Sprinto

During the sprint

Most sprints need only two commands:

  1. Join with /join . If your document already has words in it, add that number, such as /join word-count: 10000 . That number is your starting count.
  2. When time’s up, give the total word count of your document with /words count: 10150 . Sprinto subtracts your starting count to work out your new words.

The rest of this page covers other ways to join and give your count, fixing a count after the scoreboard, and cancelling a sprint.

Join a sprint

/join
Synonyms
/join word-count: 0
@Sprinto join
Join the sprint with a starting count of 0 words. You have to join your own sprint too.

/join with no number always sets your starting count to 0, even if you’re already in the sprint. If you’re in the sprint with 10,000 starting words and use /join again, include the number: /join word-count: 10000 . A comment in brackets isn’t a number, so @Sprinto join (back from tea) also sets your starting count to 0.

/join word-count: 10000
Synonyms
@Sprinto join 10000
Join with a starting count of 10,000 words: the number of words already in your document. When you give your total at the end, Sprinto subtracts your starting count to work out your new words.

Sprinto replies You have joined with 10,000 starting words., or You have rejoined with … if you were already in the sprint. If you have a companion pet, the reply ends with your pet, such as — with 🐢 Nugget.

As you type in the /join box, Sprinto suggests 0 and the count you finished on last time.

/same
Synonyms
/join word-count: same
/join word-count: last
/join word-count: =
@Sprinto same
Join with your last word count as your starting count.

Your last word count is the last count you gave Sprinto, in any channel: a word count you reported, or the starting count you joined with. After a /join with no number, your last word count is 0.

In any command that takes a word count, these words mean your last word count: same, last, previous, again, continue, =, and common misspellings of same.

/same adjustment: +300 new
/same also takes an adjustment to your last word count, such as +300 new.

If you’re already in the sprint, /same gives a word count: it sets your total to your last word count, the same as typing that number into /words . If that total means more new words than the sprint has had time for, Sprinto asks which you meant (see When Sprinto asks about a count). An adjustment is added to your current count in this sprint, so /same +300 does the same as /words count: +300 .

/same is only about word counts. To repeat the last sprint, use /sprint again or /sprint same: see Sprint (all options). A /same at the end of a sprint command, such as /sprint 20 /same, starts the sprint and joins you with your last word count.

You can join after time’s up. The reply says how long is left for word counts:

SprintoApp
You have joined after time is up with 100 starting words. 2m12s remaining for final word counts.

Give your word count

/words count: 10150
Give the total word count of your document, such as 10,150 words. You can give a count during the sprint as well as when time’s up. If you joined with 0 starting words, your total is the same as your new words, such as /words count: 150 .

Sprinto replies with your total and your new words:

SprintoApp
@alex, Word count updated: 10,150 words (150 new)

If your starting count is 0, the reply has one number: Word count updated: 150 words. When you use a slash command, Sprinto’s reply starts with your name so the channel can see whose count it is, but the reply doesn’t ping you. When you use an @Sprinto command, Sprinto answers with a Discord reply to your message.

/words count: 150 new
Give the number of new words you wrote in this sprint. This is useful if you changed documents or lost track of your starting count. /words count: 0 new sets your total back to your starting count.

/words count: +50
Synonyms
/words count: add 50
Add 50 new words to your count, for example words you wrote in a second document.

/words count: -
Keep your word count as it is and mark yourself done, so Sprinto stops waiting for a count from you. Without the dash, /words shows your current count and changes nothing.

/words count: 10150 final
Synonyms
/final count: 10150
Give your final word count before time’s up. At the end, Sprinto doesn’t wait for another count from you. See also Final.

/join word-count: 15000
To change your starting count, join again with the new number, then give your total with /words . To change your starting count and keep your total, use tare.

If you forgot to join

/join word-count: just 200 final
Join and give your new words in one command: this joins you with 200 new words and marks you done. This command works only after the sprint has started.

If you haven’t joined, a count you give with /words or /final joins you, and that number becomes your starting count, with 0 new words. For example, /words count: 500 joins you with 500 starting words. To get credit for words you wrote, say they’re new: /join word-count: just 200 final , /words count: 200 new or /words count: +200 .

/final with no number joins you with 0 starting words and marks you done.

When Sprinto asks about a count

Sprinto asks before it accepts a word count that looks like a mistake:

  • Too many new words: your total is higher than your current count by more than about 300 words for each minute of writing time so far. For example, 10 minutes into a sprint, Sprinto asks about a rise of more than 3,000 words. Sprinto never asks about a rise of 2,000 words or less.
  • Too many words deleted: your total is more than 20% below your starting count, when your starting count is 100 words or more. For a starting count of 50 to 99 words, Sprinto asks when your total is more than 80% below your starting count. Sprinto never asks when your starting count is under 50 words.

