Espanso Dynamic Forms

Use this skill when building or maintaining dynamic Espanso forms where a script/binary generates form layout text at runtime.

This skill is implementation-language agnostic: the generator can be Rust, Python, shell, or another runtime as long as it follows the contract.

What this skill gives you

• A portable runtime contract for dynamic form generators.
• Reusable scaffold generation for provider-based layouts.
• YAML linting for contract consistency.
• Patterns and anti-patterns for dynamic forms.
• Latency-safe output/clipboard behavior guidance.

Runtime contract

Required keys:

• ESPANSO_FORM_OPERATION
• ESPANSO_FORM_PROVIDER

Optional provider inputs:

• ESPANSO_FORM_FIELD_<name>

Rule:

• layout generator prints only layout text to stdout.

Read first:

• references/dynamic-form-contract.md

Workflow

1. Design provider contract and field names.
2. Scaffold starter snippets:

python3 scripts/scaffold_dynamic_form.py \
  --provider html-trunc \
  --fields html_text,max_items \
  --operation layout \
  --format all

3. Implement provider logic in your chosen language.
4. Wire YAML layout_generator args to contract keys.
5. Lint YAML contract usage:

python3 scripts/lint_dynamic_form_yaml.py path/to/match-file.yml --strict

6. Run skill smoke checks:

bash scripts/validate-skill-examples.sh

Output and clipboard policy

For low-latency expansions:

• prefer print_only when replacement payload is already emitted by the script output
• if clipboard side effects are needed, do best-effort writes outside the critical path
• do not replace user payload with status text like Copied to clipboard

Read:

• references/clipboard-latency.md

Reference map

• Contract and key naming:
  references/dynamic-form-contract.md
• Good/bad architecture decisions:
  references/patterns-and-antipatterns.md
• End-to-end examples:
  references/examples.md
• Latency behavior:
  references/clipboard-latency.md