Commands

Commands are actions you can run by name from the launcher. Some are built in, and you can add your own shell commands.

Built-in commands

Each built-in command belongs to one Settings pane. A feature's commands are in that feature's pane and only appear while the feature is on. The rest are in Settings → Commands.

Create Custom Command and Search Custom Commands are also in Settings → Commands, under Custom Commands. They follow Enable custom commands.

Two more commands only appear for what you type: Open in Browser and Run Shell Command. See Fallbacks.

Each listed command has a launcher checkbox and an alias field. Commands that support a global shortcut also have a recorder.

You can give any built-in command a global shortcut, with three exceptions. Open in Browser and Run Shell Command need text to act on, and Quit Tinycast has no shortcut so a stray key press can't quit the app.

Most commands that open a screen work as toggles: press the shortcut again to close. Switch Windows cycles the selection on repeated presses.

Enable Commands at the top of Settings → Commands turns off every command in that pane, along with their shortcuts. Clearing one row's checkbox only hides that command from search; its shortcut keeps working.

Custom commands

Give a shell command a name, then run it from search or with its own global shortcut.

Turn custom commands on in Settings → Commands → Custom Commands. They're off by default.

Turning off Show in launcher hides the section, but every shortcut keeps working.

Only the command's name is searchable, not the command itself, so you can't run something by half-remembering its flags.

Each command has an Enabled checkbox on its row. Clearing it keeps the command, its shortcut and its settings, but the command can't run until you select the checkbox again.

To take a command out of the main search but keep its shortcut, select it in the launcher and press ⇧⌘H (Hide from Root Search). Turn Show in root search back on in its editor to bring it back.

The editor

How a command runs

Commands run without a Terminal window and without a timeout. Tinycast never stops a running command by itself, and a command keeps running if Tinycast quits. The only way to stop one is the Stop button in the output window.

If the Run In folder no longer exists, the command doesn't run, and Tinycast tells you which folder is missing instead of running it somewhere else.

Arguments

Select a command with arguments and small fields appear beside the search field. The command stays selected while you fill them in.

• tab moves through the fields; ⇧tab moves back.
• return runs the command once every required value is present. Otherwise it focuses the first missing field.
• esc leaves an argument field and returns to search.
• A required argument can't be left empty.

This works from the launcher, Search Custom Commands, a favorite number or a global shortcut. A shortcut or favorite number opens the launcher with that command selected if values are still needed.

Values are passed to the shell as $1, $2 …, and are never inserted into the command text. A value like ; rm -rf ~ is only a string your script reads, not a second command. An empty optional argument still keeps its position, so $2 never shifts into $3.

Load shell environment

This setting is off by default, and it's the most common reason a command fails.

zsh only reads ~/.zshrc for interactive shells. The default -lc reads .zprofile and .zlogin, but not .zshrc. As a result, your aliases, functions and PATH changes are missing, and the command exits with code 127.

Turning the setting on uses -ilc, which reads .zshrc. That also runs everything else in your shell startup, like oh-my-zsh's auto-update or a theme's background helpers.

Tinycast sets TINYCAST=1, so your .zshrc can skip that work:

[[ -n $TINYCAST ]] && return

With a typical .zshrc, a command starts in about 10 ms with the setting off and about 65 ms with it on.

When a command exits with 127 while this setting is off, the error message says so and offers Open Settings….

You can also avoid relying on the shell configuration by using full paths:

/opt/homebrew/bin/gh pr list --limit 5

Show output

With Show output on, a window opens as soon as the command starts and shows its output as it's printed, in order and in color.

The window shows the command's name and text, the output, the result and how long it took. Copy is always available. Stop ends the command and everything it started; when the command finishes, the button changes to Run Again. Progress bars update in place instead of printing a new line for each update.

The window keeps the last 256 KB of output. If you scroll up, it stops following new output. Scroll back to the bottom and it follows again.

With Load shell environment on, anything your .zshrc prints also appears here. The TINYCAST=1 check above keeps it quiet.

Needs confirmation

This is on by default for every command. The palette closes, and a dialog shows the command's name and full text. return runs it and esc cancels.

The dialog is a plain confirmation rather than a red warning, since you wrote the command yourself. You can't skip it from the palette or a shortcut, and holding down a shortcut never opens more than one dialog.

When it finishes

• Success, with Show confirmation on: a short message shows the last line of output, or "Ran " if the command printed nothing.
• Failure: a dialog shows the error output, up to the last 8 KB.
• With Show output on: the output window shows the result instead, so you're only told once.

Tinycast never writes the command text to its logs.

Editing and backups

Editing a command keeps its favorite, visibility and shortcut. Deleting it removes all three.

Custom commands and their shortcuts are included in backups. When you import a backup, Tinycast warns you before adding any commands, so a backup can't add shell commands without you knowing.

Importing Raycast script commands

Settings → Commands → Import Raycast Scripts reads a folder of Raycast script commands and adds a custom command for each script. It's a one-time import: afterward they're regular commands you can edit or delete.

A file counts as a script command when it has both a shebang line and an @raycast.title. Other helper scripts in the folder are skipped.

Raycast icons aren't imported. Imported commands use the terminal symbol, and you can choose a different one. Tinycast warns you before importing and skips any name you already have, so importing the same folder again only adds new scripts.