dotemacs

My Emacs configuration
git clone git://git.entf.net/dotemacs
Log | Files | Refs | LICENSE

README.org (58131B)


      1 #+TITLE: Embark: Emacs Mini-Buffer Actions Rooted in Keymaps
      2 #+OPTIONS: d:nil
      3 #+EXPORT_FILE_NAME: embark.texi
      4 #+TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY: Emacs misc features
      5 #+TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE: Embark: (embark).
      6 #+TEXINFO_DIR_DESC: Emacs Mini-Buffer Actions Rooted in Keymaps
      7 
      8 #+html: <a href="http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/embark.html"><img alt="GNU ELPA" src="https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/embark.svg"/></a>
      9 #+html: <a href="http://elpa.gnu.org/devel/embark.html"><img alt="GNU-devel ELPA" src="https://elpa.gnu.org/devel/embark.svg"/></a>
     10 #+html: <a href="https://melpa.org/#/embark"><img alt="MELPA" src="https://melpa.org/packages/embark-badge.svg"/></a>
     11 #+html: <a href="https://stable.melpa.org/#/embark"><img alt="MELPA Stable" src="https://stable.melpa.org/packages/embark-badge.svg"/></a>
     12 
     13 * Overview
     14 
     15 Embark makes it easy to choose a command to run based on what is near
     16 point, both during a minibuffer completion session (in a way familiar
     17 to Helm or Counsel users) and in normal buffers. Bind the command
     18 =embark-act= to a key and it acts like prefix-key for a keymap of
     19 /actions/ (commands) relevant to the /target/ around point. With point on
     20 an URL in a buffer you can open the URL in a browser or eww or
     21 download the file it points to. If while switching buffers you spot an
     22 old one, you can kill it right there and continue to select another.
     23 Embark comes preconfigured with over a hundred actions for common
     24 types of targets such as files, buffers, identifiers, s-expressions,
     25 sentences; and it is easy to add more actions and more target types.
     26 Embark can also collect all the candidates in a minibuffer to an
     27 occur-like buffer or export them to a buffer in a major-mode specific
     28 to the type of candidates, such as dired for a set of files, ibuffer
     29 for a set of buffers, or customize for a set of variables.
     30 
     31 ** Acting on targets
     32 
     33 You can think of =embark-act= as a keyboard-based version of a
     34 right-click contextual menu. The =embark-act= command (which you should
     35 bind to a convenient key), acts as a prefix for a keymap offering you
     36 relevant /actions/ to use on a /target/ determined by the context:
     37 
     38 - In the minibuffer, the target is the current top completion
     39   candidate.
     40 - In the =*Completions*= buffer the target is the completion at point.
     41 - In a regular buffer, the target is the region if active, or else the
     42   file, symbol, URL, s-expression or defun at point.
     43 
     44 Multiple targets can be present at the same location and you can cycle
     45 between them by repeating the =embark-act= key binding. The type of
     46 actions offered depend on the type of the target. Here is a sample of
     47 a few of the actions offered in the default configuration:
     48 
     49 - For files you get offered actions like deleting, copying,
     50   renaming, visiting in another window, running a shell command on the
     51   file, etc.
     52 - For buffers the actions include switching to or killing the buffer.
     53 - For package names the actions include installing, removing or
     54   visiting the homepage.
     55 - For Emacs Lisp symbols the actions include finding the definition,
     56   looking up documentation, evaluating (which for a variable
     57   immediately shows the value, but for a function lets you pass it
     58   some arguments first). There are some actions specific to variables,
     59   such as setting the value directly or though the customize system,
     60   and some actions specific to commands, such as binding it to a key.
     61 
     62 By default when you use =embark-act= if you don't immediately select an
     63 action, after a short delay Embark will pop up a buffer showing a list
     64 of actions and their corresponding key bindings. If you are using
     65 =embark-act= outside the minibuffer, Embark will also highlight the
     66 current target. These behaviors are configurable via the variable
     67 =embark-indicators=. Instead of selecting an action via its key binding,
     68 you can select it by name with completion by typing =C-h= after
     69 =embark-act=.
     70 
     71 Everything is easily configurable: determining the current target,
     72 classifying it, and deciding which actions are offered for each type
     73 in the classification. The above introduction just mentions part of
     74 the default configuration.
     75 
     76 Configuring which actions are offered for a type is particularly easy
     77 and requires no programming: the variable =embark-keymap-alist=
     78 associates target types with variables containing keymaps, and those
     79 keymaps containing bindings for the actions. (To examine the available
     80 categories and their associated keymaps, you can use =C-h v
     81 embark-keymap-alist= or customize that variable.) For example, in the
     82 default configuration the type =file= is associated with the symbol
     83 =embark-file-map=. That symbol names a keymap with single-letter key
     84 bindings for common Emacs file commands, for instance =c= is bound to
     85 =copy-file=. This means that if you are in the minibuffer after running
     86 a command that prompts for a file, such as =find-file= or =rename-file=,
     87 you can copy a file by running =embark-act= and then pressing =c=.
     88 
     89 These action keymaps are very convenient but not strictly necessary
     90 when using =embark-act=: you can use any command that reads from the
     91 minibuffer as an action and the target of the action will be inserted
     92 at the first minibuffer prompt. After running =embark-act= all of your
     93 key bindings and even =execute-extended-command= can be used to run a
     94 command. For example, if you want to replace all occurrences of the
     95 symbol at point, just use =M-%= as the action, there is no need to bind
     96 =query-replace= in one of Embark's keymaps. Also, those action keymaps
     97 are normal Emacs keymaps and you should feel free to bind in them
     98 whatever commands you find useful as actions and want to be available
     99 through convenient bindings.
    100 
    101 The actions in =embark-general-map= are available no matter what type
    102 of completion you are in the middle of. By default this includes
    103 bindings to save the current candidate in the kill ring and to insert
    104 the current candidate in the previously selected buffer (the buffer
    105 that was current when you executed a command that opened up the
    106 minibuffer).
    107 
    108 Emacs's minibuffer completion system includes metadata indicating the
    109 /category/ of what is being completed. For example, =find-file='s
    110 metadata indicates a category of =file= and =switch-to-buffer='s metadata
    111 indicates a category of =buffer=. Embark has the related notion of the
    112 /type/ of a target for actions, and by default when category metadata
    113 is present it is taken to be the type of minibuffer completion
    114 candidates when used as targets. Emacs commands often do not set
    115 useful category metadata so the [[https://github.com/minad/marginalia][Marginalia]] package, which supplies
    116 this missing metadata, is highly recommended for use with Embark.
    117 
    118 Embark's default configuration has actions for the following target
    119 types: files, buffers, symbols, packages, URLs, bookmarks, and as a
    120 somewhat special case, actions for when the region is active. You can
    121 read about the [[https://github.com/oantolin/embark/wiki/Default-Actions][default actions and their key bindings]] on the GitHub
    122 project wiki.
    123 
    124 ** The default action on a target
    125 
    126 Embark has a notion of default action for a target:
    127 
    128 - If the target is a minibuffer completion candidate, then the default
    129   action is whatever command opened the minibuffer in the first place.
    130   For example if you run =kill-buffer=, then the default action will be
    131   to kill buffers.