Sprinto shows what the number would mean, with a button for each choice:

SprintoApp
In this sprint, 50,000 total would mean 49,000 new words. Did you mean:
/rejoin 50000 → started at 50,000 (0 new) /words 50000 please → 50,000 words (49,000 new)

If you had already given a word count in this sprint, a third button keeps the count you had.

If the number is right, add please: /words count: 50000 please .

/words 0 is read as “no change” when your starting count is 50 words or more and you have no new words yet. Sprinto replies Word count kept the same: 1,200 words, with a /words 0 please button in case you really did delete everything.

Other ways to write a count

You writeSprinto reads it as
1,200 or 1 2001,200
fifty new, twenty50 new, 20. Spelled-out numbers work for zero to ten, fifteen, and the tens up to sixty, but not for combined numbers such as “twenty five”.
500ish, about 500500. Sprinto reads the first number it finds.
none, nothing, nada0 new
no morefinal
idkDuring the sprint: no change, and the reply is “I don’t know either.” After time’s up: adds 5 words to your count, and the reply is “I don’t know either. Let’s just say 5 then.”

Saying something with your count

Anything in brackets is a comment for the room, not part of the command. Sprinto removes it before reading the command, and repeats it in bold at the end of its reply:

alex
@Sprinto words 850 [brb tea]
SprintoApp
Word count updated: 850 words (150 new) [brb tea]

Round (…) and square […] brackets both work, and you can put several comments in one line. If you leave out the closing bracket, the rest of the line is the comment. Comments work on /sprint and /join as well as the word count commands. On /sprint, the comment is shown on a line above the sprint announcement.

Brackets with only a number in them are read as your word count: once the sprint has started, /words count: (350) gives a count of 350.

You can also paste Sprinto’s reply back as your count. @Sprinto words 1,250 words (250 new) sets your total to 1,250 and your starting count to 1,000, so Sprinto’s reply shows the same 250 new words. Before the sprint starts, the same line joins you with 1,250 starting words.

To give a large total without Sprinto asking about it, say how many of the words are new. @Sprinto words 50,000 words (250 new) is accepted as it is: 250 new words, and a starting count of 49,750. Sprinto then checks only the new words, so Sprinto still asks about 100,000 words (50,000 new).

A # on its own starts a note to yourself. Sprinto ignores everything after the # and doesn’t repeat the note. A # joined to a number, such as #20, isn’t a note.

Typos

Sprinto corrects small typos in commands you type after @Sprinto. When Sprinto is confident what you meant, it runs the corrected command and shows it at the start of the reply:

alex
@Sprinto wrods 250
SprintoApp
↳ /words : Word count updated: 250 words

↳ /words is the command Sprinto ran. If Sprinto can’t be sure which command you meant, Sprinto doesn’t reply. Slash commands are picked from Discord’s menu, so they have no typos to correct.

Sprinto doesn’t correct words of 3 letters or fewer, or a typo in the first letter. These commands are never corrected, so type them exactly: go, ping, roll, parse, tare, starting, donate, cancelplease, nudgeplease and last one.

I forgot to report

/late count: 10150
Synonyms
/late
@Sprinto late 10150
@Sprinto latewc 10150

For 10 minutes after time’s up (the late window), you can add or fix your word count with /late . Sprinto updates the posted scoreboard.

/late takes the same kinds of count as /words , such as /late count: +250 or /late count: 300 new .

If you use /words or /same just after a sprint ends, and you were in the sprint but hadn’t given a count, Sprinto replies with a button that gives your count with /late.

If another sprint starts in the same channel, the late window closes at whichever comes first: the late window’s usual end, or 1 minute before the new sprint’s writing time ends. In a chain, each round has its own late window: while the previous round’s late window is open, /late updates the previous round’s scoreboard, and /words gives your count for the round you’re in.

To change the late window, add late 20 (20 minutes) or late none (no late window) to the sprint command, or to the channel’s default sprint. late 0 does the same as late none. The late window can be up to 60 minutes. See Sprint (all options).

A sprint command with a late window over 60 minutes is refused: Sorry, 90 minutes is too long to keep word counts open after the sprint. The maximum is 60 minutes.

Cancel

/cancel
Synonyms
@Sprinto cancel

/cancel ends the sprint at once in these cases:

  • before writing starts (during the join window, or during a break in a chain), even if other people have joined
  • after writing starts, if nobody else is in the sprint

Once writing has started and other people are in the sprint, /cancel starts a vote. See Vote to cancel.

If Sprinto misread your /sprint command, cancel the sprint and start again.

SprintoApp
The sprint has been called off. 😢 📣 Participants: @alex, @sam

Sprinto tags everyone who was in the sprint and changes the countdown to Time's up! ⏳ (Canceled). The sad face is picked at random.

