Sketch Runner v0.8: We ❤️ plugins!

We’re happy to announce v0.8 of Runner! This update brings 3 things that will make your designer’s heart pump a little faster.

tl;dr

1. Third party plugin integration with custom icons and descriptions. 👀
2. Run Last Action Skipping the Runner UI and immediately run the latest action with a simple shortcut. 💨
3. An updated UI that better fits the latest Sketch UI overhaul. It includes more icons, shortcut hints and under the hood speed improvements. 💎

Sounds exciting? Read on! 🏃🏽

Note: Be sure to update Runner before Sketch v42!🚶🏽Our updating system breaks there. In case you’re already on v42, download the update via the website sketchrunner.com

The new Runner UI in action! Note: The shortcut hints aren’t in this animation. Update Runner and see for yourself ;)

New to Sketch Runner?!

Runner is like Alfred/Spotlight for Sketch. You can quickly run any menu action, goto any page/artboard/layer in your document, insert symbols quickly, create shared styles or symbols and apply those styles to selected layers. Check out the video on our website for a quick introduction.

1. Better plugin integration

Do you ❤️ plugins?

Then this is for you! Runner just got much more useful by adding deeper integration with third party plugins.

Plugins can now display custom icons and descriptions in Runner’s search results. Each plugin action can show a matching icon. This allows to quickly scan and pick the right action from the list of search results. A plugin can also show a distinctive icon for all its actions for branding purposes.

See how it works with the User Flows plugin to get an impression: 🔗

User Flows: Generate flow diagrams from artboards — by Aby

Attention to all plugin developers!

It only takes little effort to add Runner integration to your plugin. We hope all plugin developers (Yeah, we mean you!) will embrace this possibility to make their plugins shine inside Runner.

Check out our developers page for detailed integration instructions. ⌨️

And you can include this nice little badge on your page to boost yours and our user base. 🤝

`Works with Sketch Runner` badge for plugin webpages and for users to recognize it plays well with Runner.

2. Run Last Action

When using Runner we noticed that sometimes you are in a flow where you need to do the same action multiple times after each other. Like inserting a symbol, applying styles or flattening layers. This just got much quicker by skipping Runner. Just hit cmd+shift+' (or set a custom shortcut) and you run your latest action. Nice little time saver! ⌛️

3. An iconic look

We subtly refined the Runner UI to fit better with the latest Sketch. More importantly, we added a lot more icons for default Sketch actions. Distinctive icons mean faster recognition and thus a quicker workflow!

You now see corresponding keyboad shortcuts for actions in the Runner results (suggested by Mitsuki via Twitter, thanks!). So if you use some actions a lot, you’re now able to learn an even quicker way to do what you want to achieve! This feature might make you launch Runner less, but hey… it’s all about speeding up your workflow, right!?

We also worked on some under the hood speed improvements so Runner should launch and execute actions quicker from now on! 🏎

Old vs new UI. Icons FTW!

A quick recap

Runner was born during the SketcHHackday in Hamburg. Since we launched, a lot has happened. People seem to love it and so we wanted to share a couple of our favourite articles and tutorials with you!

• Robin Rendle from CSS Tricks shared an introductory video tutorial:
  A Quick Look at the Runner Sketch Plugin
• SketchCasts recorded a quick tutorial on getting started with Runner:
  #69 — Speed up your workflow with Sketch Runner
• This complete tutorial in Japanese by classmethod.jp blew our mind!:
  [Sketch] 便利ランチャー Sketch Runnerをご紹介! #sketchplugin
• Lloyd Humphreys wrote two extensive articles about Symbols best practices in Sketch:
  Part 1 and part 2 (now that nested overrides are a thing)
• On Twitter, jj shared a quick demo of his use of symbols and Runner:

The update is available inside Runner!

So, what are you waiting for?

Go hide that toolbar and create a little more space for your designs. 🏃🏽

Are you already using Sketch v42?

Then download Runner via sketchrunner.com and don’t forget to save your documents before installing the update!

As always, if you have any feedback let us know via Twitter or hello@sketchrunner.com!

Like the update? Please share by recommending this article 💚