AutoGPT/docs/integrations/text.md

Text

Blocks for text processing including formatting, extraction, transformation, splitting, combining, and template rendering.

Code Extraction

What it is

Extracts code blocks from text and identifies their programming languages

How it works

This block parses text content (typically from AI responses) and extracts code blocks enclosed in markdown-style triple backticks. It identifies the programming language from the code fence annotation (e.g., ```python) and routes each extracted code block to the appropriate language-specific output.

The block supports 16 programming languages including Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL, and more. Any text that remains after extracting all code blocks is output as "remaining_text", allowing you to process both the code and surrounding context separately.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
text	Text containing code blocks to extract (e.g., AI response)	str	Yes

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
html	Extracted HTML code	str
css	Extracted CSS code	str
javascript	Extracted JavaScript code	str
python	Extracted Python code	str
sql	Extracted SQL code	str
java	Extracted Java code	str
cpp	Extracted C++ code	str
csharp	Extracted C# code	str
json_code	Extracted JSON code	str
bash	Extracted Bash code	str
php	Extracted PHP code	str
ruby	Extracted Ruby code	str
yaml	Extracted YAML code	str
markdown	Extracted Markdown code	str
typescript	Extracted TypeScript code	str
xml	Extracted XML code	str
remaining_text	Remaining text after code extraction	str

Possible use case

AI Code Generation Pipeline: When an AI model generates a response containing multiple code blocks (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), use this block to separate each language into individual files for a complete web component.

Code Review Automation: Extract Python code from documentation or chat logs to run automated linting, testing, or security scanning on the code portions only.

Technical Documentation Processing: Parse developer tutorials or README files to extract executable code samples while preserving the explanatory text for different processing paths.

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Combine Texts

What it is

This block combines multiple input texts into a single output text.

How it works

The block concatenates all the input texts in the order they are provided, inserting the specified delimiter (if any) between each text.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
input	text input to combine	List[str]	Yes
delimiter	Delimiter to combine texts	str	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
output	Combined text	str

Possible use case

Merging multiple parts of an address (street, city, state, zip code) into a single, formatted address string.

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Countdown Timer

What it is

This block triggers after a specified duration.

How it works

The Countdown Timer block pauses workflow execution for a specified duration before continuing. You can set the delay using any combination of seconds, minutes, hours, and days. When the timer completes, it outputs your specified message (or "timer finished" by default).

The block supports a repeat parameter, allowing the timer to fire multiple times in sequence—useful for creating periodic triggers within your workflow. The timer uses async sleep, so it doesn't block other concurrent operations in the system.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
input_message	Message to output after the timer finishes	Input Message	No
seconds	Duration in seconds	int | str	No
minutes	Duration in minutes	int | str	No
hours	Duration in hours	int | str	No
days	Duration in days	int | str	No
repeat	Number of times to repeat the timer	int	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
output_message	Message after the timer finishes	Output Message

Possible use case

Rate Limiting: Add a delay between API calls to respect rate limits when processing large batches of data through external services.

Scheduled Notifications: Create a workflow that waits a specific time after an event (like a form submission) before sending a follow-up email or notification.

Polling Workflows: Use the repeat feature to periodically check for updates, such as monitoring a file location or checking an API endpoint every few minutes.

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Extract Text Information

What it is

This block extracts the text from the given text using the pattern (regex).

How it works

The block uses regular expressions to find the specified pattern in the text. It then extracts a particular group from the match, which can be the entire match or a specific captured group.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
text	Text to parse	Text	Yes
pattern	Pattern (Regex) to parse	str	Yes
group	Group number to extract	int	No
case_sensitive	Case sensitive match	bool	No
dot_all	Dot matches all	bool	No
find_all	Find all matches	bool	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
positive	Extracted text	str
negative	Original text	str
matched_results	List of matched results	List[str]
matched_count	Number of matched results	int

Possible use case

Extracting phone numbers or email addresses from a large body of text, such as a customer database.

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Fill Text Template

What it is

This block formats the given texts using the format template.

