Quick Orientation

[johnlindquist]

For people new to Script Kit, here's a tl;dr

1. arg Pauses the script and prompts for input

Simplest possible arg:

let input = await arg()

Most commonly, you'll pass in a placeholder and choices

Using a placeholder and choices:

let city = await arg("Pick a city", ["Anchorage", "Portland", "Austin"])

Customizing choice values:

let number = await arg("Pick an award", [
  {
    name: "Gold",
    value: 1,
    description: "First place",
  },
  {
    name: "Silver",
    value: 2,
    description: "Second place",
  },
  {
    name: "Bronze",
    value: 3,
    description: "Third place",
  },
])

Choice Functions

Beyond that, a function that returns an Array like above also works.

await arg("Select", ()=> ["one", "two", "three"])

If you want to generate choices when you type (instead of the default filter behavior), then pass input into the function

let message = await arg("Select", (greeting)=> [`${greeting}, John`, `${greeting}, Mindy`])

Generating choices also handles "searching" where you can pass input to apis and return results. These functions can be async as well, so many of the helpers such as await get to query apis would work inside the function.

2. Global 3rd Party Functions

There's a sizeable list of global functions available that alias popular npm packages for common tasks: get, copy, replace, md, etc. Check out the @johnlindquist/globals
lib to see most of the 3rd party helper functions available.

3. npm

The npm helper will prompt the user to install a package the first time they run the script:

let sharp = await npm("sharp")

Add code-hinting by using JSDoc like so. We'll work on an official VS Code snippet lib in the future

/** @type typeof import("project-name-generator") */
let generate = await npm("project-name-generator")

4. Lots more

You can add tabs, a database, previews, drag/drop, and more, but I would say the majority of scripts are a combination of the ideas above.

I'm happy to answer any questions. Happy Scripting! - John

[Antonio-Laguna]

How can you get other node native packages? Such as net or path?

[Antonio-Laguna]

I think I've just figured, just npm helper works fine.

[johnlindquist]

@Antonio-Laguna path is global. I figured it would be highly used

[jessegavin]

@johnlindquist can you please update the link in "2. Global Helper Functions" ? It currently leads to 404

[johnlindquist]

Sorry for missing your comment.

I updated the post to reflect the @johnlindquist/globals lib that's now bundled with each script.