Applescripts not working

[jason-douglas]

Hi, really cool project. I just spent a day tying to get the applescript feature to work and I don't think it does.

I've checked and re-checked permissions.
I've tried to get it to output things to the OSX Console with no luck

I've tried multiple scripts including he ones from your wiki

I think something is buggy and it's not firing. Unless there is some settings that I'm unaware of. The docs don't indicate whether the output view will impact Applescripts

[SKaplanOfficial]

Which feature do you mean — AppleScript placeholders using {{as:...}}, which run before the prompt is sent, or action scripts that run after? Or both?

If you set up a command with {{as:return "Test"}} in the prompt field and display dialog result in the script field, as in the image below, what behavior do you see?

[jason-douglas]

Thank you for the quick response and the diagnostic test.

To answer your first question directly: The feature I am having issues with is Action Scripts—the scripts that are configured to run after the AI response is received. I have not experienced any issues with AppleScript placeholders ({{as:...}}) in the prompt field.

Regarding the test you asked me to run:

I set up a brand new PromptLab command exactly as you described:

Prompt Field: {{as:return "Test"}}
Action Script Field: display dialog result
The result was that this test worked successfully. A modal pop-up (the AppleScript dialog) appeared on my screen. After I clicked "OK," the PromptLab command completed without hanging or getting stuck on "Loading...".

However, this successful test doesn't translate to my original goal. When I use that same new, working command but replace the display dialog result Action Script with my own—one designed to control another application using System Events keystroke commands—the problem returns.

Specifically, the AI part of the command runs and I see the AI's response in the Raycast UI, but the UI automation part of the Action Script does not happen (no keystrokes are sent to my target application). The command simply finishes, showing the AI's text as its output.

The most telling diagnostic step I've taken is to put a simple log "My script ran" command inside my Action Script. When I check the macOS Console.app, no log message appears. This confirms that even though the command is completing without getting stuck, the code inside the Action Script is not being executed when it contains UI automation commands like keystroke.

To summarize:

Your test proves that a simple display dialog Action Script can run successfully in a new command.
However, an Action Script containing System Events keystroke commands fails to execute its code, even though all my permissions for Raycast (Accessibility, Automation for System Events, and Full Disk Access) are correctly set and the same script runs perfectly from the standalone Script Editor app.
This seems to point to a specific issue with how PromptLab handles Action Scripts that perform UI automation via System Events keystrokes. Any further insight you have would be greatly appreciated.

[SKaplanOfficial]

Hm, simple action scripts (i.e. no placeholders) using keystroke are working for me, e.g. using the prompt "Hello!" paired with this Action Script:

tell application "Notes" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke response
end tell

promptlab-keystroke-demo.webm

Does the script work for you the same as in the video above? If not, you can ignore the rest of this.

---

Based on what you've said, I believe there are two issues at play here.

1. Action Scripts don't report errors. This was originally intentional behavior because errors would break the menu bar extra and cause annoyance, but I'm sure I can find a better solution now.
2. Something in PromptLab is causing your script to throw an error. I'll discuss that below.

The script you enter gets wrapped in a larger AppleScript containing variables and convenience handlers, but it is otherwise left unmodified except for placeholder substitutions, which can cause unexpected errors. Not sure if that's relevant here—does your script use any placeholders? If so, you may want to use a JS placeholder and the placeholder functions available in that context (see here for an example).

If placeholders aren't the issue, could you share a script (with personal info/secrets removed) that exhibits the issue? I'd need to investigate further to find the root cause.