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Welcome to this documentation page for Slink - a SearchLink workflow for Alfred, the popular launcher and automation application for macOS.
SearchLink is a macOS utility created by Brett Terpstra. It takes text and modifiers and will then attempt to identify a matching web page and replace the content with a URL or a type of Markdown link/reference.
Slink is an Alfred workflow that allows you to interact with, and utilise the SearchLink utility from within Alfred. When Brett created SearchLink, also created a script to let LaunchBar users take advantage of it from that launcher app. Not being a Launchbar user, when I started using SearchLink, I created something similar for Alfred users.
The workflow primarily acts as an Alfred intermediary to SearchLink, allowing you to enter or pass your search phrase into Alfred and automatically return some content without having to remember the specific SearchLink syntax.
Latest Version: 1.2.0
Prerequisites:
Slink offers a handful of features and triggers.
Keyword Trigger: sl
External Trigger: sl
Snippet: Available
Triggering this flow will allow you to enter a search phrase into Alfred and pass that to SearchLink. Once the result has been returned, it can be found on the clipboard. There is a user configuration option that determines if the result is also automatically pasted to the current cursor position when Alfred disappears.
COMMAND when the search is performed will force the result to be a URL.CTRL will open the URL in the default web browser.Keyword Trigger: slc
External Trigger: slc
Snippet: Available
Triggering this flow will allow you to enter a search phrase into Alfred and pass that to SearchLink. Once the result has been returned, it can be found on the clipboard.
COMMAND when the search is performed will force the result to be a URL.CTRL will open the URL in the default web browser.Keyword Trigger: sli
External Trigger: sli
Snippet: Available
Triggering this flow will allow you to enter a search phrase into Alfred and pass that to SearchLink. Once the result has been returned, it can be found on the clipboard, and it will be pasted at the current cursor position when Alfred disappears.
COMMAND when the search is performed will force the result to be a URL.CTRL will open the URL in the default web browser.Keyword Trigger: sle
External Trigger: sle
Snippet: Not Available
Triggering this flow will open the SearchLink configuration file for editing.
The text editor application used to edit the file is specified in the user configuration settings. It defaults to TextEdit.
Keyword Trigger: slcustom
External Trigger: slcustom
Snippet: Not Available
Triggering this flow will open a custom link configuration file for editing. The file is used by Slink (though could be used by othjer tools too) and not by SearchLink directly. It provides a way to override default results from SearchLink with specific results defined in the file.
The text editor application used to edit the file is specified in the user configuration settings. It defaults to TextEdit.
Keyword Trigger: slink
External Trigger: slink
Snippet: Available
Triggering this flow will list and allow the triggering of the other options. The available options are as follows:
There are a variety of ways to access different functionality included in Slink, including keyword triggers, hot keys, snippets, external triggers, and universal actions.
Keyword triggers are text entered directly into the Alfred window to trigger a flow.
| Keyword | Functionality |
|---|---|
| sl | Default Search |
| slc | Copy Link |
| sli | Insert Link |
| sle | Edit SearchLink Configuration |
| slcustom | Edit SearchLink Custom Link Data File |
| slink | Slink |
Hot keys can be used to trigger maby of the available flows in Slink.
The input used with the hot key depends upon the flow that is being triggered. It may trigger an action on the current text selection, prompt the user to enter the text in Alfred (as if they had triggered by keyword), or it may not require any input at all.
| Functionality | Input for the Flow |
|---|---|
| Copy Markdown Link | Text selection in current application |
| Insert Markdown Link | Text selection in current application |
| Copy URL | Text selection in current application |
| Insert URL | Text selection in current application |
| Open URL | Text selection in current application |
| Default Search | User enters into Alfred |
| Copy Link | User enters into Alfred |
| Insert Link | User enters into Alfred |
| Slink | User enters into Alfred |
| Edit SearchLink Configuration | None |
| Edit SearchLink Custom Link Data File | None |
Snippets are entered into any text area and trigger a flow. Options to specify snippets for any of the following functionality are included in the Slink workflow:
| Functionality |
|---|
| Default Search |
| Copy Link |
| Insert Link |
| Slink |
External triggers can be used within any Alfred workflow to call a flow in Slink, or even externally through an AppleScript call or URL.
| External | Functionality |
|---|---|
| sl | Default Search |
| slc | Copy Link |
| sli | Insert Link |
| sle | Edit SearchLink Configuration |
| search | Pass a string directly to SearchLink |
Slink does not directly support all possible SearchLink syntax, particularly as you can define your own custom searches. However, you can pass in standard SearchLink syntax as part of your query, and you can always use add your own additions in your own workflow by utilising an external trigger in this workflow to receive that content.
The example available for download below allows you to trigger a search on selected text, limited to Wikipedia, that will replace that text with a Markdown link.
Because SearchLink works exclusively on text, universal actions are only enabled for text input. They are not currently set to use files, and it would be illogical to search for a URL when given the URL.
| Universal Action | Functionality |
|---|---|
| SearchLink (Insert MD Link) | Insert Markdown Link |
| SearchLink (Copy MD Link) | Copy Markdown Link |
| SearchLink (Insert URL) | Insert URL |
| SearchLink (Copy URL) | Copy URL |
| SearchLink (Open) | Open URL |
Slink allows you to specify a file of data to override the use of SearchLink. This is what you might get from using a text expansion utility for specific links, and using a snippet to trigger the insertion of the URLs or Markdown links. Using Slink to do this means you have to select the entered text, but it does give you a little advantage in that you can have multiple output options, and the advantage of having just one way to enter your URL requests. It also means that for terms with multiple meanings (e.g. “Alfred”), you can default the dearch ressult to something specific.
The use of custom link data is entirely optional, but if you have frequently used links, this will inevitably be faster as when the Slink workflow runs, Alfred will check a local file of data, which is quicker than having SearchLink retrieve data from the Internet, which is the fallback position after the custom data has been checked for.
The data file defaults to being stored in searchlinkcustom.json in your home directory. If it does not exist, triggering the editing flow with the slcustom keyword will also create the file.
The file should be populated with JSON data based on the following structure:
{
"search term in lower case text" :
{
"name" : "The name to include in a Markdown link",
"url" : "The URL to be used"
}
}
An example file might look something like this:
{
"alfred" :
{
"name" : "Alfred",
"url" : "https://alfredapp.com"
},
"doctor drafts" :
{
"name" : "Doctor Drafts",
"url" : "https://doctordrafts.thoughtasylum.com"
},
"my alfred wf" :
{
"name" : "ThoughtAsylum Alfred Workflows",
"url" : "https://www.thoughtasylum.com/alfred/#downloadable-alfred-workflows"
}
}
If I then use alfred, doctor drafts, or my alfred wf as my input (in any text case) to a search called by Slink, then the data returned will be from this file rather than the data being retrieved from online by SearchLink.
slink keyword.slink;) for default SearchLink action (sl).sl behaviour (copy/copy & insert) now determined by a new option.slc no longer opens the configuration file. This is now configured by sle, the prior keyword now being explicitly used for copy.sl invocation.Slink is just one of several Alfred workflows I have created. You can find more workflows and blog posts related to Alfred on my Alfred page.
