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Command nodes

Command nodes let you customize a string of actions which you can run via buttons or via the command line.

Overview

Command nodes help you get one or more tasks done in Tana. You can create your own command nodes with multiple commands, or steps, within them. For example, build a “Process voice memo” command node that grabs the voice recording, transcribes it, creates and tags tasks and ideas that it finds, and sends it all to your daily notes.

Command nodes can be run via the command line, as buttons on a supertag, or via node events.

Command nodes are easier to understand if you're already comfortable with using the command line and the search query.

For commands that use AI, see here: AI commands

Basics

  • There are three essential elements to creating custom commands: the command node that is a container for the command, the commands that represent the actions you want to do, and the parameters that are the settings for the commands
  • To create a custom command node, run Cmd/Ctrl+K > Convert to command node on an empty node.
  • To configure what the command node does, add commands as child nodes to it. To get a list of all available commands you can add, use @.
  • Each command can receive certain parameters (represented as system fields), listed in the description. The ones that are starred are required. Add the necessary parameter fields to the command (hit > to create a field, then the name of the parameter), and fill it with the necessary field value.
  • If there are multiple commands in the command node, they are executed in the order that they're listed from the top.
  • You cannot add the same command twice. To repeat a command, wrap it in another command node and add that to the list.
  • Command nodes appear as buttons attached to nodes, supertag instances, or fields. They also appear in the command line.
  • You can control when/where a command appears by using node filter and node context parameters on the main command node.
  • You can find all commands in your workspaces by writing the keyword operator IS COMMAND in the search node.

Documentation

Create a command node

To create a command node, on any node go Cmd/Ctrl+K > Convert to command node:

The icon of the node will change. Give the command node a name, which will appear on command buttons, and on the command line.

Set up commands and parameters

Commands

To configure the command node, select the commands you want using @. This gives you a filtered list of all available commands, including Tana commands, AI commands and custom commands you've defined previously.

Tana commands include:

  • Set field value tells the system to do the _action_ of setting a field underneath your node—same way we do it ourselves—and then, optionally, filling that field with a specific value.
  • Insert a cloned copy of a node tells the system to do the action of copying another node (that you specify inside the command) and bringing a clone of that node into the context in which you're working.
  • Add tag adds a tag to your node, and Remove tag takes one away.

See All Tana commands for a full list of options.

Parameters

Each command has a set of parameters you use to configure it. To add a parameter to a command, add any of the listed parameters as a field under the command. Parameters with a star are required.

Using the example of the Move node command, you'll find these settings:

  • Target node: Let's you instruct the action where to send the moved node.
  • Remove reference after moving node: Let's you decide whether you want there to be a reference to your moved node at the current location, or not.
  • Node filter/Node context: These settings are available on all commands and let you specify which nodes will run your command, in various ways.

Using the Move node-command and these settings, you could, for instance, make a command that

  • Sends a node to your team workspace and
  • Removes the reference from your workspace

Combining this with Add tag and Set field values, you could

  1. create a new #project (Add tag)
  2. assign it to your teammate Brage (Set field value)
  3. set status to Active (Set field value) and
  4. send it to your shared workspace Viral Content (Move node)

all with one button click.

Access commands

Commands in the command line

Once you've configured your command node, it will appear in the command line (Cmd/Ctrl+K) as another command you can access alongside the default commands.

Commands as buttons

Once you've configured your command node, you can use it to make buttons appear in any node. With your caret on target node, go to the command line Cmd/Ctrl+K > Configure node to open the node configuration. Add your command node in the Commands field.

You can also add a command node to a supertag or field, see the Advanced section of the supertag/field configuration panel. The command will appear alongside the tagged node or field.

Node filter

Using the parameter Node Filter, you can use search query language to control which nodes the command can be run on.

For instance, if you made a command specifically to run on your #standup tag and no other tag or node, you can add this:

>Node filter: #standup

An excluded node will not display the command, neither from the command line nor as a button.

Finding all commands

You can find all commands in your workspaces by creating a search node and using the keyword operator IS COMMAND. Scope it down to a workspace to only find commands from there.

All Tana commands

Insert a cloned copy of a node

Can be used to emulate template behaviour, add a new time log entry to a time log etc

Insert relative date

System command that inserts a date using the relative date string.

