Action reference

Add and set up an action

In the pill editor, click + between cards to open “Add an action”. Search by name, or pick from Ask, Logic, Screen, Text, Files, Open and Do. Click a card to set it up. Actions run from top to bottom.

Ask has Ask AI, Show an answer, Check, Sort into, Rate and Find on screen. Logic has If…, Stop, Set a value and Input. Screen has Screenshot, Read text, Pick a color and Render element. Text has Text, Paste text, Copy to clipboard and Show a message. Files has Read a file, Append to file, Save as a file, Rename files and Convert images. Open has Open a website, API call, Run a program, Find files, Chat panel, Note, Open a ring and Show bookmarks. Do has Click, Window, System, Control the music, Press keys, Record and replay and Wait.

To use what an earlier action gave, click + Add data in a field and pick it from the list. Hover a card and click Run (“Run up to here”) to test the pill. It uses the text you last copied as the selection.

In a test, Ask AI, If, Stop, Text, Set a value, Read a file, Read text, Screenshot, Render element and Find files run for real. Actions that change another app or your PC show a “Would …” line instead and do nothing. The sections below say where one differs.

Ask AI

Sends text, and optionally your selected files or a picture, to an AI model and gives back its answer. Pick the Model, then fill “System prompt” (what the AI should do, for example “Translate this into French”) and “Prompt” (what it works on, usually the selected text). You need a key for the model’s provider first: see Set up AI.

Show in the chat panel streams the answer into the chat panel, where you can ask follow-ups. Turn it off to pass the answer to the next actions, such as Paste text. With it on, Search the web lets the AI look things up first (some providers don’t support it), and “Follow up recent answers” lets a new question continue a recent chat. That switch needs two built-in models downloaded; a row under it offers the download. Send the selected files adds your files to the question, and Don’t ask skips the confirmation.

Choose a Jev model to ask questions instead of writing text. Jev is TypeSafe’s model for answering questions about text or a picture, and it needs a TypeSafe key. Set “Looks at”, then Add a question. Each question is Yes or no, Sort into (your choices), Rate (your levels, up to 10) or Find (a place on a picture, which needs a Screenshot before it). With one Yes or no question, the Yes and No lanes run on its answer, and “Sure at” sets how certain Jev must be for Yes.

Show an answer, Check, Sort into, Rate and Find on screen, also in the Ask group, are Ask AI set up for one job. Show an answer is Ask AI with Show in the chat panel on and Prompt set to what you type: Search the web is on, and the prompt bar asks for your question. The reply opens in the chat panel. The other four use a Jev model with one question of that kind.

Input

Stops the pill to ask you something. Set Mode to “Pick one”, “Yes or no” or “Type it”.

Pick one shows your Choices as pills at the cursor, up to 10, and the pill goes on with the one you click. Yes or no branches the pill into its Yes and No lanes. Type it opens the prompt bar with your Question; turn on “Listen right away” to speak your answer, which needs Voice input in Models. If you close the bar, or type nothing for 5 minutes, the pill ends.

A test takes the first choice for you, or shows a “Would ask” line for Type it.

If…

Checks one thing and runs the actions in its Yes lane or its No lane. Pick what to check in the first row: the selected text, what you typed, the clipboard, a link, today’s date, the selected files, an earlier action’s result, a value from Set a value, the chat panel, the app in front, the window title, a file, or the day and time. Then pick a Test, such as “contains”, “is a link”, “is empty” or “is above”, and fill in what to compare with.

Add a condition checks several things. Set Match to All (every one must be true) or Any (one is enough), up to 10 conditions. More options has “Match a pattern” for text. After a lane finishes, the pill continues below the If. Put Stop in a lane to end the whole pill. You can nest branches up to 3 levels.

Set a value

Saves text under a name so later actions and If can use it. Fill in “Name” and “Value”; the value can include data from earlier actions.

Turn on “Keep between runs” to remember the value on your PC for every pill. Kept values are shared by name across your pills, so use a distinct name, and they stay out of exported settings and shared pills. A test reads kept values but doesn’t save changes.

Stop

Ends the pill here, even from inside a branch. Use it at the end of an If lane when nothing more should happen, for example after a Show a message.

Wait

Pauses before the next action. Set “How long”, from 0 to 60 seconds. Use it when an app needs time to open before the next action clicks or sends keys.

Screenshot

Takes a picture of the screen for the actions after it, such as Read text, Ask AI or Click. Set Capture to “Screen under the cursor”, “Active window”, “All screens” or “A region I drag”. Press Escape or right-click to cancel the region picker.

A screenshot isn’t saved or sent anywhere by itself. A test takes ordinary screenshots but doesn’t open the region picker.

