AI Builder

AI Builder is MetaGrid Pro's natural-language engine for building grid content. Describe what you need in plain English — the AI loads real commands from your connected Mac or PC, proposes actions, and applies the result. No guessing, no manual lookup.

Today, AI Builder powers two workflows: building buttons from the grid and building macros from inside the macro editor. More AI-powered tools will join the same engine over time.

How It Works

When you start a conversation, AI Builder automatically loads all available data from your connected Mac or PC in one step — you'll see a brief confirmation prompt, then everything is ready. Depending on your app and platform, it loads:

• DAW command libraries for supported DAWs (Cubase, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Studio One, Reaper, Dorico, Digital Performer). DAW commands use the native integration protocol and are always preferred over keyboard shortcuts.
• Keyboard shortcut catalogs scraped from the live application (Mac only).
• Menu commands loaded from the application's menu bar.
• Apple Shortcuts and Keyboard Maestro macros when you mention them by name (Mac only).

The AI uses this data to propose verified actions — it picks the best source per action following the priority: DAW commands → keyboard shortcuts → menu commands.

Important: Loading commands requires the target application to be running on your Mac or PC. AI Builder cannot read commands from an app that isn't open. If the app isn't running, you can skip the data loading and the AI will propose actions from its own knowledge (marked as AI-suggested).

Platform Differences

AI Builder works on both Mac and Windows, but the available data sources differ.

On Mac

All data sources are available:

• DAW command libraries
• Keyboard shortcut catalogs (live from any running app)
• Menu commands (live from any running app)
• Apple Shortcuts
• Keyboard Maestro macros

On Windows

A more limited set of data sources is available:

• DAW command libraries — fully supported, same as on Mac
• Menu commands — available for Win32 standard menu-bar applications
• Keyboard shortcut catalogs — not available on Windows. For non-DAW, non-menu apps, AI Builder proposes common shortcuts from its own knowledge of the named application. These are marked as AI-suggested and you should verify them in the target app before relying on them.
• Apple Shortcuts and Keyboard Maestro — not available on Windows (these are macOS-only tools)

Disconnected

If your iPad is not currently connected to a Mac or PC, AI Builder runs in a fallback mode similar to Windows: keyboard shortcuts are AI-suggested rather than catalog-verified. Connect your host before running the builder for the most reliable results.

Setup

AI Builder requires an Anthropic API key. Add yours in Settings → AI Builder. Usage is billed directly by Anthropic to your account — typically under one cent per session.

Pro Tip: Tap Test Connection in Settings → AI Builder to verify your key works before using the builder.

Quick Action Pills

When you open AI Builder, you'll see categorised quick action pills that let you jump straight into common tasks without typing:

From Copied Button

If you've copied a button to the clipboard, you can apply its style to selected buttons:

• Apply all colors — background, text, and icon colors
• Apply background color / Apply text color / Apply icon color — individual properties
• Paste macro — copy the macro actions from the clipboard button

Style

• Restyle selected buttons — apply a theme to the selected buttons
• Restyle all buttons — apply a theme to every button on the grid (shown in a different colour to indicate wider scope)

Recent Prompts

Your recent prompts are saved per profile — Xcode prompts won't appear when you're working on a Cubase grid. Tap a recent prompt to re-send it immediately.

Ideas

Tap Ideas to enhance my workflow with [App] to get AI-generated suggestions based on your current grid. The AI analyses what buttons you already have and suggests what's missing. Tap any idea to send it as your request.

Building Buttons

Use AI Builder to configure one or more grid buttons by describing what they should do.

Step 1: Enter Edit Mode

Tap Edit in the top-right corner of the dashboard.

Step 2: Select Buttons

Tap one or more buttons on the grid. Selected buttons are highlighted.

Step 3: Launch AI Builder

Tap the AI icon in the context bar at the bottom of the screen.