Move node

System command that moves a node

Add tags

System command for adding a tag to a node.

Remove tags

System command for removing a tag from a node.

Set field values

System command for setting field values to a field.

Set field values for all children

System command for setting field values to a field applied to all children. Example: Set all children to "status deployed" for a release process.

Remove fields

Removes the specified field

Set done status

Sets the done status of a node to a particular setting

Set view definition

Takes the same information that is stored as a custom view on a node - can be used to configure which columns are shown, sorting, filtering, grouping etc.

Set view type

Can set node to table, cards, list, tabs, calendar view.

Show alert

Displays a user alert

Ask for user confirmation

Displays a user confirm command, and halts execution if user does not confirm

Run commands in parallel

Takes a list of commands as input, and runs them in parallel (default is sequential)

Run a command line command

Let's you run any command from the command line. Does not work well with multi-stage prompts

Run commands on all children

Let's you run a command on all children.

All AI Commands

For commands that use AI, see here:

All parameters

Node filter

  • Description: Search query to filter nodes that this command can be run on
  • Source: Tana

Node context

  • Description: Node context for commands - defaults to node the command is run on
  • Source: Tana

Field dependencies

  • Description: References to other fields on the same node. If any of these fields are empty, and have AI turned on, then their AI prompts will be run before evaluating this command.
  • Source: Tana

Target node

  • Description: Defines what Tana object to insert the result into. Can be a reference to a template node, or a field reference
  • Source: Tana

URL

  • Description: URL, processed using title expressions
  • Source: Tana

Insert output strategy

  • Description: Default is adding as a child (except in fields, where default is replace)
  • Source: Tana

Payload

  • Description: Payload type
  • Source: Tana

API method

  • Description: Defaults to GET
  • Source: Tana

Parse results

  • Description: Defaults to no parsing (raw)
  • Source: Tana

Authorization header

  • Description: For authentication (for example "Bearer ....")
  • Source: Tana

Headers

  • Description: API headers, must start with a word and a colon, like "Authorization: ..."
  • Source: Tana

Avoid using proxy

  • Description: For local sites, or where you know there is no CORS issue
  • Source: Tana

Tags

  • Description: Define supertags
  • Source: Tana

Metaprompt to enhance prompt with GPT-3

  • Description: n/a
  • Source: Tana

View definition

  • Description: View definition to apply to node
  • Source: Tana

View type

  • Description: Set view type by picking from dropdown.
  • Source: Tana

Fields to set

  • Description: Fields to set, and optionally values
  • Source: Tana

Commands

  • Description: Commands to execute
  • Source: Tana

Tag candidates

  • Description: Define supertags that become candidates
  • Source: Tana

Fields to remove

  • Description: Define fields that, if present, will be removed.
  • Source: Tana

Move node target

  • Description: Define node to be moved. Reference to a specific node, field or a dropdown option
  • Source: Tana

Remove reference after moving node

  • Description: Will remove the reference after moving node
  • Source: Tana

Move original node

  • Description: By default, if you run the command on a reference, the reference will be moved. This option can force the original node to be moved.
  • Source: Tana

Done status to set

  • Description: Gives you done state options to set. There are four options to choose from:
    • Node has no checkbox
    • Done
    • Not done
    • Toggle done status
  • Source: Tana

Command to run

  • Description: Write out the commands you want to run.
    • If you're uncertain about how a command is written out, navigate to it through the command line, create a custom shortcut, and go to Settings > Private keyboard shortcuts to the shortcut you just made and expand it. You'll find the command written out in a node.
  • Source: Tana

Look for children in field

  • Description: Looks for children in a specific field, instead of the node. Add reference to field definition.
  • Source: Tana

Relative date string

  • Description: Write out a date string like this week, in two months, etc. Interpreted with prompt expressions.
  • Source: Tana

Reference date

  • Description: Either a date, or use Lookup field to reference a field. If reference date is May 1, and relative date is in two weeks, the output will be May 15th.
  • Source: Tana

Date/time granularity

  • Description: Allows you to specify the granularity of the date object. Use the dropdown to set year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second, or millisecond.
  • Source: Tana