On a locked sprint, only a @Sprint MC can cancel.

Vote to cancel

Once writing has started and other people are in the sprint, /cancel starts a 2-minute vote. Sprinto posts a vote message with ✅ and ❌ buttons, and your /cancel counts as the first ✅. The message names you but doesn’t ping anyone.

SprintoApp
@alex wants to cancel the sprint. Voting closes in 2 minutes.
✅ 1 ❌ 0

The sprint is cancelled if both of these are true when the vote closes:

  • There are at least twice as many ✅ votes as ❌ votes.
  • At least a quarter of the people in the sprint voted ✅ (rounded up, and at least 1 person).

People who don’t vote aren’t counted for either side. For example, in a sprint of 8 people, 2 ✅ and 1 ❌ passes, but 3 ✅ and 2 ❌ doesn’t.

  • The vote closes after 2 minutes, or as soon as everyone in the sprint has voted.
  • Only people in the sprint can vote. If you leave the sprint, your vote is removed.
  • If you use /cancel again while the vote is open, it counts as ✅, or changes your ❌ to ✅. Only you see the reply.
  • A @Sprint MC can decide the vote, even if they aren’t in the sprint: ✅ cancels the sprint at once, and ❌ ends the vote and the sprint continues.
  • After a vote fails, nobody can start another vote for 5 minutes. A Sprint MC can still use /cancel-please.
  • If the sprint or chain round ends before the vote closes, the vote closes too.

When the vote closes, the vote message changes to show the result:

ResultThe vote message then reads
Passed@alex asked to cancel the sprint. The vote passed. ✅ 3 ❌ 1
Didn’t pass@alex asked to cancel the sprint. The vote didn't pass, so the sprint continues. ✅ 1 ❌ 2
A Sprint MC pressed ✅@alex asked to cancel the sprint. Sprint MC @kit cancelled the sprint.
A Sprint MC pressed ❌@alex asked to cancel the sprint. Sprint MC @kit ended the vote, so the sprint continues.
The sprint ended first@alex asked to cancel the sprint. The sprint ended before the vote closed.

In @Sprinto who , a ❌ after a name means that person has voted ✅ to cancel in the open vote.

Force cancel

MC Sprint MCs and Sprint Admins only. A Sprint MC is anyone with a role named Sprint MC. Sprint Admins can do everything a Sprint MC can.

/cancel-please
@Sprinto cancelplease
Synonyms
@Sprinto cancel-please
@Sprinto cancelpls
@Sprinto forcecancel

End the sprint at once, with no vote, however many people have joined.

Before writing starts, or when nobody else is in the sprint, anyone can use /cancel-please. Once writing has started with other people in the sprint, only a @Sprint MC can use it.

What Sprinto posts

Sprinto posts three announcements during a sprint: one when the join window opens, one when writing starts, and one when time’s up. Each announcement has a title, a line or two of detail, and a list of names. If the sprint has chimes, Sprinto also posts a chime message partway through, saying how much time is left.

The three emoji on each side of a title change from sprint to sprint. Some sprints get fruit, and others get stars, flowers, animals, boats and more. Their colours follow traffic lights: yellow on the join message, green at the start, and red at time’s up. About 1 sprint in 50 uses a themed set instead, such as 🍎🍏🍋 or three hearts. The emoji have no other meaning. With the screen-reader emoji theme ( /settings theme ), each message has one fixed emote instead, the same every sprint.

The join window

This message is posted when the sprint is announced, at the start of the join window: the time to join before writing starts.

SprintoApp
🍋🍋🍋 JOIN THE SPRINT 🍋🍋🍋 The next sprint runs for 15 minutes and will begin in 60 seconds. /join (with your starting word count), or /same (use your last word count). 📢 Pings: @alex (not joined)

Notes:

  • 📢 Pings lists everyone Sprinto pings: people who asked for pings, any ping role, and the person who started the sprint if they haven’t joined yet, as in the example. Someone on their last ping is shown as @sam (last ping), and people on their last ping are listed first. See Ping me.
  • If the join window is 2 minutes or longer, the message also shows the start time in each reader’s own time zone, such as in 5 minutes (at 10:05).

The start

SprintoApp
🍏🍏🍏 THE SPRINT BEGINS: FIFTEEN MINUTES 🍏🍏🍏 Duration: 15 minutes (until ⏰ 10:45). ⏳ Time’s up in 15 minutes 📣 Participants: @alex (1,200), @sam (0)

Notes:

  • The sprint length is shown a few times so you don’t miss it.
  • If the sprint has chimes, the start message also says when they are, such as 🔔 at 60s remaining. or, with two chimes, 🔔 at 5m and 60s remaining.

