Automation & Scripting

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Learn about scripting languages and automation frameworks available on the platform to automate repetitive tasks.

Automation & Scripting Documentation

Posts under Automation & Scripting subtopic

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Apple Music ScriptingBridge Broken in macOS Tahoe 26
l’m trying to automate Apple Music on macOS Tahoe 26 using ScriptingBridge. Scripts that previously worked for controlling playback, fetching track info, or manipulating playlists no longer function. For example, code like this used to work: `import ScriptingBridge let music = SBApplication(bundleIdentifier: "com.apple.Music") as! MusicApplication print(music.currentTrack?.name ?? "No track playing")` But now it fails, returning nil for track info and failing to send playback commands. Questions: Has ScriptingBridge been deprecated or broken in Tahoe 26 for Apple Music? Any guidance or example code would be appreciated.
2
2
420
Oct ’25
Activating application from Terminal occasionally fails on macOS 26
On macOS Tahoe 26 activating GUI apps from command-line often fails. It launches the app but not brings to the foreground as expected. For example, running the following commands in Terminal is expected to launch Pages and bring it to the foreground. open /Applications/Pages.app or osascript -e `tell application "Pages" to activate` Moreover, they sometimes not return in Terminal. These commands worked as expected until macOS 15 but no more in macOS 26. The tricky part is that this failure doesn't happen 100% of the time; it occurs randomly. However, since multiple users of my app have reported the same symptoms, and I can reproduce it not only with my app but also with apps bundled to macOS, I don't believe this is an issue specific to my environment alone. I’ve already filed this issue: FB21087054 Open version: https://github.com/1024jp/AppleFeedback/issues/87 However, I’d like to know if any workaround exists or my understanding is wrong, especially for case with osascript.
3
1
564
Nov ’25
Customizing section titles in the Shortcuts app (Favorites / Recents style)
Hi everyone, I’m currently experimenting with App Intents and I’m trying to customize the section titles that appear at the top of groups of intents inside the Shortcuts app UI. For example, in the Phone shortcut, there are built-in sections such as “Call Favorite Contacts” and “Call Recent Contacts” (see screenshot attached). Apple’s own system apps such as Phone, Notes, and FaceTime seem to have fully custom section headers inside Shortcuts with icon. My question is: 👉 Is there an API available that allows third-party apps to define these titles (or sections) programmatically? I went through the AppIntents and Shortcuts documentation but couldn’t find anything. From what I can tell, this might be private / Apple-only behavior, but I’d be happy to know if anybody has found a supported solution or a recommended alternative. Has anyone dealt with this before? Thanks! Mickaël 🇫🇷
3
0
567
Dec ’25
'openAppWhenRun' property causing AppIntentsExtension to fail
I have added an "App Intents Extension" target to my main application in macOS. This generated the below two files: TWAppIntent.swift import AppIntents struct TWAppIntent: AppIntent { static var title: LocalizedStringResource = "TWAppIntentExtension" static var parameterSummary: some ParameterSummary { Summary("Get information on \(\.$TWType)") } //launch app on running action static var openAppWhenRun: Bool = true // we can have multiple parameter of diff types @Parameter(title: "TWType") var TWType: String func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult & ReturnsValue<String> & ProvidesDialog { return .result(value: TWType, dialog: "Logged break.") } } TWAppIntentExtension.swift import AppIntents @main struct TWAppIntentExtension: AppIntentsExtension { } I m able to build the extension target and I my intent action is available in the shortcuts app. However, on launching a shortcut with the above created intent action. I m getting the below popups: I have identified what is causing this error. Setting the openAppWhenRun to true is causing this error. I don't get this when it is set to false. This property is supposed to launch the application, but can someone help me understand why is it happening? This is only causing the error when using this property for AppIntent Extension and not for In app handling for the AppIntent. Can we not launch our application from AppIntent extension?
