try/except in Slack means the abbreviation had no ExpandIn

log, err, fn are excellent in an editor.

In Slack, a coworker gets a block of Python. That is not the expander being “too smart.” You never told it to fire only in the IDE.

What developers repeat is boilerplate, not algorithms: try/except, license headers, stock PR text, a prompt with a language menu. Those should be abbreviations, not clipboard luck.

Snippet editor

Caret where you actually type


try:
    %c%
except Exception as e:
    logger.exception("failed")
    raise

%c% is the insertion point after expand. Tab-stops use %cv% in the FillIn reference.

Same idea in several languages: one snippet, several files, each with its own abbreviation — not three clones that drift. See Snippets.

Only in the editor

Turn on ExpandIn (Pro) for the code group and leave VS Code, JetBrains, the terminal. Chat and browser get another prefix, such as msg-.

Keep “require a trigger key”. Without it, the first two letters of log can vanish. Demos, passwords, games: pause expansion from the tray.

Script output, not a key-logger macro

Pro can set a snippet’s environment to JavaScript, Shell, Python, or PowerShell and insert stdout (UUID, formatted date, clipboard rewrite). This is not “record my keystrokes.” Custom runtimes live in Settings. See Scripts.

Heavier interaction (pick a repo, call an API) is a plugin. A plugin is still a snippet with plugin_mode, not a second table.

Do not

Do not stuff a whole framework generator into one snippet. Snippets insert. They are not a scaffolding product.
Do not concatenate unchecked shell in a script, even on your own machine.
Free tier has no code execution and no ExpandIn. Start with plain-text boilerplate.