Image of 'Queue 'Delay' changes within the 'Run Behavior' modal. Changing this setting ultimately makes the workflow run smoother since it won't fire off an API call after each keystroke. However, in this workflow, we want to change the settings to ' Automatic delay after the last character typed.' Since the workflow ends up querying the npm API for search matches, having it delayed is beneficial and simulates a debounce effect. By default, a workflow will run after each new character is typed. The last thing to do in this section is to click on the Run Behavior button and alter the ' Queue Delay' settings. Below is an example of what a filled-out form looks like and how it is displayed within the workflow list. At the bottom of the workflows pane, click on the + button and select Blank Workflow.įrom there, a blank form containing fields about the information and branding of the workflow will pop up. To do this, open up the Alfred ' Preferences' and navigate to the ' Workflows' tab. Since we'll be starting from scratch, the first thing we need to do is create a blank workflow. If you'd like to leverage this workflow for yourself, I've created the alfred-npm-search repository on GitHub so you can download and import the workflow from there.īelow is a preview of the final product in action. With the help of this new workflow, you can quickly and easily search for a package and navigate to its npm page in seconds via Alfred! This workflow is something I created as an efficient way for me to look up a library's npm page so that I can readily locate documentation for new and/or existing packages that I am working with. Long gone are the days of manually navigating to the npm homepage to search for a package. It sure does feel awkward to write it out that way though 🤷🏽‍♀️) Anyway. (Yes, the lowercase use of 'npm' is intentional since it is what they recommend in their trademark policy. Throughout this blog post, we will be building a workflow titled: npm Package Search. In this article, I will provide a step-by-step guide on how to create a custom workflow in Python so you can be equipped to go out and build your own workflows to help boost productivity. I noticed that there wasn't a ton of content on how to do this so I decided to do the research and write a blog post on the topic. I know that there are lots of workflows available from the open-source community but one day I got curious and decided to dig into how I could create a customized workflow for myself. I've found that the money I spent on the Powerpack has been well worth the time saved from being able to leverage these special features. Workflows are a paid feature as part of the Alfred Powerpack. One extremely powerful feature of Alfred is workflows. Search your Mac and the web, and be more productive with custom actions to control your Mac.

an award-winning app for macOS which boosts your efficiency with hotkeys, keywords, text expansion and more.

If you're not familiar with Alfred, the official website describes it as: I've written about Alfred in the past, and I am a big fan of its features that help improve my productivity.

Swinsian alfred workflows