    132 - If the target comes from a regular buffer (i.e., not a minibuffer),
    133   then the default action is whatever is bound to =RET= in the keymap of
    134   actions for that type of target. For example, in Embark's default
    135   configuration for a URL found at point the default action is
    136   =browse-url=, because =RET= is bound to =browse-url= in the =embark-url-map=
    137   keymap.
    138 
    139 To run the default action you can press =RET= after running =embark-act=.
    140 Note that if there are several different targets at a given location,
    141 each has its own default action, so first cycle to the target you want
    142 and then press =RET= to run the corresponding default action.
    143 
    144 There is also =embark-dwim= which runs the default action for the first
    145 target found. It's pretty handy in non-minibuffer buffers: with
    146 Embark's default configuration it will:
    147 
    148 - Open the file at point.
    149 - Open the URL at point in a web browser (using the =browse-url=
    150   command).
    151 - Compose a new email to the email address at point.
    152 - In an Emacs Lisp buffer, if point is on an opening parenthesis or
    153   right after a closing one, it will evaluate the corresponding
    154   expression.
    155 - Go to the definition of an Emacs Lisp function, variable or macro at
    156   point.
    157 - Find the file corresponding to an Emacs Lisp library at point.
    158 
    159 ** Working with sets of possible targets
    160 
    161 Besides acting individually on targets, Embark lets you work
    162 collectively on a set of target /candidates/. For example, while you are
    163 in the minibuffer the candidates are simply the possible completions
    164 of your input. Embark provides three main commands to work on candidate
    165 sets:
    166 
    167 - The =embark-act-all= command runs the same action on each of the
    168   current candidates. It is just like using =embark-act= on each
    169   candidate in turn. (Because you can easily act on many more
    170   candidates than you meant to, by default Embark asks you to confirm
    171   uses of =embark-act-all=; you can turn this off by setting the user
    172   option =embark-confirm-act-all= to =nil=.)
    173 
    174 - The =embark-collect= command produces a buffer listing all the current
    175   candidates, for you to peruse and run actions on at your leisure.
    176   The candidates are displayed as a list showing additional annotations.
    177 
    178   The Embark Collect buffer is somewhat "dired-like": you can select
    179   and deselect candidates through the =embark-select= action (bound to
    180   =SPC=). In an Embark Collect buffer =embark-act= is bound to =a= and
    181   =embark-act-all= is bound to =A=; =embark-act-all= will act on all
    182   currently marked candidates if there any, and will act on all
    183   candidates if none are marked. In particular, this means that =a SPC=
    184   will toggle whether the candidate at point is selected, and =A SPC=
    185   will select all candidates if none are selected, or deselect all
    186   selected candidates if there are some.
    187 
    188 - The =embark-export= command tries to open a buffer in an appropriate
    189   major mode for the set of candidates. If the candidates are files
    190   export produces a Dired buffer; if they are buffers, you get an
    191   Ibuffer buffer; and if they are packages you get a buffer in
    192   package menu mode.
    193 
    194   If you use the grepping commands from the [[https://github.com/minad/consult/][Consult]] package,
    195   =consult-grep=, =consult-git-grep= or =consult-ripgrep=, then you should
    196   install the =embark-consult= package, which adds support for exporting a
    197   list of grep results to an honest grep-mode buffer, on which you can
    198   even use [[https://github.com/mhayashi1120/Emacs-wgrep][wgrep]] if you wish.
    199 
    200 When in doubt choosing between exporting and collecting, a good rule
    201 of thumb is to always prefer =embark-export= since when an exporter to a
    202 special major mode is available for a given type of target, it will be
    203 more featureful than an Embark collect buffer, and if no such exporter
    204 is configured the =embark-export= command falls back to the generic
    205 =embark-collect=.
    206 
    207 These commands are always available as "actions" (although they do not
    208 act on just the current target but on all candidates) for =embark-act=
    209 and are bound to =A=, =S= (for "snapshot"), and =E=, respectively, in
    210 =embark-general-map=. This means that you do not have to bind your own
    211 key bindings for these (although you can, of course!), just a key
    212 binding for =embark-act=.
    213 
    214 In Embark Collect or Embark Export buffers that were obtained by
    215 running =embark-collect= or =embark-export= from within a minibuffer
    216 completion session, =g= is bound to a command that restarts the
    217 completion session, that is, the command that opened the minibuffer is
    218 run again and the minibuffer contents restored. You can then interact
    219 normally with the command, perhaps editing the minibuffer contents,
    220 and, if you wish, you can rerun =embark-collect= or =embark-export= to get
    221 an updated buffer.
    222 
    223 *** Selecting some targets to make an ad hoc candidate set
    224 
    225 The commands for working with sets of candidates just described,
    226 namely =embark-act-all=, =embark-export= and =embark-collect= by default
    227 work with all candidates defined in the current context. For example,
    228 in the minibuffer they operate on all currently completion candidates,
    229 or in a dired buffer they work on all marked files (or all files if
    230 none are marked). Embark also has a notion of /selection/, where you can
    231 accumulate an ad hoc list of targets for these commands to work on.
    232 
    233 The selection is controlled by using the =embark-select= action (which
    234 must be run as an action through =embark-act=), bound to =SPC= in
    235 =embark-general-map= so that it is always available. Calling this action
    236 on a target toggles its membership in the current buffer's Embark
    237 selection; that is, it adds it to selection if not selected and
    238 removes it from the selection if it was selected. Whenever the
    239 selection for a buffer is non-empty, the commands =embark-act-all=,
    240 =embark-export= and =embark-collect= will act on the selection.
    241 
    242 To deselect all selected targets, you can use the =embark-select= action
    243 through =embark-act-all=, since this will run =embark-select= on each
    244 member of the current selection. Similarly if no targets are selected
    245 and you are in a minibuffer completion session, running =embark-select=
    246 from =embark-act-all= will select all the current completion candidates.
    247 
    248 This functionality is supported everywhere:
    249 
    250 - In the minibuffer this gives a convenient way to act on several
    251   completion candidates that don't follow any simple pattern: just go
    252   through the completions selecting the ones you want, then use
    253   =embark-act-all=. For example, you could attach several files at once
    254   to an email.
    255 - For Embark Collect buffers this functionality enables a dired-like
    256   workflow, in which you mark various candidates and apply an action
    257   to all at once. (It supersedes a previous ad hoc dired-like
    258   interface that was implemented only in Embark Collect buffers, with
    259   a slightly different interface.)
    260 - In a eww buffer you could use this to select various links you wish
    261   to follow up on, and then collect them into a buffer. Similarly,
    262   while reading Emacs's info manual you could select some symbols you
    263   want to read more about and export them to an =apropos-mode= buffer.
    264 - You can use selections in regular text or programming buffers to do
    265   complex editing operations. For example, if you have three
    266   paragraphs scattered over a file and you want to bring them
    267   together, you can select each one, insert them all somewhere and
    268   finally delete all of them (from their original locations).
    269   
    270 
    271 *** =embark-live= a live-updating variant of =embark-collect=
    272 
    273 Finally, there is also an =embark-live= variant of the =embark-collect=
    274 command which automatically updates the collection after each change
    275 in the source buffer. Users of a completion UI that automatically
    276 updates and displays the candidate list (such as Vertico, Icomplete,
    277 Fido-mode, or MCT) will probably not want to use
    278 =embark-live= from the minibuffer as they will then have two live
    279 updating displays of the completion candidates!
