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The Action Palette is a powerful feature that lets you run one-time AI actions without creating permanent actions. Think of it as a quick input for ad-hoc AI requests. Action Palette

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Opening the Action Palette

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Configure Hotkey

  1. Open Obsidian Settings
  2. Go to Hotkeys
  3. Search for “Local GPT: Action Palette”
  4. Click + and set your hotkey (recommended: ⌘ + J or Ctrl + J)

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Using the Command Palette

Alternatively, open the command palette and search for “Local GPT: Action Palette”.

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Features

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Custom Prompts

Type any prompt directly into the Action Palette to get an AI response:
1

Open the Action Palette

Press your configured hotkey (e.g., ⌘ + J)
2

Type your prompt

Enter a natural language prompt like “Explain this code” or “Create a summary”
3

Submit

Press Enter to execute the action
The Action Palette will use any selected text as context for your prompt.

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Provider & Model Selection

The Action Palette shows your currently configured provider and model at the top. You can switch providers on-the-fly: 
showActionPalette(editorView, insertPos, {
  modelLabel: [
    provider.name,
    modelToShow,
    creativityLabel,
  ]
    .filter(Boolean)
    .join(" · "),
  
  getProviders: async () => {
    const aiProviders = await aiRequestWaiter.promise;
    return aiProviders.providers
      .filter((p) => Boolean(p.model))
      .map((p) => ({
        id: p.id,
        name: p.model,
        providerName: p.name,
      }));
  },
  
  onProviderChange: async (providerId: string) => {
    this.actionPaletteProviderId = providerId;
    this.actionPaletteModel = null;
  },
});

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How to Change Provider

The Action Palette includes provider/model selection controls. Click on the provider badge to:
  • Switch between configured AI providers
  • Select a different model for the current provider
  • Change creativity settings (temperature)
These changes only affect the Action Palette and don’t modify your global settings.

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Creativity Control

Adjust the creativity (temperature) for your prompt:
  • None: Most deterministic responses
  • Low: Balanced and focused (default)
  • Medium: More creative variations
  • High: Most creative and diverse outputs
const creativityKey = this.actionPaletteCreativityKey ?? 
  this.settings.defaults.creativity ?? "";

const temperatureOverride = CREATIVITY[creativityKey]?.temperature;

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File Selection for Context

The Action Palette allows you to select additional files to include as context:
1

Click the file selector

Look for the file picker icon in the Action Palette
2

Choose files

Select markdown (.md) or PDF (.pdf) files from your vault
3

Use as context

The content of selected files will be included in the AI request
getFiles: () => {
  return this.app.vault
    .getMarkdownFiles()
    .concat(
      this.app.vault
        .getFiles()
        .filter((f) => f.extension === "pdf"),
    )
    .map((file) => ({
      path: file.path,
      basename: file.basename,
      extension: file.extension,
    }));
}
Selected files are processed and included as additional context for your prompt, making responses more informed.

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System Prompts

You can reuse system prompts from your existing actions: 
getSystemPrompts: () => {
  return getRunnableActions(this.settings.actions)
    .filter((action) => action.system)
    .map((action) => ({
      name: action.name,
      system: action.system!,
    }));
}
This allows you to apply the behavior of saved actions to new prompts without recreating them.

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Example Use Cases

  1. Select a code snippet
  2. Open Action Palette (⌘ + J)
  3. Type: “Explain this code in simple terms”
  4. Press Enter
  1. Open Action Palette
  2. Select relevant research files using the file picker
  3. Type: “Based on these notes, what are the key themes?”
  4. Get a contextual summary
  1. Select your draft text
  2. Open Action Palette
  3. Set creativity to “High”
  4. Type: “Continue this story with an unexpected twist”

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Keyboard Shortcuts

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Enter
keyboard
Submit the prompt and execute the action
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Escape
keyboard
Cancel and close the Action Palette

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Implementation Details

export function showActionPalette(
  view: EditorView,
  pos: number,
  options: ActionPaletteOptions,
) {
  const { fakeSelections, previousSelectionRanges, previousCursor } =
    captureSelectionSnapshot(view);

  view.dispatch({
    effects: ShowActionPaletteEffect.of({
      pos,
      options,
      fakeSelections,
      previousSelectionRanges,
      previousCursor,
    }),
  });
}
The Action Palette preserves your cursor position and selection, even while the palette is open.

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Next Steps

Enhanced Actions

Learn about RAG-powered context enhancement

Vision Support

Use AI to analyze images in your notes

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