Pipeline Examples & Ideas

This page contains complete pipeline examples and ideas to inspire your own automations.

Text Transformation

Uppercase

Convert text to uppercase.

Trigger: “uppercase” (Contains)
Command:

tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]'

Lowercase

Convert text to lowercase.

Trigger: “lowercase” (Contains)
Command:

tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'

Title Case

Convert text to title case.

Trigger: “title case” (Contains)
Command:

python3 -c "import sys; print(sys.stdin.read().title())"

Remove Punctuation

Strip all punctuation from text.

Trigger: “no punctuation” (Contains)
Command:

tr -d '[:punct:]'

Reverse Text

Reverse the characters in the text.

Trigger: “reverse this” (Starts with)
Command:

rev

Date & Time

Current Date

Get today’s date in a nice format.

Trigger: “what’s the date” (Exact match)
Command:

date "+%A, %B %d, %Y"

Output: “Monday, January 20, 2025”

Current Time

Get the current time.

Trigger: “what time is it” (Exact match)
Command:

date "+%I:%M %p"

Output: “3:45 PM”

Timestamp

Insert a timestamp.

Trigger: “timestamp” (Exact match)
Command:

date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"

Output: “2025-01-20 15:45:30”

ISO Date

Insert ISO-8601 formatted date.

Trigger: “iso date” (Exact match)
Command:

date -u "+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"

Output: “2025-01-20T22:45:30Z”

Clipboard Operations

Copy Only (No Paste)

Copy text to clipboard without pasting.

Trigger: “just copy” (Starts with)
Command:

pbcopy
# Empty output = skip paste

Paste Clipboard

Paste current clipboard contents.

Trigger: “paste clipboard” (Exact match)
Command:

pbpaste

Append to Clipboard

Add text to existing clipboard content.

Trigger: “append to clipboard” (Starts with)
Command:

content=$(pbpaste)
echo -e "$content\n$(cat)"  | pbcopy

Web & URLs

Google Search

Search Google for the spoken query.

Trigger: “search for” (Starts with)
Command:

query=$(cat | sed 's/^search for //')
encoded=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('$query'))")
open "https://google.com/search?q=$encoded"

Open URL

Open a spoken URL in browser.

Trigger: “open website” (Starts with)
Command:

url=$(cat | sed 's/^open website //')
open "https://$url"

Wikipedia Search

Search Wikipedia.

Trigger: “wikipedia” (Starts with)
Command:

query=$(cat | sed 's/^wikipedia //')
encoded=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('$query'))")
open "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=$encoded"

YouTube Search

Search YouTube.

Trigger: “youtube” (Starts with)
Command:

query=$(cat | sed 's/^youtube //')
encoded=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('$query'))")
open "https://youtube.com/results?search_query=$encoded"

System Control

Open Application

Open a Mac application by name.

Trigger: “open app” (Starts with)
Command:

app=$(cat | sed 's/^open app //')
open -a "$app"

Lock Screen

Lock the Mac.

Trigger: “lock screen” (Exact match)
Command:

pmset displaysleepnow

Empty Trash

Empty the Trash.

Trigger: “empty trash” (Exact match)
Command:

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to empty trash'

Toggle Do Not Disturb

Toggle Focus mode.

Trigger: “do not disturb” (Exact match)
Command:

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "D" using {control down, command down}'

Screenshot

Take a screenshot.

Trigger: “take screenshot” (Exact match)
Command:

screencapture -i ~/Desktop/screenshot-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).png

File Operations

Create Note

Create a quick note file.

Trigger: “new note” (Starts with)
Command:

content=$(cat | sed 's/^new note //')
filename=~/Desktop/note-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).txt
echo "$content" > "$filename"
echo "Note saved to Desktop"

Append to File

Append text to a specific file.

Trigger: “add to journal” (Starts with)
Command:

content=$(cat | sed 's/^add to journal //')
echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M'): $content" >> ~/Documents/journal.txt
echo "Added to journal"

Read File

Read contents of a file.

Trigger: “read todo” (Exact match)
Command:

cat ~/Documents/todo.txt

Developer Tools

Git Status

Show git status for current directory.

Trigger: “git status” (Exact match)
Command:

cd ~/Projects/current && git status --short

Format JSON

Pretty-print JSON.

Trigger: “format json” (Starts with)
Command:

python3 -m json.tool

Decode Base64

Decode base64 encoded text.

Trigger: “decode base64” (Starts with)
Command:

cat | sed 's/^decode base64 //' | base64 -d

Encode Base64

Encode text to base64.

Trigger: “encode base64” (Starts with)
Command:

cat | sed 's/^encode base64 //' | base64

Generate UUID

Generate a random UUID.

Trigger: “generate uuid” (Exact match)
Command:

uuidgen | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'

Notifications & Sounds

Show Notification

Display a system notification.

Trigger: “notify” (Starts with)
Command:

message=$(cat | sed 's/^notify //')
osascript -e "display notification \"$message\" with title \"Freeway\""

Say Text

Use text-to-speech to read the text.

Trigger: “say this” (Starts with)
Command:

message=$(cat | sed 's/^say this //')
say "$message" &
echo "$message"

Play Sound

Play a system sound.

Trigger: “play sound” (Exact match)
Command:

afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Glass.aiff &

Math & Calculations

Calculator

Evaluate a math expression.

Trigger: “calculate” (Starts with)
Command:

expr=$(cat | sed 's/^calculate //')
python3 -c "print(eval('$expr'))"

Convert Units

Convert between units (requires units package).

Trigger: “convert” (Starts with)
Command:

# Install with: brew install gnu-units
input=$(cat | sed 's/^convert //')
units "$input" 2>/dev/null || echo "Unknown conversion"

Advanced Examples

Weather (using curl)

Get current weather.

Trigger: “weather” (Exact match)
Command:

curl -s "wttr.in/?format=%l:+%c+%t+%h" 2>/dev/null || echo "Could not fetch weather"

Define Word (using Dictionary)

Look up a word definition.

Trigger: “define” (Starts with)
Command:

word=$(cat | sed 's/^define //')
open "dict://$word"

Translate with Google

Open Google Translate.

Trigger: “translate” (Starts with)
Command:

text=$(cat | sed 's/^translate //')
encoded=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('$text'))")
open "https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=es&text=$encoded"

Pipeline Ideas

Productivity

Meeting timer — Start a countdown timer
Pomodoro — Start/stop Pomodoro sessions
Quick reminder — Create a reminder in Reminders.app

Communication

Email draft — Open Mail with pre-filled content
Slack message — Send to a Slack channel via webhook
SMS — Send text message via Messages.app

Home Automation

HomeKit control — Control smart home devices
Shortcuts — Run iOS/macOS Shortcuts

Development

Run tests — Trigger test suite
Deploy — Trigger deployment script
Open in VS Code — Open current project

Creative

Random quote — Fetch and paste a random quote
Lorem ipsum — Generate placeholder text
Color picker — Open color picker

Tips for Building Pipelines

Start simple — Begin with basic transformations, then add complexity
Use scripts — For complex logic, write a script file
Test in Terminal — Debug commands before adding to Freeway
Handle edge cases — Check for empty input, errors
Chain commands — Use && and || for conditional execution
Background tasks — Use & for commands that don’t need output