Demo Scripts

A comprehensive demo suite can be found at https://github.com/swiftDialog/demo

swiftDialog Comprehensive Demo Suite

A collection of zsh scripts that demonstrate every major feature of swiftDialog through an interactive, self-guided tour.

Requirements

macOS 15 or newer
swiftDialog 3 or newer

Quick Start

# clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/swiftDialog/demo.git swiftDialog-demo

# or download the zip
curl -sL "https://github.com/swiftDialog/demo/archive/refs/heads/main.zip" -o swiftDialog-demo.zip && unzip swiftDialog-demo.zip -d swiftDialog-demo

cd swiftDialog-demo
./run_demos.zsh

The main controller uses swiftDialog itself — pick demos with checkboxes, then step through each one.

AI Skills for swiftDialog Authoring

New to swiftDialog? Start with the official swiftDialog Builder page for orientation and visual prototyping, then use one of the repo-contained skill packs to turn that understanding into repo-style shell scripts. Builder is useful, but it is not comprehensive and it does not replace final sizing, cleanup, and workflow decisions.

Available Skills

codex-swiftdialog-builder — For GitHub Copilot / OpenAI Codex

SKILL.md — Codex workflow and tier selection
references/ — Demo mapping and authoring guidance
assets/templates/ — Starter shell scripts
Includes a Jamf/root-run /var/tmp plus ownership-handoff pattern for command-file workflows launched as root

claude-swiftdialog-builder — For Claude Sonnet

CLAUDE.md — Claude workflow and tier selection
references/ — Demo mapping and authoring guidance
templates/ — Starter shell scripts
Includes a Jamf/root-run /var/tmp plus ownership-handoff pattern for command-file workflows launched as root

Both skills follow the same repo conventions and produce identical script output — choose the one that matches your AI platform. See skills/README.md for detailed usage instructions.

These are skill packs for AI assistants, not runnable demos in the suite.

AI-Assisted Development Playground

After exploring the demo suite and understanding swiftDialog’s capabilities, use the playground/ directory to create your own custom scripts with AI assistance. The playground includes a comprehensive step-by-step guide that shows you how to:

Work with AI assistants (Claude, Copilot) using the bundled skills
Choose the right tier for your workflow (basic dialogs → forms → progress updates → inspect mode)
Follow detailed real-world scenarios with exact prompts and expected AI interactions
Build production-ready scripts for Mac Admin tasks (onboarding, compliance, deployment, monitoring, destructive-action confirmation)

Start here: playground/README.md — Your workspace for AI-assisted swiftDialog script development.

Demo Index

01_basic_styles.zsh — --style (alert, caution, warning, centered), style overrides
02_title_message.zsh — --title, --titlefont, --message, --messagefont, --messagealignment, --messageposition, --bannertitle, title “none”
03_icons.zsh — --icon (SF Symbols, apps, builtins, QR, palette, auto colour, weight), --iconsize, --iconalpha, --centreicon, --overlayicon, --hideicon
04_buttons.zsh — --button1text, --button1symbol, --button1disabled, --button2text, --button2symbol, --infobuttontext, --infobuttonsymbol, --infobuttonaction, --buttonstyle (center, stack), --buttonsize, --buttontextsize, --hidedefaultkeyboardaction
05_images_banners.zsh — --image, --imagecaption, --bannerimage, --bannertitle, --bannertext, --background, --bgalpha, --bgposition, --bgfill
06_progress_timer.zsh — --progress (absolute, increment, reset, complete), --progresstext, --progresstextalignment, --timer, --hidetimerbar, command file progress updates
07_text_fields.zsh — --textfield (required, secure, prompt, value, regex, regexerror, confirm, fileselect, filetype, path, name), --textfieldlivevalidation
08_dropdowns.zsh — --selecttitle, --selectvalues, --selectdefault, modifiers (required, radio, searchable, multiselect, name), dividers
09_checkboxes.zsh — --checkbox (name modifier), --checkboxstyle (checkbox, switch, sizes)
10_list_items.zsh — --listitem (status, statustext, custom SF symbols), --liststyle, --enablelistselect, command file (list:, listitem:, add, delete, index)
11_window_options.zsh — --width, --height, --big, --small, --position, --positionoffset, --moveable, --ontop, --resizable, --windowbuttons, --appearance, --showdockicon, --dockiconbadge
12_command_file.zsh — Full command file tour: title:, titlefont:, message: (+append), alignment:, icon:, overlayicon:, iconalpha:, button1text:, button1:, infotext:, infobox:, icon: centre/left
13_notifications.zsh — --notification, --subtitle, --identifier, --remove
14_mini_presentation.zsh — --mini (with progress), --presentation (with listitem, infobox, progress)
15_web_video.zsh — --webcontent, --video (youtube= shortcut), --videocaption, --autoplay
16_json_input.zsh — --jsonstring, --jsonfile, JSON arrays for checkboxes, selectitems, textfields, images
17_fullscreen_blur.zsh — --fullscreen, --blurscreen, --hideotherapps
18_misc_features.zsh — --helpmessage, --infotext, --infobox, --vieworder, --quitkey, --sound, --showsoundcontrols, --displaylog, --loghistory, --debug, --eula, --alwaysreturninput, auth key/checksum explanation
19_inspect_mode.zsh — --inspect-mode, --inspect-config, --published-sessions-dir, stepType: "cadence", cadenceStyle: "carousel", cadence IPC (cadence:satisfy, cadence:advance, cadence:goto), preset 3 redesign, footer logo, forced appearance, cacheExtensions with aria2
20_branched_workflows.zsh — top-level workflow array, branch.map, branch.default, branch.ifTrue, branch.ifFalse, nextpage, finalpage, history-aware Previous

Running Individual Demos

Each demo script is self-contained:

./demos/06_progress_timer.zsh
./demos/12_command_file.zsh

Notes

Demos that use --blurscreen or --fullscreen will briefly take over the display
Notification demos require notification permissions for swiftDialog
Some image demos use system desktop pictures which may vary by macOS version
Demo 19 now focuses on the v3.1.0b4 inspect refresh, including cadence carousel, preset 3 compact redesign, session publishing, and a companion managed-preference sample JSON.
Demos 19 and 20 require swiftDialog v3.1.0b4 or newer for cadence and branched workflow support.
See the swiftDialog v3.1.0b4 release notes for the exact feature set covered here.