talemate/docs/user-guide/node-editor/reference/nodes/util.md

# Utility Nodes

Miscellaneous helpers: counters, string diffs, list extraction from text, ISO date durations and the **Module Style** node that sets a module's canvas appearance.

<!-- glossary:generated - everything below this line is generated by `python -m talemate.game.engine.nodes.tools glossary --write` - do not edit -->


_5 nodes._

| Node | Registry path |
| --- | --- |
| [Counter](#counter) | `util/Counter` |
| [Diff](#diff) | `util/Diff` |
| [Extract List](#extract-list) | `util/ExtractList` |
| [ISO Date Duration](#iso-date-duration) | `util/IsoDateDuration` |
| [Module Style](#module-style) | `util/ModuleStyle` |

## Counter

`util/Counter`

Counter node that increments a numeric value inside a
dict and returns the new value.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `state` | `any` | The graph state |
| `dict` | `dict` | The dict containing the value to increment |
| `key` | `str` | (optional) The key to the value to increment |
| `reset` | `bool` | (optional) If true, the value will be reset to 0 |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `state` | `any` | The state input, passed through |
| `value` | `any` | The new value |
| `dict` | `dict` | The dict with the new value |

**Properties**

| Property | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `increment` | `number` | `1` | The amount to increment the value by. Min: 1. |
| `key` | `str` | `"counter"` | The key to the value to increment |
| `reset` | `bool` | `False` | If true, the value will be reset to 0 |

## Diff

`util/Diff`

Diff node that returns the diff between two strings.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `a` | `str` | The original string |
| `b` | `str` | The changed string |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `diff_plain` | `str` | The diff as plain text |
| `diff_html` | `str` | The diff as inline HTML markup |
| `a` | `str` | The a input, passed through |
| `b` | `str` | The b input, passed through |

## Extract List

`util/ExtractList`

Extracts a list from a string.

Parses a numbered ("1.") or bulleted ("*" / "-") list out of text, such
as an LLM response, returning the items as a list of strings.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `string` | `str` | The text to extract the list from |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `string` | `str` | The string input, passed through |
| `list` | `list` | The extracted list items |
| `is_empty` | `bool` | True if no list items were found |

## ISO Date Duration

`util/IsoDateDuration`

IsoDateDuration node that allows constructing ISO 8601 duration strings.

Combines an amount and a unit into an ISO 8601 duration
(e.g., 3 + "day" -> "P3D").

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `unit` | `str` | The unit of the duration (year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second) |
| `amount` | `number` | The amount of the duration |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `unit` | `str` | The unit input, passed through |
| `amount` | `number` | The amount input, passed through |
| `duration` | `str` | The ISO 8601 duration string |

**Properties**

| Property | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `unit` | `str` | `"day"` | The unit of the duration. Choices: `year`, `month`, `week`, `day`, `hour`, `minute`, `second`. |
| `amount` | `number` | `1` | The amount of the duration. Min: 1. |

## Module Style

`util/ModuleStyle`

An isolated node that defines the visual style of the graph it is
placed in, when that graph is used as a node module inside another
graph.

**Properties**

| Property | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `title_color` | `color` | `unset` | Title Color |
| `node_color` | `color` | `unset` | Node Color |
| `auto_title` | `str` | `unset` | Auto Title |
| `icon` | `str` | `unset` | Icon (Material Icon Codepoint) |