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Multi-step prompts

You can use multi-step prompts to separate large tasks into multiple reviewable steps. Use a multi-step prompt when a task is too large to verify in one response. You can save a multi-step prompt as a command, or enter one directly into the Zide Assist message box.

Create a multi-step command

Steps in a multi-step prompt are separated with --- on a blank line.

To create a command with a multi-step prompt, complete the following steps.

  1. In the Commands activity, click New Command.
  2. Click New Global Command to create a global command or New Project Command to create a project command. A blank command is created in either the Global section or Project section.
  3. Enter the name of the command in the Display Name field. The display name is also the command name used to run it in Zide Assist.
  4. Optional: Enter the description of the command in the Description field.
  5. Optional: To add an input to the command, click New Input. Input types are text, textarea, bool, and enum.
  6. Enter what the command should do in the Prompt field. Separate steps with --- on a blank line.
  7. Click Enable multi-step processing to make it a multi-step prompt.
  8. Optional: Click Auto-submit steps to enable Zide to go through each step automatically. You can set the amount of time between each step in the Delay between steps field.
  9. Click Save. Zide automatically detects the number of steps.

Run a multi-step prompt

To run a saved multi-step command, type a forward slash, /, followed by the command name into the Zide Assist message box and then click Send. You can also enter a multi-step prompt directly into the Zide Assist message box.

The Zide Assist tab lists which step you are currently on out of how many steps there are. When steps run manually, click Next to advance to the next step; when they auto-submit, Zide advances on its own. Click Cancel to stop the run at any point.

The remaining steps appear as an editable list. Edit a step in the list to change it before it sends, or click its × to drop it. You can also queue an ad-hoc follow-up during a run, from the caret beside Send: it is added to the end of the list as another step. Multi-step runs and queued follow-ups are the same thing, an ordered list of messages Zide sends in turn.

Multi-step text in the message box stays an ordered run even while Zide is working, so Send queues those steps behind the current turn rather than handing them over as guidance. Choose Send as One Message from the caret if you want the whole text to redirect the running turn instead. Plain text sent while Zide is working redirects the current turn; see Redirect Zide while it is working.

Multi-step command files on disk

Like any command, a multi-step command can be authored by hand as a Markdown file with YAML frontmatter. For the file locations and the general format, see Command files on disk. A multi-step command adds these frontmatter fields:

  • mode: prompt-script marks the command as multi-step.
  • auto-submit: false runs the steps manually. Auto-submit is on by default when mode is prompt-script.
  • delay sets the pause between auto-submitted steps, written as a number of seconds (for example, delay: 2s).

Separate the steps in the prompt body with --- on its own line, the same separator you use in the editor. Input placeholders work in every step.

For more information about commands, see Commands.