Shortcuts Plugin
Quickly launch your shortcuts

Warning

This is a work-in-progress and not the finished product.

Feel free to leave suggestions or report bugs in the issues section.

Features

Shortcuts plugin features include:

• Multiple shortcut types support
• System and user defined variables support
• Import and export shortcuts
• Duplicate shortcuts
• Open configuration files
• Show list of commands
• Show or set plugin keyword
• Allows to modify configuration files directly
• Backup and restore shortcuts

Settings

The following general options are available on the Flow Launcher settings page.

Setting	Description
Activation keyword	Define the action keyword shortcut to activate plugin
Shortcuts file path	Path to the shortcuts file. If not set, default path will be used
Variables file path	Path to the variables file. If not set, default path will be used

Usage

The following commands are available for the Shortcuts plugin.

Command	Description	Example
q	Show available commands	q to show available commands
q <shortcut_name> <optional_arguments>	Run shortcut	q search -q "flow launcher" to run shortcut with name search and pass -q "flow launcher" as arguments. Arguments are optional.
q add <shortcut_type> <shortcut_name> <shortcut_arguments>	Add new shortcut	q add directory doc C:\Users\my_user\Documents to add a shortcut named doc to the Documents folder
q remove <shortcut_name>	Remove shortcut	q remove doc to remove shortcut with name doc
q var list	Show all variables	q var list to show all variables
q var add <variable_name> <variable_value>	Show or set variable	q var add appdata C:\Users\my_user\AppData\Roaming to set value of the appdata variable
q var remove <variable_name>	Remove variable	q var remove appdata to remove variable with name appdata
q keyword get	Show plugin action keywords	q keyword get to show all plugin action keywords
q keyword set <keyword>	Set plugin keyword	q keyword set ss to set plugin keyword to ss. Existing keywords will be removed.
q keyword add <keyword>	Add additional plugin keyword	q keyword add quick to add quick as a keyword for the plugin.
q keyword remove <keyword>	Remove plugin keyword	q keyword remove quick to remove quick as a keyword for the plugin.
q duplicate <shortcut_name> <new_shortcut_name>	Duplicate shortcut	q duplicate doc doc_copy to duplicate shortcut with name doc to doc_copy
q config	Open configuration files	q config to show available configuration files
q reload	Reload configuration files	q reload to reload configuration files
q import	Import shortcuts	q import to import shortcuts from JSON file
q export	Export shortcuts	q export to export shortcuts to JSON file
q settings	Open plugin settings	q settings to open Flow Launcher settings page
q group list	Show all groups	q group list to show all groups
q group add <group_name> <existing_shortcuts_keys>	Add new group	q group add search google bing duckduckgo to add a group named search`` with shortcuts google, bingandduckduckgo` These shortcuts should already exist.
q group remove <group_name>	Remove group	q group remove search to remove group with name search
q report	Report a bug	q report to report a bug
q help	Show help	q help to show help
q version	Show version	q version to show installed plugin version
q backup	Show available backup commands	q backup to show available backup commands
q backup list	Show all backups	q backup list to show all backups
q backup create	Create a new backup	q backup create to create a new backup
q backup restore	Restore a backup	q backup restore to to display a list of available backups and restore the selected one
q backup delete	Delete a backup	q backup delete to to display a list of available backups and delete the selected one
q backup clear	Clear all backups	q backup clear to clear all backups. It will delete all backups.

Shortcuts

The following shortcut types are available. More types will be added in the future.

Shortcut type	Description	Required arguments
directory	Open directory in file explorer	directory - path to the directory
file	Open file in default application	file - path to the file
url	Open URL in default browser	url - URL to open
shell	Run shell command	type - shell type (cmd or powershell), command - shell command arguments, silent - run command without opening shell window

Example of adding a new shortcut

If you want to add a new shortcut, you can use the following commands. Keep in mind that if shortcut contains spaces, you should use quotes around the arguments. Also, if you need to use quotes in the arguments, you should escape them. You can do that by using \" or using Unicode escape sequence \u0022. For example, \"C:\Program Files\MyApp\app.exe\"

• Directory shortcut

q add directory doc C:\Users\tutta\Documents
q add directory pvp "C:\Users\tutta\OneDrive - Kaunas University of Technology\KTU\6 semester\Product Development Project"

• File shortcut

q add file my_file C:\Users\my_user\Documents\my_file.txt
q add file my_file "C:\Users\my user\Documents\my_file.txt"

• URL shortcut

q add url google www.google.com

• Shell shortcut

q add shell cmd k1 true \"C:\Users\tutta\AppData\Local\Programs\Android Studio\bin\studio64.exe\" \"C:\Users\tutta\AndroidStudioProjects\De mo\DemoApp\"
q add shell powershell k2 false "Write-Host 'Hello, World!'"

Configuration files

The following configuration files are available.

Configuration file	Description
shortcuts.json	Contains all shortcuts. If not set, default path will be used.
variables.json	Contains all variables. If not set, default path will be used.

File structure

Shortcuts

If you manually edit the shortcuts file, make sure to reload the plugin for changes to take effect. You can do that by running q reload command.

Important

Make sure that first attribute of the shortcut is the shortcut type.

[
  {
    "Type": "Directory",
    "Path": "C:\\Users",
    "Key": "users"
  },
  {
    "Type": "File",
    "Path": "C:\\Users\\my_user\\Documents\\my_file.txt",
    "Key": "my_file"
  },
  {
    "Type": "Url",
    "Path": "www.google.com",
    "Key": "google"
  },
  {
    "Type": "Shell",
    "ShellType": "Cmd",
    "Arguments": "\u0022C:\\Users\\tutta\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Android Studio\\bin\\studio64.exe\u0022 \u0022C:\\Users\\tutta\\AndroidStudioProjects\\De mo\\DemoApp\u0022",
    "Silent": false,
    "Key": "t2"
  },
  {
    "Type": "Shell",
    "ShellType": "Cmd",
    "Arguments": "echo \u0022C:\\Users\\tutta\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Android Studio\\bin\\studio64.exe\u0022 \u0022C:\\Users\\tutta\\AndroidStudioProjects\\De mo\\DemoApp\u0022",
    "Silent": false,
    "Key": "t3"
  },
  {
    "Type": "Shell",
    "ShellType": "Powershell",
    "Arguments": "cd C:\\Users\\tutta\\Storage\\Dev\\Scripts\\unsplash; python unsplash.py",
    "Silent": true,
    "Key": "unsplash"
  },
  {
    "Type": "Group",
    "Shortcuts": [
      {
        "Type": "Url",
        "Url": "www.google.com/search?q=${q}"
      },
      {
        "Type": "Url",
        "Url": "www.bing.com/search?q=${q}"
      },
      {
        "Type": "Url",
        "Url": "www.duckduckgo.com/?q=${q}"
      },
      {
        "Type": "Url",
        "Url": "www.wikipedia.org/wiki/${q}"
      }
    ],
    "Key": "search"
  },
  {
    "Type": "Group",
    "Keys": [
      "meow",
      "g",
      "google"
    ],
    "Key": "multi"
  }
]

Variables

Variables are used to store values that can be used in shortcuts. For example, you can store your user name and use it. Variables can be used in shortcuts by using ${variable_name} syntax. To use system variables, use %variable_name% syntax. Valid variable object attributes are Name and Value.

[
  {
    "Name": "user",
    "Value": "my_user"
  },
  {
    "Name": "documents",
    "Value": "C:\\Users\\my_user\\Documents"
  }
]

Screenshots

Licence

The source code for this plugin is licensed under MIT.