How it works

The block uses a template engine to replace placeholders in the format string with the provided values. It supports both simple placeholder replacement and more complex operations like loops.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
values	Values (dict) to be used in format. These values can be used by putting them in double curly braces in the format template. e.g. {{value_name}}.	Dict[str, Any]	Yes
format	Template to format the text using values. Use Jinja2 syntax.	str	Yes
escape_html	Whether to escape special characters in the inserted values to be HTML-safe. Enable for HTML output, disable for plain text.	bool	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
output	Formatted text	str

Possible use case

Generating personalized email messages by filling a template with customer-specific information like name, order details, or account status.

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Get Current Date

What it is

This block outputs the current date with an optional offset.

How it works

This block retrieves the current date from the system clock and formats it according to your preferences. You can specify an offset in days to get past or future dates (negative values for past dates, positive for future).

The block supports two format types: strftime (customizable format strings like "%Y-%m-%d" or "%B %d, %Y") and ISO 8601 (standard format YYYY-MM-DD). You can also configure the timezone—either specify a specific timezone or use the user's profile timezone setting.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
trigger	Trigger any data to output the current date	str	Yes
offset	Offset in days from the current date	int | str	No
format_type	Format type for date output (strftime with custom format or ISO 8601)	Format Type	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
date	Current date in the specified format (default: YYYY-MM-DD)	str

Possible use case

Daily Report Generation: Use the current date as a filename suffix or report header when generating automated daily summaries or exports.

Deadline Tracking: Calculate dates relative to today using the offset feature—for example, find the date 30 days from now for payment due dates or project milestones.

Date-Based Filtering: Get today's date to filter records, events, or tasks that are relevant to the current day in your workflow.

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Get Current Date And Time

What it is

This block outputs the current date and time.

How it works

This block outputs the current date and time from the system clock, formatted according to your specifications. It supports both strftime custom formats (like "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") and ISO 8601/RFC 3339 format for maximum compatibility with APIs and databases.

You can configure the timezone to use either a specific timezone (e.g., "America/New_York") or the user's profile timezone. The ISO 8601 format option includes an optional microseconds precision setting for applications requiring high-resolution timestamps.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
trigger	Trigger any data to output the current date and time	str	Yes
format_type	Format type for date and time output (strftime with custom format or ISO 8601/RFC 3339)	Format Type	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
date_time	Current date and time in the specified format (default: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)	str

Possible use case

Audit Logging: Add precise timestamps to records when logging user actions, system events, or data changes in your workflow.

API Requests: Generate ISO 8601 formatted timestamps required by many REST APIs for request authentication or data submission.

Scheduling Logic: Compare the current date/time against scheduled events to trigger time-sensitive automations like sending reminders or processing batch jobs.

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Get Current Time

What it is

This block outputs the current time.

How it works

This block outputs just the current time (without date) from the system clock. It supports strftime custom formats (like "%H:%M:%S" for 24-hour time or "%I:%M %p" for 12-hour time with AM/PM) and ISO 8601 time format.

The timezone can be configured to a specific timezone or to use the user's profile timezone setting. When using ISO 8601 format, the output includes the timezone offset and an optional microseconds component for precision timing needs.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
trigger	Trigger any data to output the current time	str	Yes
format_type	Format type for time output (strftime with custom format or ISO 8601)	Format Type	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
time	Current time in the specified format (default: %H:%M:%S)	str

Possible use case

Business Hours Check: Get the current time to determine if a request falls within business hours and route it accordingly (live support vs. after-hours message).

Time-Based Greetings: Generate personalized greetings ("Good morning", "Good afternoon") based on the current time of day.

Shift Scheduling: Determine which team or process should handle a task based on the current time and configured shift schedules.

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Match Text Pattern

What it is

Matches text against a regex pattern and forwards data to positive or negative output based on the match.