    280 
    281 A more likely use of =embark-live= is to be called from a regular buffer
    282 to display a sort of live updating "table of contents" for the buffer.
    283 This depends on having appropriate candidate collectors configured in
    284 =embark-candidate-collectors=. There are not many in Embark's default
    285 configuration, but you can try this experiment: open a dired buffer in
    286 a directory that has very many files, mark a few, and run =embark-live=.
    287 You'll get an Embark Collect buffer containing only the marked files,
    288 which updates as you mark or unmark files in dired. To make
    289 =embark-live= genuinely useful other candidate collectors are required.
    290 The =embark-consult= package (documented near the end of this manual)
    291 contains a few: one for imenu items and one for outline headings as
    292 used by =outline-minor-mode=. Those collectors really do give
    293 =embark-live= a table-of-contents feel.
    294 
    295 ** Switching to a different command without losing what you've typed
    296 
    297 Embark also has the =embark-become= command which is useful for when
    298 you run a command, start typing at the minibuffer and realize you
    299 meant a different command. The most common case for me is that I run
    300 =switch-to-buffer=, start typing a buffer name and realize I haven't
    301 opened the file I had in mind yet! I'll use this situation as a
    302 running example to illustrate =embark-become=. When this happens I can,
    303 of course, press =C-g= and then run =find-file= and open the file, but
    304 this requires retyping the portion of the file name you already
    305 typed. This process can be streamlined with =embark-become=: while still
    306 in the =switch-to-buffer= you can run =embark-become= and effectively
    307 make the =switch-to-buffer= command become =find-file= for this run.
    308 
    309 You can bind =embark-become= to a key in =minibuffer-local-map=, but it is
    310 also available as an action under the letter =B= (uppercase), so you
    311 don't need a binding if you already have one for =embark-act=. So,
    312 assuming I have =embark-act= bound to, say, =C-.=, once I realize I
    313 haven't open the file I can type =C-. B C-x C-f= to have
    314 =switch-to-buffer= become =find-file= without losing what I have already
    315 typed in the minibuffer.
    316 
    317 But for even more convenience, =embark-become= offers shorter key
    318 bindings for commands you are likely to want the current command to
    319 become. When you use =embark-become= it looks for the current command in
    320 all keymaps named in the list =embark-become-keymaps= and then activates
    321 all keymaps that contain it. For example, the default value of
    322 =embark-become-keymaps= contains a keymap =embark-become-file+buffer-map=
    323 with bindings for several commands related to files and buffers, in
    324 particular, it binds =switch-to-buffer= to =b= and =find-file= to =f=. So when
    325 I accidentally try to switch to a buffer for a file I haven't opened
    326 yet, =embark-become= finds that the command I ran, =switch-to-buffer=, is
    327 in the keymap =embark-become-file+buffer-map=, so it activates that
    328 keymap (and any others that also contain a binding for
    329 =switch-to-buffer=). The end result is that I can type =C-. B f= to
    330 switch to =find-file=.
    331 
    332 * Quick start
    333 
    334 The easiest way to install Embark is from GNU ELPA, just run =M-x
    335 package-install RET embark RET=. (It is also available on MELPA.) It is
    336 highly recommended to also install [[https://github.com/minad/marginalia][Marginalia]] (also available on GNU
    337 ELPA), so that Embark can offer you preconfigured actions in more
    338 contexts. For =use-package= users, the following is a very reasonable
    339 starting configuration:
    340 
    341 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    342   (use-package marginalia
    343     :ensure t
    344     :config
    345     (marginalia-mode))
    346 
    347   (use-package embark
    348     :ensure t
    349 
    350     :bind
    351     (("C-." . embark-act)         ;; pick some comfortable binding
    352      ("C-;" . embark-dwim)        ;; good alternative: M-.
    353      ("C-h B" . embark-bindings)) ;; alternative for `describe-bindings'
    354 
    355     :init
    356 
    357     ;; Optionally replace the key help with a completing-read interface
    358     (setq prefix-help-command #'embark-prefix-help-command)
    359 
    360     ;; Show the Embark target at point via Eldoc.  You may adjust the Eldoc
    361     ;; strategy, if you want to see the documentation from multiple providers.
    362     (add-hook 'eldoc-documentation-functions #'embark-eldoc-first-target)
    363     ;; (setq eldoc-documentation-strategy #'eldoc-documentation-compose-eagerly)
    364 
    365     :config
    366 
    367     ;; Hide the mode line of the Embark live/completions buffers
    368     (add-to-list 'display-buffer-alist
    369                  '("\\`\\*Embark Collect \\(Live\\|Completions\\)\\*"
    370                    nil
    371                    (window-parameters (mode-line-format . none)))))
    372 
    373   ;; Consult users will also want the embark-consult package.
    374   (use-package embark-consult
    375     :ensure t ; only need to install it, embark loads it after consult if found
    376     :hook
    377     (embark-collect-mode . consult-preview-at-point-mode))
    378 #+end_src
    379 
    380 About the suggested key bindings for =embark-act= and =embark-dwim=:
    381 - Those key bindings are unlikely to work in the terminal, but
    382   terminal users are probably well aware of this and will know to
    383   select different bindings.
    384 - The suggested =C-.= binding is used by default in (at least some
    385   installations of) GNOME to input emojis, and Emacs doesn't even get
    386   a chance to respond to the binding. You can select a different key
    387   binding for =embark-act= or use =ibus-setup= to change the shortcut for
    388   emoji insertion (Emacs 29 will likely use =C-x 8 e e=, in case you
    389   want to set the same one system-wide).
    390 - The suggested alternative of =M-.= for =embark-dwim= is bound by default
    391   to =xref-find-definitions=. That is a very useful command but
    392   overwriting it with =embark-dwim= is sensible since in Embark's
    393   default configuration, =embark-dwim= will also find the definition of
    394   the identifier at point. (Note that =xref-find-definitions= with a
    395   prefix argument prompts you for an identifier, =embark-dwim= does not
    396   cover this case).
    397 
    398 Other Embark commands such as =embark-act-all=, =embark-become=,
    399 =embark-collect=, and =embark-export= can be run through =embark-act= as
    400 actions bound to =A=, =B=, =S= (for "snapshot"), and =E= respectively, and
    401 thus don't really need a dedicated key binding, but feel free to bind
    402 them directly if you so wish. If you do choose to bind them directly,
    403 you'll probably want to bind them in =minibuffer-local-map=, since they
    404 are most useful in the minibuffer (in fact, =embark-become= only works
    405 in the minibuffer).
    406 
    407 The command =embark-dwim= executes the default action at point. Another good
    408 keybinding for =embark-dwim= is =M-.= since =embark-dwim= acts like
    409 =xref-find-definitions= on the symbol at point. =C-.= can be seen as a
    410 right-click context menu at point and =M-.= acts like left-click. The
    411 keybindings are mnemonic, both act at the point (=.=).
    412 
    413 Embark needs to know what your minibuffer completion system considers
    414 to be the list of candidates and which one is the current candidate.
    415 Embark works out of the box if you use Emacs's default tab completion,
    416 the built-in =icomplete-mode= or =fido-mode=, or the third-party packages
    417 [[https://github.com/minad/vertico][Vertico]] or [[https://github.com/abo-abo/swiper][Ivy]].
