Adding a trigger, condition or step

One chooser adds every kind of block. Pick what it's about, then what to do with it, or type to search everything.

Keyboard Maestro: Insert Action by Name, New Action

A macro reads as three sentences: When something happens, Only if something is true, Do these steps. You add to any of them the same way: by finishing the sentence.

Open the chooser #

To add	Press	Or
A step	`⌘⏎`	Click Add a step… under Do
A trigger	`⌥⌘⏎`	Click Add a trigger… under When
A condition	`⌃⌘⏎`	Click Add a condition… under Only if

With an If step selected, ⌃⌘⏎ adds the condition to that If step instead of to the macro.

A new row appears where the block will go, and the chooser opens under it.

Pick what it's about, then what to do #

The left column is what the block is about: the keyboard & mouse, an app, a window, the clipboard, text, a file, the screen, the web, the Mac, a time, you, the flow, a script or agent, a macro. For a trigger the same column reads as what can happen ("the clipboard changes"); for a condition, as what can be true ("the clipboard holds").

The right column is what you can do with it. Each one has a line saying what it does. The one you're on already shows in the new row as a sentence, with blanks for what it needs:

Type ‹text› into the front app

Press ⏎ to add it. The blanks become the fields: click one in the row to fill it in, and press ⇥ to move to the next.

Or type #

Typing searches every block's name, description and keywords, and Keyboard Maestro's names for the same thing. Both columns narrow as you type. A match of another kind shows at the end ("Also as a condition"); pressing ⏎ on it adds it to that row instead.

Nothing matches? The last row offers to Make it with AI from what you typed.

What comes first #

Pinned blocks stay on top. Right-click one and choose Pin.
Suggested blocks come next: what usually follows the block you're on in your own macros, or a sensible start when your library is new. The header says why ("after Click, in 7 of your macros").
Then the ones you use most, then the ones you added most recently.

A blue dot on the left marks an entry with something pinned or suggested in it.

Where blocks come from #

Built-in blocks show no source. Others say where they come from in small type: an app's own actions ("Day app"), an extension, an imported web API or command-line tool, one of your macros, or a State. An app or extension with eight or more blocks of one kind gets its own row in the left column.

A block from an extension that isn't installed shows dimmed with Install … to use this.

Keys #

Key	Does
Type	Search
`↑` `↓`	Move in a column
`⇥` `⇧⇥`	Move between the search, the left column and the right column
`→` `←`	Into what you can do, and back
`⌘1`–`⌘9`	Highlight an entry by position
`⏎`	Add
`⌥⏎`	Add, and open its page in the documentation
`⎋`	Close without adding

Adding is one step in Edit › Undo.