational churches around the world.

Frequently Asked Questions