3
3
1k
Oct ’25
@IntentParameterDependency Always Returns nil in iOS 18
The following code works perfectly fine in iOS 17, where I can retrieve the desired dependency value through @IntentParameterDependency as expected. However, in iOS 18, addTransaction always returns nil. struct CategoryEntityQuery: EntityStringQuery { @Dependency private var persistentController: PersistentController @IntentParameterDependency<AddTransactionIntent>( \.$categoryType ) var addTransaction func entities(matching string: String) async throws -> [CategoryEnitity] { guard let addTransaction else { return [] } // ... } func entities(for identifiers: [CategoryEnitity.ID]) async throws -> [CategoryEnitity] { guard let addTransaction else { return [] } // ... } func suggestedEntities() async throws -> [CategoryEnitity] { guard let addTransaction else { return [] } // ... } } Has anyone else encountered the same issue? Any insights or potential workarounds would be greatly appreciated. iOS: 18.0 (22A3354) Xcode 16.0 (16A242d)
4
3
1k
Jan ’26
AppEntity / EntityQuery returns multiple results but Shortcuts only displays a single item on newest iOS 26.4
We are observing a regression in iOS 26.4 related to AppIntents, specifically AppEntity + EntityQuery. When using a single AppIntent with a parameter backed by AppEntity and EntityQuery, the query correctly returns multiple entities (e.g. ~50 items). However, in the Shortcuts app UI, only a single item is displayed. This behavior differs from iOS 26.3 and earlier, where all returned entities are correctly displayed in the selection list. This issue significantly impacts dynamic configuration use cases where AppEntity is used to represent server-driven or runtime-generated options.(The screenshots below illustrate the difference in shortcut presentation between iOS 26.4 and earlier versions.)
1
2
156
1w
Mac App Store review policy for Apple Event temporary exception entitlements
I’m looking for some advice regarding the usage of temporary exception entitlements in Mac App Store apps. Specifically the Apple Event Temporary Exception to communicate with other third party applications (not first-party macOS system apps): The Best Practices for Submitting Scriptable and AppleScript Apps to the Mac App Store section is a bit vague (how to 'request' a temporary entitlement?) and I couldn't find it mentioned in the Review Guidelines. Before designing, implementing and testing functionality based on the Apple Event Temporary Exception I’d like to know if these entitlements would: A. Always be rejected on the Mac App Store B. Only accepted in highly specific use cases C. Accepted if there is a clear use case and sufficient argumentation For this particular use case I’d like to send Apple Events to Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXPress. The application helps the user with some design tasks in their documents. The app requests the currently open documents and accesses document content to process used design elements. This is optional functionality that the user must explicitly enable in the app. I’m aware that the com.apple.security.scripting-targets entitlement is preferred. (Side question: are these always allowed or can they also be rejected for third party app scripting?) However, many third party applications don’t offer any scripting access groups in their definition, including Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXPress in this case. So before spending a lot of time implementing this feature I’d like to have some indication whether it is unlikely that sending Apple Events to third party apps will be allowed on the Mac App Store. Thanks for any insights!
