URL scheme

Open any of these with open, a Shortcut’s Open URL action, or a link.

URL	Does
cleat://toggle	Open or close the palette
cleat://show?q=text	Open with a query
cleat://hide	Close
cleat://clipboard	Clipboard history
cleat://snippets	Snippets
cleat://emoji	Emoji
cleat://translate?q=text	Translate the text
cleat://ask?q=question	Ask Apple Intelligence
cleat://menu	Menu bar search for the front app
cleat://shortcuts	Shortcuts
cleat://agenda, cleat://reminders, cleat://contacts, cleat://notes	The personal tools
cleat://layouts	Window layouts
cleat://directory	Command directory
cleat://install?url=…	Install a command from a URL
cleat://color	The screen colour loupe
cleat://ocr	Copy text from a screen region
cleat://dictate	Toggle dictation
cleat://command/<name>	Run a script command by name
cleat://window/<position>	Snap the front window: left-half, maximize, next-display and so on
cleat://bookmarks	Browser bookmarks
cleat://timers, cleat://alarms	Timers and alarms
cleat://timer?q=25m	Start a timer without opening the palette
cleat://tasks	The task list
cleat://task?q=buy%20milk%20tomorrow	Add a task directly
cleat://processes	Activity Monitor
cleat://usage	Screen time
cleat://break?q=5	Start a five-minute break now
cleat://preferences	System Settings panes
cleat://launchpad	The app grid
cleat://shelf	The file shelf
cleat://camera	The camera preview
cleat://privacy	Toggle privacy mode
cleat://settings, cleat://settings/search	Open settings, optionally straight to a tab
cleat://tabs?q=github	Browser tabs, filtered
cleat://recent	Recent files
cleat://shell?q=uptime	The palette with a shell line ready to run
cleat://media/playpause, next, previous, volumeup, volumedown, mute, brightnessup, brightnessdown	Media keys, volume and brightness without opening the palette
cleat://layout/next, cleat://layout/<name>	Switch keyboard layout
cleat://message?q=anna, cleat://call?q=anna, cleat://email?q=anna, cleat://facetime?q=anna	Contacts with that action on Return

Each query parameter is percent-encoded as usual. From a shell: open "cleat://ask?q=explain%20a%20git%20rebase".

What this is for

Three things, mostly. Binding a Cleat action to a Stream Deck key or a hardware button, since most of those tools can open a URL. Calling Cleat from a shell script or a Makefile. And chaining Cleat into a Shortcut alongside actions from other apps.

Running one from the shell

open "cleat://ask?q=explain%20a%20git%20rebase"
open "cleat://window/left-half"
open -g "cleat://clipboard"

open -g leaves the current app frontmost, which matters because Cleat pastes into whatever you came from.

Window positions

cleat://window/<position> takes the same names the palette uses, lowercased with hyphens: left-half, right-half, top-left-quarter, left-third, left-two-thirds, maximize, center, next-display.

App Intents instead

If you are writing a Shortcut rather than a script, use Cleat’s App Intents rather than URLs. They return values you can pass to the next action, which a URL cannot. See Shortcuts and App Shortcuts.