Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for using a command interpreter at design time of a software application. A command interpreter can be used to design and test the functionality of an application at design time. The command interpreter allows a user to identify a command to execute for a selected object at design time of an application being developed within a software application design environment. The command interpreter causes the identified command to be executed. A selected object can be sent from a visual tree to the command interpreter. The command interpreter receives the object sent from the visual tree and assigns a designated object name for referencing the object in the command interpreter. The designated object name is displayed within the command interpreter to allow a user to have an abbreviated way of issuing one or more commands for the object from the command interpreter.