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)

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

Demo Index

#	Script	Features Demonstrated
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, DIALOG_INSPECT_CONFIG, inspect JSON (preset, logMonitor, sideMessage, items, autoEnableButton)

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 covers --inspect-mode and config-driven usage with a deterministic local simulation.
• See the Inspect Mode documentation for additional presets and options.