5
0
112
2d
AppShortcutsProvider limitedAvailability in result builder crash
My team is preparing for iOS 18, and wanted to add intents using assistant schemas that are iOS 18 and above restricted. We noticed that the result builder for AppShortcuts added support for limitedAvailabilityCondition from iOS 17.4 so we marked the whole struct as available from it. The app compiles but writing a check like below inside appShortcuts property a crash will happen in iOS 17.5 runtime. (Removing the #available) is solving this problem. if #available(iOS 18, *) { AppShortcut( intent: SearchDonut(), phrases: [ "Search for a donut in \(.applicationName)" ], shortTitle: "search", systemImageName: "magnifyingglass" ) } We tried out putting the os check above and returning shortcuts in arrays and that both compiles and runs but then AppShortcuts.strings sends warnings that the phrases are not used (This phrase is not used in any App Shortcut or as a Negative Phrase.) because the script that extracts the phrases somehow fails to perform when shortcuts are written like below: static var appShortcuts: [AppShortcut] { if #available(iOS 18.0, *) { return [ AppShortcut( intent: CreateDonutIntent(), phrases: [ "Create Donut in \(.applicationName)", ], shortTitle: "Create Donut", systemImageName: "pencil" ) ] } else { return [ AppShortcut( intent: CreateDonutIntent(), phrases: [ "Create Donut in \(.applicationName)", ], shortTitle: "Create Donut", systemImageName: "pencil" ) ] } } This is very problematic because we can't test out on TF with external users new intents dedicated for iOS 18. We filed a radar under FB15010828
2
5
740
Nov ’25
Apple Script for Music app no longer supports current track event
AppleScript for the Music app no longer supports the current track event. Before macOS Tahoe, running the following script in Script Editor would return the current track information: tell application "Music" return name of current track end tell However, when I run this script on a device with macOS 26 Tahoe, I receive this error: "Result: error "Music got an error: Can’t get name of current track." number -1728 from name of current track” I've tested this extensively, and here are my findings: Going to the “songs” tab and playing something from there makes everything work. Playing any song directly will make it work with current track UNLESS this song is NOT in your Music library (either added through Apple Music or uploaded). If you play a song not in your library, current track is not updated even if you clicked on it specifically. Playing an album (in your library obviously) makes all the tracks within it appear in current track until autoplay takes over. Any autoplayed track won’t appear in current track even if in your library (unless: see the last bulletpoint) Music played through the “songs” tab all appear in current track even if autoplay kicks in. I assume this is because this tab is an iTunes legacy (visually and under the hood) and doesn’t use the modern autoplay. This tab also won’t play non-library songs unlike the “albums” tab which seems to use the correct autoplay and suffers the same symptoms as the “recently added”, “home”, “radio”, etc… tabs. Is this a bug, or has Apple simply deprecated this functionality?
10
4
1.2k
Oct ’25
Shortcuts Automation Trigger Transaction Timeouts
Description The Shortcut Automation Trigger Transaction frequently times out, ultimately causing the shortcut automation to fail. Please see the attached trace for details. Additionally, the Trigger is activated even when the Transaction is declined. Details In the trace I see the error: [WFWalletTransactionProvider observeForUpdatesWithInitialTransactionIfNeeded:transactionIdentifier:completion:]_block_invoke Hit timeout waiting for transaction with identifier: <private>, finishing. Open bug report: FB14035016
15
25
3.5k
Feb ’26
Apple Music ScriptingBridge Broken in macOS Tahoe 26
l’m trying to automate Apple Music on macOS Tahoe 26 using ScriptingBridge. Scripts that previously worked for controlling playback, fetching track info, or manipulating playlists no longer function. For example, code like this used to work: `import ScriptingBridge let music = SBApplication(bundleIdentifier: "com.apple.Music") as! MusicApplication print(music.currentTrack?.name ?? "No track playing")` But now it fails, returning nil for track info and failing to send playback commands. Questions: Has ScriptingBridge been deprecated or broken in Tahoe 26 for Apple Music? Any guidance or example code would be appreciated.
Replies
2
Boosts
2
Views
420
Activity
Oct ’25
Activating application from Terminal occasionally fails on macOS 26
On macOS Tahoe 26 activating GUI apps from command-line often fails. It launches the app but not brings to the foreground as expected. For example, running the following commands in Terminal is expected to launch Pages and bring it to the foreground. open /Applications/Pages.app or osascript -e `tell application "Pages" to activate` Moreover, they sometimes not return in Terminal. These commands worked as expected until macOS 15 but no more in macOS 26. The tricky part is that this failure doesn't happen 100% of the time; it occurs randomly. However, since multiple users of my app have reported the same symptoms, and I can reproduce it not only with my app but also with apps bundled to macOS, I don't believe this is an issue specific to my environment alone. I’ve already filed this issue: FB21087054 Open version: https://github.com/1024jp/AppleFeedback/issues/87 However, I’d like to know if any workaround exists or my understanding is wrong, especially for case with osascript.