    418 
    419 If you are a [[https://emacs-helm.github.io/helm/][Helm]] or [[https://github.com/abo-abo/swiper][Ivy]] user you are unlikely to want Embark since
    420 those packages include comprehensive functionality for acting on
    421 minibuffer completion candidates. (Embark does come with Ivy
    422 integration despite this.)
    423 
    424 * Advanced configuration
    425 ** Showing information about available targets and actions
    426 
    427 By default, if you run =embark-act= and do not immediately select an
    428 action, after a short delay Embark will pop up a buffer called =*Embark
    429 Actions*= containing a list of available actions with their key
    430 bindings. You can scroll that buffer with the mouse of with the usual
    431 commands =scroll-other-window= and =scroll-other-window-down= (bound by
    432 default to =C-M-v= and =C-M-S-v=).
    433 
    434 That functionality is provided by the =embark-mixed-indicator=, but
    435 Embark has other indicators that can provide information about the
    436 target and its type, what other targets you can cycle to, and which
    437 actions have key bindings in the action map for the current type of
    438 target. Any number of indicators can be active at once and the user
    439 option =embark-indicators= should be set to a list of the desired
    440 indicators.
    441 
    442 Embark comes with the following indicators:
    443 
    444 - =embark-minimal-indicator=: shows a messages in the echo area or
    445   minibuffer prompt showing the current target and the types of all
    446   targets starting with the current one; this one is on by default.
    447 
    448 - =embark-highlight-indicator=: highlights the target at point;
    449   also on by default.
    450 
    451 - =embark-verbose-indicator=: displays a table of actions and their key
    452   bindings in a buffer; this is not on by default, in favor of the
    453   mixed indicator described next.
    454 
    455 - =embark-mixed-indicator=: starts out by behaving as the minimal
    456   indicator but after a short delay acts as the verbose indicator;
    457   this is on by default.
    458 
    459 - =embark-isearch-highlight-indicator=: this only does something when
    460   the current target is the symbol at point, in which case it
    461   lazily highlights all occurrences of that symbol in the current
    462   buffer, like isearch; also on by default.
    463 
    464 Users of the popular [[https://github.com/justbur/emacs-which-key][which-key]] package may prefer to use the
    465 =embark-which-key-indicator= from the [[https://github.com/oantolin/embark/wiki/Additional-Configuration#use-which-key-like-a-key-menu-prompt][Embark wiki]]. Just copy its
    466 definition from the wiki into your configuration and customize the
    467 =embark-indicators= user option to exclude the mixed and verbose
    468 indicators and to include =embark-which-key-indicator=.
    469 
    470 ** Selecting commands via completions instead of key bindings
    471 
    472 As an alternative to reading the list of actions in the verbose or
    473 mixed indicators (see the previous section for a description of
    474 these), you can press the =embark-help-key=, which is =C-h= by default
    475 (but you may prefer =?= to free up =C-h= for use as a prefix) after
    476 running =embark-act=. Pressing the help key will prompt you for the name
    477 of an action with completion (but feel free to enter a command that is
    478 not among the offered candidates!), and will also remind you of the
    479 key bindings. You can press =embark-keymap-prompter-key=, which is =@= by
    480 default, at the prompt and then one of the key bindings to enter the
    481 name of the corresponding action.
    482 
    483 You may think that with the =*Embark Actions*= buffer popping up to
    484 remind you of the key bindings you'd never want to use completion to
    485 select an action by name, but personally I find that typing a small
    486 portion of the action name to narrow down the list of candidates feels
    487 significantly faster than visually scanning the entire list of actions.
    488 
    489 If you find you prefer entering actions that way, you can configure
    490 embark to always prompt you for actions by setting the variable
    491 =embark-prompter= to =embark-completing-read-prompter=.
    492 
    493 ** Quitting the minibuffer after an action
    494 
    495 By default, if you call =embark-act= from the minibuffer it quits the
    496 minibuffer after performing the action. You can change this by setting
    497 the user option =embark-quit-after-action= to =nil=. Having =embark-act= /not/
    498 quit the minibuffer can be useful to turn commands into little "thing
    499 managers". For example, you can use =find-file= as a little file manager
    500 or =describe-package= as a little package manager: you can run those
    501 commands, perform a series of actions, and then quit the command.
    502 
    503 If you want to control the quitting behavior in a fine-grained manner
    504 depending on the action, you can set =embark-quit-after-action= to an
    505 alist, associating commands to either =t= for quitting or =nil= for not
    506 quitting. When using an alist, you can use the special key =t= to
    507 specify the default behavior. For example, to specify that by default
    508 actions should not quit the minibuffer but that using =kill-buffer= as
    509 an action should quit, you can use the following configuration:
    510 
    511 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    512   (setq embark-quit-after-action '((kill-buffer . t) (t . nil)))
    513 #+end_src
    514 
    515 The variable =embark-quit-after-action= only specifies a default, that
    516 is, it only controls whether or not =embark-act= quits the minibuffer
    517 when you call it without a prefix argument, and you can select the
    518 opposite behavior to what the variable says by calling =embark-act= with
    519 =C-u=. Also note that both the variable =embark-quit-after-action= and =C-u=
    520 have no effect when you call =embark-act= outside the minibuffer.
    521 
    522 If you find yourself using the quitting and non-quitting variants of
    523 =embark-act= about equally often, independently of the action, you may
    524 prefer to simply have separate commands for them instead of a single
    525 command that you call with =C-u= half the time. You could, for example,
    526 keep the default exiting behavior of =embark-act= and define a
    527 non-quitting version as follows:
    528 
    529 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    530   (defun embark-act-noquit ()
    531     "Run action but don't quit the minibuffer afterwards."
    532     (interactive)
    533     (let ((embark-quit-after-action nil))
    534       (embark-act)))
    535 #+end_src
    536 
    537 ** Running some setup after injecting the target
    538 
    539 You can customize what happens after the target is inserted at the
    540 minibuffer prompt of an action. There are
    541 =embark-target-injection-hooks=, that are run by default after injecting
    542 the target into the minibuffer. The variable
    543 =embark-target-injection-hooks= is an alist associating commands to
    544 their setup hooks. There are two special keys: if no setup hook is
    545 specified for a given action, the hook associated to =t= is run; and the
    546 hook associated to =:always= is run regardless of the action. (This
    547 variable used to have the less explicit name of
    548 =embark-setup-action-hooks=, so please update your configuration.)
    549 
    550 For example, consider using =shell-command= as an action during file
    551 completion. It would be useful to insert a space before the target
    552 file name and to leave the point at the beginning, so you can
    553 immediately type the shell command to run on that file. That's why in
    554 Embark's default configuration there is an entry in
    555 =embark-target-injection-hooks= associating =shell-command= to a hook that
    556 includes =embark--shell-prep=, a simple helper function that quotes all
    557 the spaces in the file name, inserts an extra space at the beginning
    558 of the line and leaves point to the left of it.
    559 
    560 Now, the preparation that =embark--shell-prep= does would be useless if
    561 Embark did what it normally does after it inserts the target of the
    562 action at the minibuffer prompt, which is to "press =RET=" for you,
    563 accepting the target as is; if Embark did that for =shell-command= you
    564 wouldn't get a chance to type in the command to execute! That is why
    565 in Embark's default configuration the entry for =shell-command= in
    566 =embark-target-injection-hooks= also contains the function
    567 =embark--allow-edit=.
