Saved scripts & .roost files

Saved scripts

script new morning        # a new Roost Basic script
script new tidy --js      # a new Roost Script script
script ls                 # your scripts (and which language each is in)
script show morning
script edit morning
script rm morning

A script runs when you type its name, or with run morning. Words after the name go to the script (tidy youtube.com): see Roost Basic and Roost Script. Script names are letters, numbers, - and _, and can't be the same as a command or an alias.

The editor

• Coloured, with line numbers. Mistakes are marked on their line as you type.
• The language menu switches between Roost Basic and Roost Script.
• Ctrl S saves; Ctrl Enter runs the lines without saving; Ctrl Shift Enter (Step) asks before each command; Esc closes; Ctrl E brings it back.
• Enter keeps the indent, and goes in a step after if, for, { and friends.
• Run when Fruit Bat opens and Shortcut (Ctrl Alt + a letter; ⌘ ⌥ on Mac) are at the bottom.

Running scripts

Saved scripts run with your full set of commands. Because nobody is there to answer, commands that would ask first need --yes (or { yes: true } in Roost Script) when they run from a saved script, a shortcut or a job. When you press Run in the editor, Roost asks you instead. run tidy --step steps through a saved script.

While a script runs, Roost shows each command it runs with its line number (tidy:3 › tabs --site youtube.com). Ctrl C stops it.

Toolbar and right-click

You don't need Roost open to run a script:

• Toolbar: script pin tidy (or On the toolbar in the editor) adds it to the toolbar's ▶ button, which lists your pinned scripts and then all the others. script unpin tidy takes it off.
• Right-click: the page's right-click menu has Run Roost script › with your scripts, pinned ones first.
• Shortcut: Ctrl Alt + a letter, set in the editor.

A script run this way shows its output in Roost when you next open it, and a note says it ran.

.roost files

A script can live in a .roost file, to share it or keep a copy. The file is the script's text: Roost Script files start with // roost script.

script export tidy     # saves tidy.roost (asks where; Downloads by default)
script open            # pick a .roost file to open

Opening a .roost file

Double-click it (Fruit Bat registers the .roost extension on Windows, macOS and Linux), drop it on a page in Fruit Bat, paste its path into the address bar, open it from Downloads, or use script open.

Opening a file never runs it straight away. Roost shows it, numbered, marks the lines that change things, and asks:

📄 tidy.roost — a Roost Basic script from a file
   C:\Users\you\Downloads\tidy.roost
1  # close duplicates
2  tabs --dupes | close   changes things
1 line changes things. It runs with the rules for outside scripts…
Run tidy.roost? [y = run, e = edit, N = cancel]

A file can come from anyone, so it runs with the rules for outside scripts: the same commands Echo can use, no --yes, every command checked again as it runs, at most 30 new tabs and 100 clicks, and 500 lines. If a line isn't allowed, Roost won't run the file, but e still opens it in the editor. Saving it from the editor makes it your own script, with every command.

Aliases

alias yt = tabs --site youtube.com
yt | mute
alias            # list them
unalias yt

Words after an alias go on the end: alias o = open then o github.com.