Quick Commands

Quick commands are pre-configured prompts or shell commands that you can execute with a single click or keystroke. They let you automate repetitive actions -- committing code, running tests, linting -- without typing the same instructions over and over.

Built-in Commands

Lanes ships with a set of default quick commands so you can be productive immediately:

You can modify or remove any of these, and add your own.

Command Types

Every quick command has a type that determines how it runs:

• Claude -- Sends a prompt into the active Claude Code session. The prompt is injected into the terminal as if you typed it, so Claude Code picks it up and acts on it. Use this for anything you would normally ask an AI agent to do.

• Terminal -- Executes a raw shell command directly in the session terminal. Use this for deterministic scripts like npm test, cargo build, or git push.

Command Categories

Commands are also grouped into two categories that control where they appear:

• General -- Available everywhere. These show up in the quick-command menu regardless of whether the issue has a worktree. Good for universal actions like "Commit" or "Fix Lint."

• Worktree -- Only shown when the selected issue has an active worktree. These are for operations that only make sense in a worktree context, like "Test Worktree" or "Complete & Merge."

Running Quick Commands

There are three ways to fire a quick command:

From the Sidebar

Click the lightning bolt icon in the sidebar to open the quick-command menu. You will see a list of available commands filtered by the current context (general commands always appear; worktree commands appear only when relevant). Click one to run it.

When you run a quick command from the sidebar without an issue selected, Lanes creates a new misc issue to host the session. This keeps your board organized -- every command execution is tracked against an issue.

From the Session Selector

Since v0.41, the session selector on any issue doubles as the launching point for quick commands. Open it from the detail panel header and you will see a Quick Actions group below the issue's sessions. Whatever you've configured for this worktree (plus your general ones) lives there: test, commit, release, fix-lint, and so on.

Running a quick action from here keeps it attached to the issue you're already looking at, on the same worktree, in a sibling session. No terminal hop, no separate panel.

Worktree creation is reachable from the same menu when the issue doesn't have one yet, so the "scaffold a worktree" thought is the same shape as the "spawn a session" or "run a quick action" thought.

With Keyboard Shortcuts

Press Cmd+Alt+1 through Cmd+Alt+9 to run the first through ninth quick command by position. The numbering matches the order in your quick-command list, so you can reorder them to put your most-used commands on the easiest shortcuts.

Creating Custom Quick Commands

1. Open Settings (Cmd+, or the gear icon in the sidebar).
2. Switch to the Quick Actions tab.
3. Click the add button to create a new command.
4. Fill in the fields:
   • Name -- A short label that appears in the menu (e.g., "Deploy Staging").
   • Prompt / Command -- The text to send. For Claude-type commands this is the prompt; for Terminal-type commands this is the shell command.
   • Type -- Choose "Claude" or "Terminal."
   • Category -- Choose "General" or "Worktree."
5. Save your changes.

Where Quick Commands Are Stored

Quick commands are per-repository. They live in a plain JSON file at .lanes/quick-actions.json in the root of the repo, alongside the rest of your per-project config (labels, CLI flags, base branch).

This means a monorepo can have a pnpm test quick command without forcing the same on a Rust side project, and your context menu stops growing into the union of every project's preferences.

You get to choose how it is shared:

• Commit .lanes/ to share quick commands with your team, the same way you would share .vscode/ or .editorconfig.
• Add .lanes/ to .gitignore if you want personal quick commands that do not bleed into the repo.

Editing and Reordering

From the same Quick Actions tab in Settings, you can:

• Edit any command by clicking on it and changing its fields.
• Reorder commands by dragging them up or down in the list. The order here determines both the menu order and which keyboard shortcut (Cmd+Alt+1-9) maps to which command.
• Delete a command you no longer need.

Changes take effect immediately -- no restart required.

Tips

• Combine Claude-type commands with detailed prompts for repeatable AI workflows. For example, a "Write Changelog" command could include specific formatting instructions.
• Use Terminal-type commands for build scripts, deployment commands, or anything that does not need AI involvement.
• Keep your most-used commands in positions 1-9 so the keyboard shortcuts stay convenient.