    568 
    569 Embark used to have a dedicated variable =embark-allow-edit-actions= to
    570 which you could add commands for which Embark should forgo pressing
    571 =RET= for you after inserting the target. Since its effect can also be
    572 achieved via the general =embark-target-injection-hooks= mechanism, that
    573 variable has been removed to simply Embark. Be sure to update your
    574 configuration; if you had something like:
    575 
    576 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    577   (add-to-list 'embark-allow-edit-actions 'my-command)
    578 #+end_src
    579 
    580 you should replace it with:
    581 
    582 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    583   (push 'embark--allow-edit
    584         (alist-get 'my-command embark-target-injection-hooks))
    585 #+end_src
    586 
    587 
    588 Also note that while you could abuse =embark--allow-edit= so that you
    589 have to confirm "dangerous" actions such as =delete-file=, it is better
    590 to implement confirmation by adding the =embark--confirm= function to
    591 the appropriate entry of a different hook alist, namely,
    592 =embark-pre-action-hooks=.
    593 
    594 Besides =embark--allow-edit=, Embark comes with another function that is
    595 of general utility in action setup hooks: =embark--ignore-target=. Use
    596 it for commands that do prompt you in the minibuffer but for which
    597 inserting the target would be inappropriate. This is not a common
    598 situation but does occasionally arise. For example it is used by
    599 default for =shell-command-on-region=: that command is used as an action
    600 for region targets, and it prompts you for a shell command; you
    601 typically do /not/ want the target, that is the contents of the region,
    602 to be entered at that prompt!
    603 
    604 ** Running hooks before, after or around an action
    605 
    606 Embark has three variables, =embark-pre-action-hooks=,
    607 =embark-post-action-hooks= and =embark-around-action-hooks=, which are
    608 alists associating commands to hooks that should run before or after
    609 or as around advice for the command when used as an action. As with
    610 =embark-target-injection-hooks=, there are two special keys for the
    611 alists: =t= designates the default hook to run when no specific hook is
    612 specified for a command; and the hook associated to =:always= runs
    613 regardless.
    614 
    615 The default values of those variables are fairly extensive, adding
    616 creature comforts to make running actions a smooth experience. Embark
    617 comes with several functions intended to be added to these hooks, and
    618 used in the default values of =embark-pre-action-hooks=,
    619 =embark-post-action-hooks= and =embark-around-action-hooks=.
    620 
    621 For pre-action hooks:
    622 
    623 - =embark--confirm= :: Prompt the user for confirmation before executing
    624   the action. This is used be default for commands deemed "dangerous",
    625   or, more accurately, hard to undo, such as =delete-file= and
    626   =kill-buffer=.
    627 
    628 - =embark--unmark-target= :: Unmark the active region. Use this for
    629   commands you want to act on the region contents but without the
    630   region being active. The default configuration uses this function as
    631   a pre-action hook for =occur= and =query-replace=, for example, so that
    632   you can use them as actions with region targets to search the whole
    633   buffer for the text contained in the region. Without this pre-action
    634   hook using =occur= as an action for a region target would be
    635   pointless: it would search for the the region contents /in the
    636   region/, (typically, due to the details of regexps) finding only one
    637   match!
    638 
    639 - =embark--beginning-of-target= :: Move to the beginning of the target
    640   (for targets that report bounds). This is used by default for
    641   backward motion commands such as =backward-sexp=, so that they don't
    642   accidentally leave you on the current target.
    643 
    644 - =embark--end-of-target= :: Move to the end of the target. This is used
    645   similarly to the previous function, but also for commands that act
    646   on the last s-expression like =eval-last-sexp=. This allow you to act
    647   on an s-expression from anywhere inside it and still use
    648   =eval-last-sexp= as an action.
    649 
    650 - =embark--xref-push-markers= :: Push the current location on the xref
    651   marker stack. Use this for commands that take you somewhere and for
    652   which you'd like to be able to come back to where you were using
    653   =xref-pop-marker-stack=. This is used by default for =find-library=.
    654 
    655 For post-action hooks:
    656 
    657 - =embark--restart= :: Restart the command currently prompting in the
    658   minibuffer, so that the list of completion candidates is updated.
    659   This is useful as a post action hook for commands that delete or
    660   rename a completion candidate; for example the default value of
    661   =embark-post-action-hooks= uses it for =delete-file=, =kill-buffer=,
    662   =rename-file=, =rename-buffer=, etc.
    663 
    664 For around-action hooks:
    665 
    666 - =embark--mark-target= :: Save existing mark and point location, mark
    667   the target and run the action. Most targets at point outside the
    668   minibuffer report which region of the buffer they correspond to
    669   (this is the information used by =embark-highlight-indicator= to
    670   know what portion of the buffer to highlight); this function marks
    671   that region. It is useful as an around action hook for commands that
    672   expect a region to be marked, for example, it is used by default for
    673   =indent-region= so that it works on s-expression targets, or for
    674   =fill-region= so that it works on paragraph targets.
    675 
    676 - =embark--cd= :: Run the action with =default-directory= set to the
    677   directory associated to the current target. The target should be of
    678   type =file=, =buffer=, =bookmark= or =library=, and the associated directory
    679   is what you'd expect in each case.
    680 
    681 - =embark--narrow-to-target= :: Run the action with buffer narrowed to
    682   current target. Use this as an around hook to localize the effect of
    683   actions that don't already work on just the region. In the default
    684   configuration it is used for =repunctuate-sentences=.
    685 
    686 - =embark--save-excursion= :: Run the action restoring point at the end.
    687   The current default configuration doesn't use this but it is
    688   available for users.
    689 
    690 ** Creating your own keymaps
    691 
    692 All internal keymaps are defined with the standard helper macro
    693 =defvar-keymap=. For example a simple version of the file action keymap
    694 could be defined as follows:
    695 
    696 #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
    697   (defvar-keymap embark-file-map
    698     :doc "Example keymap with a few file actions"
    699     :parent embark-general-map
    700     "d" #'delete-file
    701     "r" #'rename-file
    702     "c" #'copy-file)
    703 #+END_SRC
    704 
    705 These action keymaps are perfectly normal Emacs
    706 keymaps.  You may want to inherit from the =embark-general-map= if you
    707 want to access the default Embark actions. Note that =embark-collect=
    708 and =embark-export= are also made available via =embark-general-map=.
    709 
    710 ** Defining actions for new categories of targets
    711 
    712 It is easy to configure Embark to provide actions for new types of
    713 targets, either in the minibuffer or outside it. I present below two
    714 very detailed examples of how to do this. At several points I'll
    715 explain more than one way to proceed, typically with the easiest
    716 option first. I include the alternative options since there will be
    717 similar situations where the easiest option is not available.
    718 
    719 *** New minibuffer target example - tab-bar tabs
    720 
    721 As an example, take the new [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Tab-Bars.html][tab bars]] from Emacs 27. I'll explain how
    722 to configure Embark to offer tab-specific actions when you use the
    723 tab-bar-mode commands that mention tabs by name. The configuration
    724 explained here is now built-in to Embark (and Marginalia), but it's
    725 still a good self-contained example. In order to setup up tab actions
    726 you would need to: (1) make sure Embark knows those commands deal with
    727 tabs, (2) define a keymap for tab actions and configure Embark so it
    728 knows that's the keymap you want.