Set only start or end of date

  • Description: Allows you to specify whether you want to set a Start or End date/time.
  • Source: Tana

Related release notes

  • improvedInsert relative date now supports system date fields in the prompt, such as ${sys:dateFromDayNode} ()
  • improvedSlash in the beginning of node filter no longer triggers the slash menu (making it easier to enter a regular expression) ()
  • improvedAny fields inserted from command nodes, which are optional fields, will now be inserted at top of the node. ()
  • improvedWHAT HAPPENED? -> We are now showing more details whenever a command node fails to run. ()
  • fixedWe fixed an issue with command nodes that may contain commands that live external to the current workspace. ()
  • fixedFixed bugs with 'Make API request' expression expansion not working if they contained dates or inline references. ()

Related FAQs

  • Can a command move the current node to a field of a new node?

    Yes, you can. Make a new command node, and use the command Insert Tana Paste with the following prompt:

    - ${name} #note
      - Based on:: [[^${sys:nodeId}]]

    The first line is the new node. It uses the name of the current node to inform the name of the new node by using the title expression ${name}. The supertag #note can be enough for Tana to find the right tag to use, but you can specify it more precisely by adding the ^nodeID to it. See the Tana Paste doc for more info on this convention. To retrieve the nodeID of a supertag, run the command Copy link (HTML formatted) on a supertag definition and paste the results. It will paste with the nodeID written out:

    The second line is the field. After the name of the field and the double-colon :: is a reference to the current node that the command is being run on, which it is able to target by retrieving the nodeID of the current node using the title expression ${sys:nodeId}.

    This is what the command node should look like:

    Special thanks to Navigator Emmanuel Galanos for this clever solution!

    Related docs:

  • How can I extract the start date of a range using Commands?

    Use Insert relative date command, here's an example:

    Related docs:

  • How do I share a supertag from my private workspace to a shared one?
    Currently, the easiest and most foolproof way to do this is to not share it but instead build the supertag, with its fields and anything else necessary for the supertag to work, from the ground up in the new space.

    That said, if you still want to move a supertag over that exists only in your private workspace, the main work is to ensure that there's nothing in the supertag that references something in your private workspace, otherwise it will appear as broken to others once it's moved.

    It's like packaging up a zip file. You can't just zip up a bunch of shortcuts, you need the real files in there or the recipient will only see broken shortcuts.

    You'll also have to remember to move over other things like field options, commands, and ensure that no saved view options contain elements from your workspace. Basically, you must ensure that nothing you're moving over from your workspace contains references from your workspace.

    To bring all nodes (except system nodes) into the supertags, fields and commands you want to move, use the command "Bring referenced node here". Alternatively, you can move each necessary node separately too if you foe example want the field definition to exist outside the supertag. But the key is that everything that is connected to what you're sending over gets sent over too, otherwise there will be missing pieces.

    Related docs:

  • How do I use the Autofill command to enrich URL nodes?

    The Autofill command can generate a new node title and description based on the URL.

    To set up the command

    • Create a new command node
    • Add the Autofill fields command
    • Add and check off Autofill title and Autofill description parameters to change both
    • Add Model to use to control which model you prefer. If left empty, Tana will pick the one that returns the answer with best quality and consistency

    To run the command

    • Run the command on a URL node using the command line
    • Put this command node in the Commands section of a supertag you use for URLs. Press the button to run the command.

    Related docs:

  • How does the "Set view definition" command work?

    There is a command called Set view definition. It can set the Group, Sort and Display settings of a node view.

    There is no good UX for this at the moment, so the instructions are not conventional nor friendly for beginners. But right now, this is one way of doing it:

    • Mock up a node that will have sample child nodes representing the data you'll be applying this command on
    • Then, create the exact view settings you want with Group, Sort and Display.
    • Go Cmd/Ctrl+K > Debug Node on the parent node and look at Views for node:
    • Clone the fields over to the command node so it looks like this:

    When you run this command on a node, this should change the view settings according to your configuration.

    Related docs:

  • In the command line, Set [field] -> [value] doesn't show all my fields, why?

    Set [field] command only works on field types Option, Instance, User and Checkbox.

    Related docs:

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