Read text

Reads the words in a picture using text recognition on your PC; nothing is uploaded. Set Picture to “Latest screenshot”, “Attached image” or “Copied image”.

Use it to copy text you can’t select: Screenshot with “A region I drag”, then Read text, then Copy to clipboard. It reads the languages Windows can recognize on your PC.

Pick a color

Magnifies the screen so you can click any pixel. It gives the color as Hex, RGB and HSL. Add Copy to clipboard after it to keep one. Press Escape to cancel. A test shows what it would do without opening the picker.

Render element

Draws a colored frame on the screen. It usually comes after an Ask AI Find question, to point at what it found. Set “Where” to a spot from an earlier action or a fixed spot.

More options sets Colour, Thickness, Corners, “Stays for” (seconds) and Animation (Draw, Fade or None). Clicks go through the frame. It goes away when its time ends, on Escape, or when the next pill starts. A test draws the real frame.

Click

Clicks a spot on the screen. Set “Where” to a spot from an earlier action, such as a Find on screen result, or a fixed spot. “Which part” picks the centre, an edge or a corner. Button is Left click, Right click or Double click. More options has “Move right” and “Move down” to shift the point.

A place in an attached picture isn’t a place on screen, so the pill stops if there is no usable spot. A test shows a “Would click” line.

Text

Changes text without AI. Set “What to do” and the Text it works on, usually the selected text. The result goes to the next action.

The choices are Case (Uppercase, Lowercase, Title case, Sentence case); Clean up (Trim spaces, Find and replace, Pull out links, email addresses or numbers, Sort lines, Remove duplicate lines, Pick a random line); Encode (encode or hash text, and encode text for use in a link); and Other (Format JSON, Minify JSON, Calculate). Find and replace has “Find” and “Replace with”. “Match a pattern” under More options finds by a pattern.

Copy to clipboard

Puts text on the clipboard so you can paste it anywhere. The Text field is usually the latest result. Pick the selection or another action’s result instead if the pill makes several.

Paste text

Pastes text over the selection in the app you started from. The Text field is usually the latest result. Your previous clipboard comes back afterwards, unless you turn on Keep result on clipboard in Settings, then System. A test shows a “Would paste” line.

Show a message

Shows a short message near the cursor. Type the Message, and add data such as a result. Use the chat panel for longer text.

Read a file

Reads a text file and gives its text to the next actions, such as Ask AI or Note. Type its name in File. It must be in your Documents folder and no larger than 200 KB; files outside Documents and network shares are refused. A test reads the file for real.

Append to file

Adds text to the end of a file, like a running log. Set Text (usually the selected text) and File (default Notes.md, in Documents unless you type a full path). The file is created if it doesn’t exist.

Turn on “Add the date and time” to put them before the text. Script and program files and the Startup folder are refused. A test shows a “Would” line.

Save as a file

Saves text, or the clipboard’s text or picture, as a new file. Set From to Text or Clipboard, type a Name (no folders), and set Folder to “Open in Explorer” (the Explorer window you started from) or Documents. A name without an extension gets one.

An existing file is never replaced: a number is added to the new name. Script and program files are refused. The path is available to the next action. A test shows a “Would save” line.

Rename files

Renames the selected files, or a list from an earlier action. Set What to do to Rename or “Undo the last rename”. “Rename by” is Pattern, Find and replace, or “Names from AI”.

Pattern uses {name} for the old name, {n} for a number (with “Start at”), {date} for today and {ext} for the extension. Find and replace has Find and “Replace with”; “Match a pattern” under More options finds by a pattern. Names from AI takes one name per line, usually from an Ask AI answer.

Files stay in their folder and keep their extension. A clash gets a number. Undo restores the last rename until you restart Rondell. Network shares are refused. A test lists the changes it would make.

Convert images

Saves pictures in another format or size. Set Files (usually the selected files) and Format (PNG or JPG; JPG also has Quality). Size is “Keep the size”, “Longest side” or Percent (shown as Scale).

New files are saved next to the originals with “(converted)” in the name. Originals aren’t touched. Longest side never enlarges a small picture. Files that aren’t pictures are skipped, and JPG turns transparent areas white. A test shows a “Would” line.

Control the music

Controls the music player. Set “What to do” to Play or pause, Next track, Previous track, Volume up, Volume down, Mute or unmute, or “Change volume by” (a percent, negative to lower it). Player picks which player to control; leave it on the default set in Settings, then Media.

If the chosen app isn’t playing anything, Rondell says so and changes nothing else. In a scroll pill, the scroll amount can set the volume change.

Open a website

Opens a web address in your browser. Type it in “Web address”. To search for the selected text, add it as data at the end of a search address. To open a file or app instead, use Run a program.