    729 
    730 **** Telling Embark about commands that prompt for tabs by name
    731 
    732 For step (1), it would be great if the =tab-bar-mode= commands reported
    733 the completion category =tab= when asking you for a tab with
    734 completion. (All built-in Emacs commands that prompt for file names,
    735 for example, do have metadata indicating that they want a =file=.) They
    736 do not, unfortunately, and I will describe a couple of ways to deal
    737 with this.
    738 
    739 Maybe the easiest thing is to configure [[https://github.com/minad/marginalia][Marginalia]] to enhance those
    740 commands. All of the =tab-bar-*-tab-by-name= commands have the words
    741 "tab by name" in the minibuffer prompt, so you can use:
    742 
    743 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    744   (add-to-list 'marginalia-prompt-categories '("tab by name" . tab))
    745 #+end_src
    746 
    747 That's it! But in case you are ever in a situation where you don't
    748 already have commands that prompt for the targets you want, I'll
    749 describe how writing your own command with appropriate =category=
    750 metadata looks:
    751 
    752 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    753   (defun my-select-tab-by-name (tab)
    754     (interactive
    755      (list
    756       (let ((tab-list (or (mapcar (lambda (tab) (cdr (assq 'name tab)))
    757                                   (tab-bar-tabs))
    758                           (user-error "No tabs found"))))
    759         (completing-read
    760          "Tabs: "
    761          (lambda (string predicate action)
    762            (if (eq action 'metadata)
    763                '(metadata (category . tab))
    764              (complete-with-action
    765               action tab-list string predicate)))))))
    766     (tab-bar-select-tab-by-name tab))
    767 #+end_src
    768 
    769 As you can see, the built-in support for setting the category
    770 meta-datum is not very easy to use or pretty to look at. To help with
    771 this I recommend the =consult--read= function from the excellent
    772 [[https://github.com/minad/consult/][Consult]] package. With that function we can rewrite the command as
    773 follows:
    774 
    775 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    776   (defun my-select-tab-by-name (tab)
    777     (interactive
    778      (list
    779       (let ((tab-list (or (mapcar (lambda (tab) (cdr (assq 'name tab)))
    780                                   (tab-bar-tabs))
    781                           (user-error "No tabs found"))))
    782         (consult--read tab-list
    783                        :prompt "Tabs: "
    784                        :category 'tab))))
    785     (tab-bar-select-tab-by-name tab))
    786 #+end_src
    787 
    788 Much nicer! No matter how you define the =my-select-tab-by-name=
    789 command, the first approach with Marginalia and prompt detection has
    790 the following advantages: you get the =tab= category for all the
    791 =tab-bar-*-bar-by-name= commands at once, also, you enhance built-in
    792 commands, instead of defining new ones.
    793 
    794 **** Defining and configuring a keymap for tab actions
    795 
    796  Let's say we want to offer select, rename and close actions for tabs
    797  (in addition to Embark general actions, such as saving the tab name to
    798  the kill-ring, which you get for free). Then this will do:
    799 
    800  #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    801    (defvar-keymap embark-tab-actions
    802      :doc "Keymap for actions for tab-bar tabs (when mentioned by name)."
    803      :parent embark-general-map
    804      "s" #'tab-bar-select-tab-by-name
    805      "r" #'tab-bar-rename-tab-by-name
    806      "k" #'tab-bar-close-tab-by-name)
    807 
    808    (add-to-list 'embark-keymap-alist '(tab . embark-tab-actions))
    809  #+end_src
    810 
    811  What if after using this for a while you feel closing the tab
    812  without confirmation is dangerous? You have a couple of options:
    813 
    814  1. You can keep using the =tab-bar-close-tab-by-name= command, but have
    815     Embark ask you for confirmation:
    816     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    817       (push #'embark--confirm
    818             (alist-get 'tab-bar-close-tab-by-name
    819                        embark-pre-action-hooks))
    820     #+end_src
    821 
    822  2. You can write your own command that prompts for confirmation and
    823     use that instead of =tab-bar-close-tab-by-name= in the above keymap:
    824     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    825       (defun my-confirm-close-tab-by-name (tab)
    826         (interactive "sTab to close: ")
    827         (when (y-or-n-p (format "Close tab '%s'? " tab))
    828           (tab-bar-close-tab-by-name tab)))
    829     #+end_src
    830 
    831     Notice that this is a command you can also use directly from =M-x=
    832     independently of Embark. Using it from =M-x= leaves something to be
    833     desired, though, since you don't get completion for the tab names.
    834     You can fix this if you wish as described in the previous section.
    835 
    836 *** New target example in regular buffers - short Wikipedia links
    837 
    838 Say you want to teach Embark to treat text of the form
    839 =wikipedia:Garry_Kasparov= in any regular buffer as a link to Wikipedia,
    840 with actions to open the Wikipedia page in eww or an external browser
    841 or to save the URL of the page in the kill-ring. We can take advantage
    842 of the actions that Embark has preconfigured for URLs, so all we need
    843 to do is teach Embark that =wikipedia:Garry_Kasparov= stands for the URL
    844 =https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov=.
    845 
    846 You can be as fancy as you want with the recognized syntax. Here, to
    847 keep the example simple, I'll assume the link matches the regexp
    848 =wikipedia:[[:alnum:]_]+=. We will write a function that looks for a
    849 match surrounding point, and returns a dotted list of the form ='(url
    850 URL-OF-THE-PAGE START . END)= where =START= and =END= are the buffer
    851 positions bounding the target, and are used by Embark to highlight it
    852 if you have =embark-highlight-indicator= included in the list
    853 =embark-indicators=. (There are a couple of other options for the return
    854 value of a target finder: the bounding positions are optional and a
    855 single target finder is allowed to return multiple targets; see the
    856 documentation for =embark-target-finders= for details.)
    857 
    858 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    859   (defun my-short-wikipedia-link ()
    860     "Target a link at point of the form wikipedia:Page_Name."
    861     (save-excursion
    862       (let* ((start (progn (skip-chars-backward "[:alnum:]_:") (point)))
    863              (end (progn (skip-chars-forward "[:alnum:]_:") (point)))
    864              (str (buffer-substring-no-properties start end)))
    865         (save-match-data
    866           (when (string-match "wikipedia:\\([[:alnum:]_]+\\)" str)
    867             `(url
    868               ,(format "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s"
    869                        (match-string 1 str))
    870               ,start . ,end))))))
    871 
    872   (add-to-list 'embark-target-finders 'my-short-wikipedia-link)
    873 #+end_src
    874 
    875 * How does Embark call the actions?
