steno

name	steno
description	Expand a mind-numbingly short alias into a full, well-formed prompt for a common dev task — explain, review, tests, docstrings, types, fix, optimize, simplify, names, regex, sql, shell, tldr, commit message, PR description — optionally running it against a model. Use when the user references a steno alias, asks to compose a standard dev prompt quickly, or wants the alias vocabulary.

steno

two letters, and the prompt writes itself.

steno turns short aliases into full prompts for the things you ask an LLM all day, splicing in a file, free text, or git diff.

When to use

• The user names a steno alias (e.g. "steno r app.py", "use steno to review …").
• They want a standard request composed fast: review, tests, explain, types, optimize, simplify, names, regex, sql, shell, tldr, commit message (c), PR description (pr).
• To build a prompt to pipe elsewhere, or to run directly with --run.

How to run it

If installed on the PATH (via just install steno):

steno ls                      # list every alias (built-in + user)
steno r src/app.py            # review → prints the expanded prompt
steno t utils.py              # tests
steno c                       # commit message from `git diff --cached`
steno rx "match an iso date"  # free-text input instead of a file
steno r app.py --run          # send it to an LLM (auto-detects the provider)
steno r app.py --run --provider gemini   # or name a provider/--model

--run works with any of ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / OPENAI_API_KEY / GEMINI_API_KEY, plus that provider's SDK. It auto-detects the provider from the key that's set; override with --provider {anthropic,openai,gemini} and --model.

Otherwise run it from the bag-of-tricks repo: python3 steno/steno.py.

Input resolves as: --text, then file arg(s), then literal text, then stdin; c and pr fall back to git diff. Add aliases in ~/.config/steno/aliases.txt (or $STENO_ALIASES): one alias prompt text {input} per line.

Output

In Claude Code you are the model steno would call, so don't stop at the expanded prompt — answer it and deliver that result (the commit message, the review, the regex). Don't narrate running steno, no preamble, no closing note. Hand back the bare expanded prompt only when the user explicitly wants the prompt text itself to pipe or paste elsewhere. (Standalone in a terminal, --run is what sends it to the API; in chat that step is just you answering.)

See README.md in this folder for the full reference.