📣 Participants:

  • Lists everyone in the sprint.
  • The number after each name is that person’s starting count. When they give a word count during the sprint, the brackets also show their new words, such as (1,200+300): 1,200 starting words and 300 new. The number disappears once they’ve given their final count or marked themselves done.
  • The list is on the join message while people join, on the start message while everyone writes, and on the time’s-up message at the end.

Chimes

SprintoApp
🔔 60 seconds remaining

A chime is a message saying how much time is left in the sprint. A sprint has chimes only if someone asked for them: in the sprint command, in the channel’s default sprint, or by using the marathon or megathon preset. Each of those two presets has one chime at the halfway point. A sprint can have up to 5 chimes, at least 60 seconds apart. To add chimes to a sprint, see chimes.

A chime set as a percentage of the sprint adds a note, such as 🔔 **30 minutes remaining** (~50% in).

A chime pings only the people who asked for chime pings. The chime message lists those people after a second 🔔. To be pinged by the last 2 chimes of each sprint, type @Sprinto chimes 2 . You can choose up to 5 chimes. @Sprinto chimes off or chimes 0 stops chime pings, and 0 is the default. @Sprinto chimes on its own shows your setting. The same setting is Max chimes in /settings me .

Time’s up

SprintoApp
🛑🛑🛑 TIME’S UP 🛑🛑🛑 Please give your final word count with /words. You have 3 minutes. 📣 Participants: @alex (1,200), @sam (0)

The time for word counts depends on the sprint length: 3 minutes for a 15-minute sprint, at least 2 minutes, and at most 10 minutes (for sprints of about 85 minutes or longer). A sprint can set its own time for word counts with endtime.

Once someone gives their count, the number after their name disappears. Anyone still shown with a number is someone Sprinto is waiting for.

If nobody is in the sprint, the message says Please /join and then /words to give your final word count.

Everyone’s in

SprintoApp
All word counts are in! Results shortly.

Once everyone still in the sprint has given their count or marked themselves done, Sprinto stops waiting and posts the scoreboard about 12 seconds later. Leaving with /leave also counts as done, so if the last person Sprinto was waiting for leaves, Sprinto posts the scoreboard. A sprint started with noff always waits the full time for word counts. See sprint flags.

The scoreboard

SprintoApp
🏆 CONGRATS EVERYONE

For how to read the scoreboard, see Sprint (basics).

Notes:

  • With the screen-reader emoji theme, the title is 🏆 **Congrats everyone**.
  • Word counts are self-reported, on the honour system.
  • It’s all about the writing, writing with others to keep yourself accountable, and challenging yourself.
  • An admin can turn on the shuffle-leaderboard setting, which lists the scoreboard in a random order with no rank numbers. See Settings (admin).

If Discord’s status page shows an open incident, Sprinto adds a one-line note under the scoreboard, at most once a day in each server:

SprintoApp
Discord status: “Elevated API errors”. More at https://status.discord.com

/words
Synonyms
@Sprinto words
@Sprinto wc
On its own, /words shows your current word count: your total, and how many of those words are new. Only you see the reply. Before the sprint starts, it shows your starting count.

/time
Synonyms
@Sprinto time
@Sprinto timeleft
@Sprinto howlong
Show how much time is left in the sprint.

/leave
Leave the sprint. /leave works even if you never joined: if you started a sprint but aren’t writing in it, use /leave so Sprinto doesn’t wait for a count from you. Leaving also undoes /final , so if you join again, Sprinto waits for a count from you again.

/cancel
Synonyms
@Sprinto cancel
Cancel the sprint. See Cancel.

/go
Synonyms
@Sprinto go
@Sprinto begin
Skip the rest of the join window and start the sprint now. Only the person who started the sprint, or a @Sprint MC, can do this.

@Sprinto who
List the people in the sprint. See who.

@Sprinto status
Show your word count, the time left, and how many people have joined. See status.

/help
Synonyms
@Sprinto help
Show the basics for sprinting.

/help topic: sprint
Add a topic, and Sprinto replies with a link to the page on this site about it. Topics include sprint, words, final, status, pingme, always, never, pets and invite. Some topics give something else:

  • chain (also chains, pomo, pomodoro or rounds): a short explanation of chain sprints, posted in the channel.
  • donate: the Patreon link.
  • sprinto planet or support: the invite to the Sprinto Planet support server.

@Sprinto longhelp
Show longer help in the channel. The longer help is still much less complete than the help on this site.

@Sprinto invite
Get a link to the Invite Sprinto page on this site, which has the invite link and setup steps.

/feedback text: your feedback here
Synonyms
@Sprinto feedback your feedback here
Give your suggestions and improvement ideas. A copy is posted anonymously on the Sprinto Planet support server. If the developer replies, the reply appears in the channel you sent the feedback from, so there’s nothing you need to join or check.

See also

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Curious commands
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Emoji Pets TOS