How it works

The block uses regular expressions to search for the specified pattern within the input text. It considers options like case sensitivity and whether the dot should match all characters.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
text	Text to match	Text	Yes
match	Pattern (Regex) to match	str	Yes
data	Data to be forwarded to output	Data	Yes
case_sensitive	Case sensitive match	bool	No
dot_all	Dot matches all	bool	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
positive	Output data if match is found	Positive
negative	Output data if match is not found	Negative

Possible use case

Filtering customer feedback messages based on specific keywords or phrases to categorize them as positive or negative reviews.

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Text Decoder

What it is

Decodes a string containing escape sequences into actual text

How it works

This block processes a text string and converts escape sequences (like \n, \t, \, \uXXXX) into their actual character representations. For example, the literal text "Hello\nWorld" becomes "Hello" followed by an actual newline, then "World".

This is useful when working with data from APIs or files where escape sequences are stored as literal text rather than being interpreted as special characters. The block handles standard escape sequences including newlines, tabs, Unicode characters, and more.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
text	A string containing escaped characters to be decoded	str	Yes

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
decoded_text	The decoded text with escape sequences processed	str

Possible use case

JSON Data Processing: When parsing JSON strings that contain escaped characters (like "\n" for newlines in a message field), decode them to display properly formatted text to users.

Log File Processing: Process log entries where special characters are escaped, converting them to their actual representations for proper parsing or display.

API Response Handling: Decode text from APIs that return escaped content, ensuring special characters like tabs and newlines render correctly in your output.

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Text Replace

What it is

This block is used to replace a text with a new text.

How it works

This block performs a simple find-and-replace operation on text. It searches for all occurrences of the "old" string within your input text and replaces each one with the "new" string. The replacement is case-sensitive and matches exact strings.

Unlike regex-based replacements, this block performs literal string matching, making it straightforward and predictable for common text substitution tasks. All instances of the target string are replaced in a single operation.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
text	The text to replace.	str	Yes
old	The old text to replace.	str	Yes
new	The new text to replace with.	str	Yes

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
output	The text with the replaced text.	str

Possible use case

Data Sanitization: Replace sensitive information like placeholder tokens with actual values, or redact personal information before displaying or storing text.

Template Customization: Swap out placeholder text in templates (like "[COMPANY_NAME]" or "{{user}}") with actual values before sending emails or generating documents.

URL Manipulation: Modify URLs by replacing domain names, query parameters, or path segments to redirect requests or update links dynamically.

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Text Split

What it is

This block is used to split a text into a list of strings.

How it works

This block takes a text string and divides it into a list of substrings based on a specified delimiter. For example, splitting "apple,banana,cherry" by comma results in ["apple", "banana", "cherry"].

By default, the block also strips whitespace from each resulting substring (controlled by the "strip" option). If your input text is empty, the block returns an empty list. This is useful for parsing structured text data like CSV values, tags, or any delimited content.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
text	The text to split.	str	Yes
delimiter	The delimiter to split the text by.	str	Yes
strip	Whether to strip the text.	bool	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
texts	The text split into a list of strings.	List[str]

Possible use case

Tag Processing: Split a comma-separated list of tags or keywords into individual items for processing, filtering, or database storage.

Line-by-Line Processing: Split a multi-line text file by newline characters to process each line independently in your workflow.

Parsing User Input: Break apart user-submitted lists (like email addresses separated by semicolons) into individual items for validation and processing.

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Word Character Count

What it is

Counts the number of words and characters in a given text.

How it works

This block analyzes input text and returns two metrics: the total number of words and the total number of characters. Words are counted by splitting the text on whitespace, so "Hello World" counts as 2 words. Characters include all characters in the text, including spaces and punctuation.

This provides a quick way to measure text length for validation, summarization checks, or content analysis without needing custom logic.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
text	Input text to count words and characters	str	Yes

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the counting operation failed	str
word_count	Number of words in the input text	int
character_count	Number of characters in the input text	int

Possible use case

Content Validation: Check if user-submitted text (like reviews or comments) meets minimum or maximum length requirements before accepting it.

AI Prompt Optimization: Measure prompt length to ensure it fits within token limits before sending to language models, potentially triggering summarization if too long.

Social Media Preparation: Verify that text content fits within platform character limits (like Twitter's 280 characters) before attempting to post.

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