API call

Sends a request to a web service and reads the reply. Set Method (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH or DELETE), “Web address” and, for anything but GET, Body. More options has Headers (one per line) and “Reply values”, which picks values out of the reply for the next actions. It gives Status and Reply. A reply that isn’t a success stops the pill.

If the service needs a key, add it under API keys in Models and pick it with + Add data. Don’t paste a key into the address, Headers or Body: Rondell warns you, because it would be saved as plain text and travel with a shared pill.

A test never sends the request. Only run API call pills from people you trust: the request can send your selected text to any address.

Chat panel

Opens, closes or fills the chat panel. Set “What to do” to Show the last answer, Show the history, Find a conversation, Open or close, Close, or Show text.

Find a conversation takes Words and opens the newest conversation whose title or question has them all. Show text takes Text and opens it as a new answer without asking AI; it appears in History but can’t take follow-ups. To start a real conversation, use Ask AI with Show in the chat panel.

Note

Adds to a note, or opens or closes one. Set “What to do” to Add to a note, Open or Close. Note is Current note, New note, or one of your notes.

Add takes the selected text, the selected files, a screenshot or an earlier result. Show is Sticky note, Panel or, when adding, “Don’t show”. A test shows a “Would” line.

Find files

Opens the file search bar on a query. Type words in “Look for”, such as a name plus pdf, last week or in Downloads. Leave it empty to use what you type, or the selected text if you are in a ring. File search must be turned on in Settings first.

Opening the search ends the pill. A test runs the search.

Open a ring

Opens another ring of pills at the same spot and ends the pill. Pick it in Ring, or choose “New ring for it…” to make one. “Edit its pills” jumps to it. A pill that holds only this action works as a sub ring and opens when you hover, release or drag past it.

Window

Does something to a window. Set “What to do” to Bring to front (it starts the app if it isn’t open), Close, Minimize, Maximize, Restore, Keep on top, Move to or Next window (the next window of the same app). “Which window” is the window in front or an app’s window, picked in App.

Keep on top has On top: Switch on or off, Turn on or Turn off. Move to has Screen (Same screen, Main screen, 2nd screen and so on) and Place: halves, thirds, quarters, Whole screen or Custom, with From left, From top, Width and Height as percentages of the screen. Windows can block changes to apps running as administrator. A test shows a “Would” line.

System

Changes a setting on your PC. Set “What to do” to Keep awake, Theme or Brightness.

Keep awake has “How long”: Until turned off, For a while (Minutes, 1 to 1440) or Turn off. “Screen stays on” keeps the screen lit too. Stop it from the tray with “Stop keeping awake”. Theme switches light or dark, or sets Light or Dark, for “Apps and Windows” or “Apps only”.

Brightness has Change (“Set to”, “Up by” or “Down by”), a Level or Amount from 0 to 100, and Screen (All screens, Screen under the mouse, or one by number). Some monitors can’t be dimmed from Windows. A test shows a “Would” line.

Press keys

Presses a key combination in the app you started from. Click Record keys, press the combination, and use “Add another” for more. For long text, use Paste text instead. A test shows what it would press without pressing it.

It acts like you at the keyboard, so a pill can close windows or confirm dialogs. Review Press keys in any pill from someone else before you use it.

Run a program

Starts an app or opens a file on your PC. Pick it in “Program or file”: an open or installed app, or browse for a file. “Extra options” holds anything the program needs; it can include data from earlier actions, such as the selected files.

The program is always one you pick. It can’t come from selected text, and command shells such as cmd don’t accept data in their options. A test shows a “Would start” line.

A pill with this action runs real programs on your PC. Review it before you use a pill someone shared.

Show bookmarks

Opens a browser bookmarks folder as a ring. Pick it in Add an action, under Open. Set “Browser” to “Default browser”, a browser or profile Rondell found, or “The one in front”, then set “Folder” to “Bookmarks bar”, “Other bookmarks”, “Mobile bookmarks” or “Bookmarks menu”, or one of the folders inside them.

Rondell reads the bookmarks from the browser each time the ring opens, so changes there show up right away. A folder opens as another ring, and a bookmark opens in the browser and profile it came from. “Make an editable copy” turns the pill into a ring of Open a website pills that you can change. It copies up to 3 folders deep and 10 items per ring, and says how many didn’t fit.

The Bookmarks guide covers paging through large folders and searching them.

Record and replay

Replays clicks, typing and scrolling you record in any app. Click Record: actions above it run first, Settings hides, and you do the steps; press Escape to stop. “Record mouse movement” also records the pointer’s path. Speed sets how fast it plays.

Each recorded click can find its item again. “Which one” is “This item”, “First in its list” or “Item with text…”. Press Escape or any key, or move the mouse, to stop playback. See Record and replay for the full steps.

A recording can hold text you typed and window titles. Check it before you share the pill. A test describes the replay without playing it.