    876 
    877   Embark actions are normal Emacs commands, that is, functions with an
    878   interactive specification. In order to execute an action, Embark
    879   calls the command with =call-interactively=, so the command reads user
    880   input exactly as if run directly by the user. For example the
    881   command may open a minibuffer and read a string
    882   (=read-from-minibuffer=) or open a completion interface
    883   (=completing-read=). If this happens, Embark takes the target string
    884   and inserts it automatically into the minibuffer, simulating user
    885   input this way. After inserting the string, Embark exits the
    886   minibuffer, submitting the input. (The immediate minibuffer exit can
    887   be disabled for specific actions in order to allow editing the
    888   input; this is done by adding the =embark--allow-edit= function to the
    889   appropriate entry of =embark-target-injection-hooks=). Embark inserts
    890   the target string at the first minibuffer opened by the action
    891   command, and if the command happens to prompt the user for input
    892   more than once, the user still interacts with the second and further
    893   prompts in the normal fashion. Note that if a command does not
    894   prompt the user for input in the minibuffer, Embark still allows you
    895   to use it as an action, but of course, never inserts the target
    896   anywhere. (There are plenty of examples in the default configuration
    897   of commands that do not prompt the user bound to keys in the action
    898   maps, most of the region actions, for instance.)
    899 
    900   This is how Embark manages to reuse normal commands as actions. The
    901   mechanism allows you to use as Embark actions commands that were not
    902   written with Embark in mind (and indeed almost all actions that are
    903   bound by default in Embark's action keymaps are standard Emacs
    904   commands). It also allows you to write new custom actions in such a
    905   way that they are useful even without Embark.
    906 
    907   Staring from version 28.1, Emacs has a variable
    908   =y-or-n-p-use-read-key=, which when set to =t= causes =y-or-n-p= to use
    909   =read-key= instead of =read-from-minibuffer=. Setting
    910   =y-or-n-p-use-read-key= to =t= is recommended for Embark users because
    911   it keeps Embark from attempting to insert the target at a =y-or-n-p=
    912   prompt, which would almost never be sensible. Also consider this as
    913   a warning to structure your own action commands so that if they use
    914   =y-or-n-p=, they do so only after the prompting for the target.
    915 
    916   Here is a simple example illustrating the various ways of reading
    917   input from the user mentioned above. Bind the following commands to
    918   the =embark-symbol-map= to be used as actions, then put the point on
    919   some symbol and run them with =embark-act=:
    920 
    921   #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    922     (defun example-action-command1 ()
    923       (interactive)
    924       (message "The input was `%s'." (read-from-minibuffer "Input: ")))
    925 
    926     (defun example-action-command2 (arg input1 input2)
    927       (interactive "P\nsInput 1: \nsInput 2: ")
    928       (message "The first input %swas `%s', and the second was `%s'."
    929                (if arg "truly " "")
    930                input1
    931                input2))
    932 
    933     (defun example-action-command3 ()
    934       (interactive)
    935       (message "Your selection was `%s'."
    936                (completing-read "Select: " '("E" "M" "B" "A" "R" "K"))))
    937 
    938     (defun example-action-command4 ()
    939       (interactive)
    940       (message "I don't prompt you for input and thus ignore the target!"))
    941 
    942     (keymap-set embark-symbol-map "X 1" #'example-action-command1)
    943     (keymap-set embark-symbol-map "X 2" #'example-action-command2)
    944     (keymap-set embark-symbol-map "X 3" #'example-action-command3)
    945     (keymap-set embark-symbol-map "X 4" #'example-action-command4)
    946   #+end_src
    947 
    948   Also note that if you are using the key bindings to call actions,
    949   you can pass prefix arguments to actions in the normal way. For
    950   example, you can use =C-u X2= with the above demonstration actions to
    951   make the message printed by =example-action-command2= more emphatic.
    952   This ability to pass prefix arguments to actions is useful for some
    953   actions in the default configuration, such as
    954   =embark-shell-command-on-buffer=.
    955 
    956 ** Non-interactive functions as actions
    957 
    958   Alternatively, Embark does support one other type of action: a
    959   non-interactive function of a single argument. The target is passed
    960   as argument to the function. For example:
    961 
    962   #+begin_src emacs-lisp
    963     (defun example-action-function (target)
    964       (message "The target was `%s'." target))
    965 
    966     (keymap-set embark-symbol-map "X 4" #'example-action-function)
    967   #+end_src
    968 
    969   Note that normally binding non-interactive functions in a keymap is
    970   useless, since when attempting to run them using the key binding you
    971   get an error message similar to "Wrong type argument: commandp,
    972   example-action-function". In general it is more flexible to write
    973   any new Embark actions as commands, that is, as interactive
    974   functions, because that way you can also run them directly, without
    975   Embark. But there are a couple of reasons to use non-interactive
    976   functions as actions:
    977 
    978   1. You may already have the function lying around, and it is
    979      convenient to simply reuse it.
    980 
    981   2. For command actions the targets can only be simple string, with
    982      no text properties. For certain advanced uses you may want the
    983      action to receive a string /with/ some text properties, or even a
    984      non-string target.
    985 
    986 * Embark, Marginalia and Consult
    987 
    988 Embark cooperates well with the [[https://github.com/minad/marginalia][Marginalia]] and [[https://github.com/minad/consult][Consult]] packages.
    989 Neither of those packages is a dependency of Embark, but both are
    990 highly recommended companions to Embark, for opposite reasons:
    991 Marginalia greatly enhances Embark's usefulness, while Embark can help
    992 enhance Consult.
    993 
    994 In the remainder of this section I'll explain what exactly Marginalia
    995 does for Embark, and what Embark can do for Consult.
    996 
    997 ** Marginalia
    998 
    999 Embark comes with actions for symbols (commands, functions, variables
   1000 with actions such as finding the definition, looking up the
   1001 documentation, evaluating, etc.) in the =embark-symbol-map= keymap, and
   1002 for packages (actions like install, delete, browse url, etc.) in the
   1003 =embark-package-keymap=.
   1004 
   1005 Unfortunately Embark does not automatically offers you these keymaps
   1006 when relevant, because many built-in Emacs commands don't report
   1007 accurate category metadata. For example, a command like
   1008 =describe-package=, which reads a package name from the minibuffer,
   1009 does not have metadata indicating this fact.
   1010 
   1011 In an earlier Embark version, there were functions to supply this
   1012 missing metadata, but they have been moved to Marginalia, which
   1013 augments many Emacs command to report accurate category metadata.
   1014 Simply activating =marginalia-mode= allows Embark to offer you the
   1015 package and symbol actions when appropriate again. Candidate
   1016 annotations in the Embark collect buffer are also provided by the
   1017 Marginalia package:
   1018 
   1019 - If you install Marginalia and activate =marginalia-mode=, Embark
   1020   Collect buffers will use the Marginalia annotations automatically.
   1021 
   1022 - If you don't install Marginalia, you will see only the annotations
   1023   that come with Emacs (such as key bindings in =M-x=, or the unicode
   1024   characters in =C-x 8 RET=).
   1025 
   1026 ** Consult
   1027 
   1028 The excellent Consult package provides many commands that use
   1029 minibuffer completion, via the =completing-read= function; plenty of its
   1030 commands can be considered enhanced versions of built-in Emacs
   1031 commands, and some are completely new functionality. One common
   1032 enhancement provided in all commands for which it makes sense is
   1033 preview functionality, for example =consult-buffer= will show you a
   1034 quick preview of a buffer before you actually switch to it.
   1035 
   1036 If you use both Consult and Embark you should install the
   1037 =embark-consult= package which provides integration between the two. It
   1038 provides exporters for several Consult commands and also tweaks the
   1039 behavior of many Consult commands when used as actions with =embark-act=
   1040 in subtle ways that you may not even notice, but make for a smoother
   1041 experience. You need only install it to get these benefits: Embark
   1042 will automatically load it after Consult if found.
