Using Alfred to Trigger Keyboard Maestro Macros

[_jims]

In this tutorial I'll share how I use Alfred to launch a Keyboard Maestro macro.

Of course there are many ways to trigger a KM macro, but I've found Alfred Workflows work quite nicely when I want to conditionally run a macro by supplying information via the %TriggerValue%.

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I'll use Note Picker as the example macro; it can run in two modes:

1. a value is not supplied via the %TriggerValue%, or
2. a value of f/ folder_substring or t/ title_subscring is supplied via the %TriggerValue%.

See Note Picker for more information regarding the two modes.

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Using the Alfred Workflow that I'll detail below, Note Picker can be triggered four different ways:

Method A

Method B

Method C

Method D

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With Method A (user types: np︎), Note Picker is run exactly as if it was triggered using the hot key configured in Keyboard Maestro.

Method B (user types: np log︎) and D (user types: np t.log︎) are interchangeable. In these cases Note Picker is triggered and the macro receives t/ log via the %TriggerValue%.

With Method C (user types: np f.mac︎), Note Picker is triggered and the macro receives f/ mac via %TriggerValue%.

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Here's the Alfred Workflow:

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The Input>Keyword is configured as follows:

Keyword: np

Title: np: KM Note Picker +'{query}'

Subtext: ⒪ title substring; f.folder substring; t.title substring

Aside: By convention, when I configure the Subtext for Input>Keywords, I use an ⒪ prefix to indicate that an argument is optional. In this case, that means that a user can launch Alfred and simply type np︎ (that is, like with Method A).

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The left Actions>Run Script block is as follows:

shell script ( expand / collapse )

# Build the %TriggerValue% for the macro

query=$1

# If nothing passed, then echo null
if [ -z "$query" ]
then
	echo -n

# If f.some text is passed, then echo f/ some text
elif [[ "$query" =~ ^f\.* ]]
then
	echo -n f/ ${query:2}

# If t.some text is passed, then echo f/ some text
elif [[ "$query" =~ ^t\.* ]]
then
	echo -n t/ ${query:2}

# Otherwise, assume it a title and echo some text
else
	echo -n t/ ${query}

fi

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The right Actions>Run Script block is as follows:

shell script ( expand / collapse )

query=$1

# echo -n $query

osascript <<EndOfScript

-- Note Picker property theP : "$query"

tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine"
  do script "A3DF7C60-CF4B-4E64-AD35-72BAB6937E9F" with parameter theP
end tell

EndOfScript

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I created the AppleScript portion of the above shell script using a utility macro:

Download: AppleScript To Run Selected Macro.kmmacros (16 KB)

Macro-Image

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Macro-Notes

• Macros are always disabled when imported into the Keyboard Maestro Editor.
  • The user must ensure the macro is enabled.
  • The user must also ensure the macro's parent macro-group is enabled.

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System Information

• macOS 13.4.1 (22F82)
• Keyboard Maestro v10.2

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