Step 4: Describe What You Want

Type or dictate your request. For example:

• "Copy and paste buttons for Photoshop"
• "Transport controls for Cubase — play, stop, record, rewind"
• "A button that splits the selected event and selects the right part"
• "Volume up and down using MIDI CC"

The AI automatically loads all available commands and shortcuts from your Mac before responding, so it can propose verified actions immediately.

Step 5: Review the Actions

Tap Next to open the Actions screen. Each button is shown as an expandable card with its name, action type, and verified steps. A green dot confirms each action was found in a loaded catalog.

From this screen you can:

• Expand a card to see full details of each step
• Edit in Macro Editor — Open the full macro editor for manual fine-tuning
• Refine with AI — Return to chat and describe changes for that specific button
• Fetch catalog — If commands weren't loaded initially, fetch them now to verify the actions

Step 6: Choose Appearance

Tap Next to reach the Appearance step. Choose a theme, background variant, accent colour, icon style, and button layout.

Themes include System, Classic, Dracula, Technical, Vivid, Studio, Cyber, and Mono — each with a distinct visual style. Some themes (Classic, Technical, Vivid, Studio, Mono) support an Inverted toggle that changes the colour scheme.

Background variants control the brightness:

• Dark — darker tones
• Standard — the theme's default palette
• Light — brighter tones
• Mixed — cycles through Dark, Standard, and Light across different colour groups for visual variety

Accent colour lets you pick a single tint for all buttons, or leave it on multi-colour to let each button get its own colour from the theme.

Button layout sets the arrangement of icon and text on every button.

Step 7: Build

Tap Build With AI. The buttons are configured on your grid with the chosen actions, theme, and layout.

Building Macros

Use AI Builder from inside the Macro Editor to create or modify a macro using plain language.

Step 1: Open the Macro Editor

In Edit Mode, select a button and open its macro section in the Inspector. Tap the macro field to open the Macro Editor.

Step 2: Launch AI Builder

Tap the AI button in the Macro Editor toolbar (next to the Try button).

Building From Scratch

If the macro is empty, the AI greets you with "What should this macro do?" Describe the actions — the AI proposes a complete macro with all the steps.

Editing an Existing Macro

If the macro already has actions, the AI shows a summary of the current steps and asks what you'd like to change. You can describe modifications like:

• "Add a Select All step before the copy"
• "Change the delay to 0.5 seconds"
• "Replace the paste with Paste Special"
• "Add a Save command at the end"

Step 3: Build

Tap Build With AI. The AI writes the macro into the editor and the action list refreshes immediately. The macro name updates if it was empty, the Try button activates, and the Target App is set on the button when the AI resolves a different application from the current profile.

Restyling Buttons

Use the Restyle pills to change the visual appearance of existing buttons without modifying their actions.

• Restyle selected buttons — applies the chosen theme to the selected buttons only
• Restyle all buttons — applies the theme to every button on the grid

The restyle engine uses identity-based colour matching: it analyses each button's current colours and maps them to the closest slot in the new theme. This means a red button stays in the red family, a blue button stays blue, and so on — even across very different themes.

When you select a single accent colour instead of multi-colour, all buttons get that one colour. The layout selector and icon style selector (Filled, Outline, Mixed) are also available during restyle, so you can change the button arrangement and icon fill at the same time.

Button Types

AI Builder supports all MetaGrid button types and chooses the right one automatically:

• Standard — Fires the macro once on tap
• Momentary — Fires on press, releases on lift (ideal for MIDI notes with velocity)
• Latching — Toggles between on and off states, each with its own macro
• Menu — A single button that expands into a list of options, each with its own action

For example, "a sustain pedal on MIDI note C3" automatically creates a momentary button with Note On / Note Off.

Multi-Button Configuration

When you select multiple buttons, the AI creates one action per button. Selecting 6 buttons and asking for "Cubase transport controls" produces 6 individual buttons (Play, Stop, Record, etc.) with appropriate icons and tint colours — including red for destructive actions like Delete.

Supported Action Types

Keyboard Shortcuts

While the chat is open:

• ⌘↩ — Send message
• ⌘D — Toggle dictation (speak your request instead of typing)