   1043 
   1044 The =embark-consult= package provides the following exporters:
   1045 
   1046 - You can use =embark-export= from =consult-line=, =consult-outline=, or
   1047   =consult-mark= to obtain an =occur-mode= buffer. As with the built-in
   1048   =occur= command you use that buffer to jump to a match and after that,
   1049   you can then use =next-error= and =previous-error= to navigate to other
   1050   matches. You can also press =e= to activate =occur-edit-mode= and edit
   1051   the matches in place!
   1052 
   1053 - You can export from any of the Consult asynchronous search commands,
   1054   =consult-grep=, =consult-git-grep=, or =consult-ripgrep= to get a
   1055   =grep-mode= buffer. Here too you can use =next-error= and =previous-error=
   1056   to navigate among matches, and, if you install the [[http://github.com/mhayashi1120/Emacs-wgrep/raw/master/wgrep.el ][wgrep]] package,
   1057   you can use it to edit the matches in place.
   1058 
   1059 In both cases, pressing =g= will rerun the Consult command you had
   1060 exported from and re-enter the input you had typed (which is similar
   1061 to reverting but a little more flexible). You can then proceed to
   1062 re-export if that's what you want, but you can also edit the input
   1063 changing the search terms or simply cancel if you see you are done
   1064 with that search.
   1065 
   1066 The =embark-consult= also contains some candidates collectors that allow
   1067 you to run =embark-live= to get a live-updating table of contents for
   1068 your buffer:
   1069 
   1070 - =embark-consult-outline-candidates= produces the outline headings of
   1071   the current buffer, using =consult-outline=.
   1072 - =embark-consult-imenu-candidates= produces the imenu items of
   1073   the current buffer, using =consult-imenu=.
   1074 - =embark-consult-imenu-or-outline-candidates= is a simple combination
   1075   of the two previous functions: it produces imenu items in buffers
   1076   deriving from =prog-mode= and otherwise outline headings.
   1077 
   1078 The way to configure =embark-live= (or =embark-collect= and =embark-export=
   1079 for that matter) to use one of these function is to add it at the end
   1080 of the =embark-candidate-collectors= list. The =embark-consult= package by
   1081 default adds the last one, which seems to be the most sensible
   1082 default.
   1083 
   1084 Besides those exporters and candidate collectors, the =embark-consult=
   1085 package provides many subtle tweaks and small integrations between
   1086 Embark and Consult. Some examples are:
   1087 
   1088 - The asynchronous search commands will start in the directory
   1089   associated to the Embark target if that target is a file, buffer,
   1090   bookmark or Emacs Lisp library.
   1091 
   1092  - For all other target types, a Consult search command (asynchronous
   1093    or not) will search for the text of the target but leave the
   1094    minibuffer open so you can interact with the Consult command.
   1095 
   1096 - =consult-imenu= will search for the target and take you directly to
   1097   the location if it matches a unique imenu entry, otherwise it will
   1098   leave the minibuffer open so you can navigate among the matches.
   1099 
   1100 * Resources
   1101 
   1102 If you want to learn more about how others have used Embark here are
   1103 some links to read:
   1104 
   1105 - [[https://karthinks.com/software/fifteen-ways-to-use-embark/][Fifteen ways to use Embark]], a blog post by Karthik Chikmagalur.
   1106 - [[https://protesilaos.com/dotemacs/][Protesilaos Stavrou's dotemacs]], look for the section called
   1107   "Extended minibuffer actions and more (embark.el and
   1108   prot-embark.el)"
   1109 
   1110 And some videos to watch:
   1111 
   1112 - [[https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2021-01-09-emacs-embark-extras/][Embark and my extras]] by Protesilaos Stavrou.
   1113 - [[https://youtu.be/qpoQiiinCtY][Embark -- Key features and tweaks]] by Raoul Comninos on the
   1114   Emacs-Elements YouTube channel.
   1115 - [[https://youtu.be/WsxXr1ncukY][Livestreamed: Adding an Embark context action to send a stream
   1116   message]] by Sacha Chua.
   1117 - [[https://youtu.be/qk2Is_sC8Lk][System Crafters Live! - The Many Uses of Embark]] by David Wilson.
   1118 - [[https://youtu.be/5ffb2at2d7w][Using Emacs Episode 80 - Vertico, Marginalia, Consult and Embark]] by
   1119   Mike Zamansky.
   1120 
   1121 * Contributions
   1122 
   1123 Contributions to Embark are very welcome. There is a [[https://github.com/oantolin/embark/issues/95][wish list]] for
   1124 actions, target finders, candidate collectors and exporters. For other
   1125 ideas you have for Embark, feel free to open an issue on the [[https://github.com/oantolin/embark/issues][issue
   1126 tracker]]. Any neat configuration tricks you find might be a good fit
   1127 for the [[https://github.com/oantolin/embark/wiki][wiki]].
   1128 
   1129 Code contributions are very welcome too, but since Embark is now on
   1130 GNU ELPA, copyright assignment to the FSF is required before you can
   1131 contribute code.
   1132 
   1133 * Acknowledgments
   1134 
   1135 While I, Omar Antolín Camarena, have written most of the Embark code
   1136 and remain very stubborn about some of the design decisions, Embark
   1137 has received substantial help from a number of other people which this
   1138 document has neglected to mention for far too long. In particular,
   1139 Daniel Mendler has been absolutely invaluable, implementing several
   1140 important features, and providing a lot of useful advice.
   1141 
   1142 Code contributions:
   1143 
   1144 - [[https://github.com/minad][Daniel Mendler]]
   1145 - [[https://github.com/clemera/][Clemens Radermacher]]
   1146 - [[https://codeberg.org/jao/][José Antonio Ortega Ruiz]]
   1147 - [[https://github.com/iyefrat][Itai Y. Efrat]]
   1148 - [[https://github.com/a13][a13]]
   1149 - [[https://github.com/jakanakaevangeli][jakanakaevangeli]]
   1150 - [[https://github.com/mihakam][mihakam]]
   1151 - [[https://github.com/leungbk][Brian Leung]]
   1152 - [[https://github.com/karthink][Karthik Chikmagalur]]
   1153 - [[https://github.com/roshanshariff][Roshan Shariff]]
   1154 - [[https://github.com/condy0919][condy0919]]
   1155 - [[https://github.com/DamienCassou][Damien Cassou]]
   1156 - [[https://github.com/JimDBh][JimDBh]]
   1157 
   1158 Advice and useful discussions:
   1159 
   1160 - [[https://github.com/minad][Daniel Mendler]]
   1161 - [[https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/][Protesilaos Stavrou]]
   1162 - [[https://github.com/clemera/][Clemens Radermacher]]
   1163 - [[https://github.com/hmelman/][Howard Melman]]
   1164 - [[https://github.com/astoff][Augusto Stoffel]]
   1165 - [[https://github.com/bdarcus][Bruce d'Arcus]]
   1166 - [[https://github.com/jdtsmith][JD Smith]]
   1167 - [[https://github.com/karthink][Karthik Chikmagalur]]
   1168 - [[https://github.com/jakanakaevangeli][jakanakaevangeli]]
   1169 - [[https://github.com/iyefrat][Itai Y. Efrat]]
   1170 - [[https://github.com/mohkale][Mohsin Kaleem]]