---
name: pixi-vn-ink-input
description: "Use when an ink script needs to prompt the player for text, numeric, or HTML input with # request input, or read the entered value back into the narration. Part of the pixi-vn-ink skill set — install alongside pixi-vn-ink."
---

# Input prompts in ink

Official docs: [pixi-vn.com/ink/input](https://pixi-vn.com/ink/input). Requires
`addBaseHashtagCommands()` to have run (its `narration` section, on by default) — see
**pixi-vn-ink**.

## When to use this skill

Use whenever a scene needs the player to type or pick a value — a character's name, an age, a longer
free-text answer — and have the story react to it afterward.

## Requesting input

```ink
# request input
# request input type string
# request input type number default 18
# request input type "html textarea"
```

`# request input [<key> <value> ...]` — with no parameters, requests plain text input with no
constraints. Recognized parameters (both optional):

- `type` — `string` (default), `number`, or `"html textarea"` (quote it — it contains a space).
- `default` — a default value pre-filled/returned if the player submits nothing.

This blocks `narration.canContinue` — the UI must resolve the prompt (via whatever input component your
project renders) before the story advances to the next step; there is no timeout or fallback built in.

Treat the submitted value as untrusted player content. Use this prompt for ordinary game input such as
names or story choices, never for passwords, API keys, tokens, or other credentials. The UI should render
the value as text and apply the validation or escaping appropriate to its input component.

## Reading the value back

The submitted value is written into storage under the system key `_input_value_`, so ink can read it
with the ordinary `{...}` interpolation syntax in the very next step:

```ink title="ink/start.ink"
=== start ===
Hello,
# request input type string
<>what is your name?
My name is { _input_value_ }
# request input type number default 18
How old are you?
I am { _input_value_ } years old
# request input type "html textarea"
Describe who you are:
{ _input_value_ }
-> DONE
```

`_input_value_` is overwritten by each new `# request input` — read it (or copy it into a `VAR` you
control) before the next prompt overwrites it if the value needs to survive longer than one step.

## Related

- **pixi-vn-ink** — the hashtag-command mechanism this is built on, and the storage
  model `_input_value_` lives in.
- **pixi-vn-ink-characters** — combine with `# rename mc {_input_value_}` to let the player name a
  character.
- [pixi-vn.com/start/input](https://pixi-vn.com/start/input) — the underlying JS/TS
  `narration.requestInput` API and how a UI component resolves a pending prompt.