axy

axy is short for Ad hoc eXpansion of Yasnippet!

It's a simple utility that allows expansion of yasnippet snippets from anywhere in emacs. For example, to expand a bash snippet, you don't need the sh-mode to be enabled as the major mode in the current buffer.

The snippet expands in a temporary buffer, from where it can be copied to the clipboard with a single key binding (that will also take care of cleaning up the temporary buffer).

Motivation

I have been using Alfred workflows + Dash snippets for quite some time, and I consider it as the gold standard for snippet expansion. Unfortunately, it's specific to MacOS and requires paid versions of both the applications. The code in this package started out as an experiment to find out if something similar could be achieved with yasnippet inside emacs. Turns out that it's possible!

I believe this approach has some advantages too:

The template syntax of yasnippet is much more powerful than that of dash snippets
It's easier to maintain a single repository of snippets, checked into version control

Installation & Configuration

The package is not yet published to any of the emacs package repositories. For now, please clone this repo in an accessible location and somehow load this file. Then just set a global key binding to invoke the axy/find-&-expand-snippet fn.

If you use use-package, you may add the following lines to your emacs config:

    (use-package axy
      :ensure nil
      :requires (yasnippet dash)
      :after (yasnippet)
      :load-path /path/to/axl/repo
      :config
      (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-;") 'axy/find-&-expand-snippet))

Usage

Assuming that the global key binding mentioned above is set, you can type C-c C-; from anywhere to invoke the axy/find-&-expand-snippet fn.

It will first prompt for a major mode. Upon selecting the major mode, it will prompt you to select the snippet from a list of snippets eligible for that mode. On selecting a snippet, a new temporary buffer will open, initiating the expansion of the selected snippet. Once all the placeholders are entered, you can use the axy-mode specific key binding C-; to copy the expanded snippet to clipboard and also cleanup the temporary buffer.

The code also provides a minor mode named axy-mode which is only meant for the temporary buffer mentioned above. You don't need to manually enable it in any other buffers.

Demo

Known issues

The code depends on a few internal functions in yasnippet.el. That means, the API of these functions may change in future yasnippet releases, and that could break axy.

The oldest version of yasnippet that axy is tested with is 20200604.246.

License

MIT