Replies
3
Boosts
1
Views
564
Activity
Nov ’25
Customizing section titles in the Shortcuts app (Favorites / Recents style)
Hi everyone, I’m currently experimenting with App Intents and I’m trying to customize the section titles that appear at the top of groups of intents inside the Shortcuts app UI. For example, in the Phone shortcut, there are built-in sections such as “Call Favorite Contacts” and “Call Recent Contacts” (see screenshot attached). Apple’s own system apps such as Phone, Notes, and FaceTime seem to have fully custom section headers inside Shortcuts with icon. My question is: 👉 Is there an API available that allows third-party apps to define these titles (or sections) programmatically? I went through the AppIntents and Shortcuts documentation but couldn’t find anything. From what I can tell, this might be private / Apple-only behavior, but I’d be happy to know if anybody has found a supported solution or a recommended alternative. Has anyone dealt with this before? Thanks! Mickaël 🇫🇷
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
567
Activity
Dec ’25
'openAppWhenRun' property causing AppIntentsExtension to fail
I have added an "App Intents Extension" target to my main application in macOS. This generated the below two files: TWAppIntent.swift import AppIntents struct TWAppIntent: AppIntent { static var title: LocalizedStringResource = "TWAppIntentExtension" static var parameterSummary: some ParameterSummary { Summary("Get information on \(\.$TWType)") } //launch app on running action static var openAppWhenRun: Bool = true // we can have multiple parameter of diff types @Parameter(title: "TWType") var TWType: String func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult & ReturnsValue<String> & ProvidesDialog { return .result(value: TWType, dialog: "Logged break.") } } TWAppIntentExtension.swift import AppIntents @main struct TWAppIntentExtension: AppIntentsExtension { } I m able to build the extension target and I my intent action is available in the shortcuts app. However, on launching a shortcut with the above created intent action. I m getting the below popups: I have identified what is causing this error. Setting the openAppWhenRun to true is causing this error. I don't get this when it is set to false. This property is supposed to launch the application, but can someone help me understand why is it happening? This is only causing the error when using this property for AppIntent Extension and not for In app handling for the AppIntent. Can we not launch our application from AppIntent extension?
Replies
3
Boosts
3
Views
1k
Activity
Oct ’25
@IntentParameterDependency Always Returns nil in iOS 18
The following code works perfectly fine in iOS 17, where I can retrieve the desired dependency value through @IntentParameterDependency as expected. However, in iOS 18, addTransaction always returns nil. struct CategoryEntityQuery: EntityStringQuery { @Dependency private var persistentController: PersistentController @IntentParameterDependency<AddTransactionIntent>( \.$categoryType ) var addTransaction func entities(matching string: String) async throws -> [CategoryEnitity] { guard let addTransaction else { return [] } // ... } func entities(for identifiers: [CategoryEnitity.ID]) async throws -> [CategoryEnitity] { guard let addTransaction else { return [] } // ... } func suggestedEntities() async throws -> [CategoryEnitity] { guard let addTransaction else { return [] } // ... } } Has anyone else encountered the same issue? Any insights or potential workarounds would be greatly appreciated. iOS: 18.0 (22A3354) Xcode 16.0 (16A242d)
Replies
4
Boosts
3
Views
1k
Activity
Jan ’26
AppEntity / EntityQuery returns multiple results but Shortcuts only displays a single item on newest iOS 26.4
We are observing a regression in iOS 26.4 related to AppIntents, specifically AppEntity + EntityQuery. When using a single AppIntent with a parameter backed by AppEntity and EntityQuery, the query correctly returns multiple entities (e.g. ~50 items). However, in the Shortcuts app UI, only a single item is displayed. This behavior differs from iOS 26.3 and earlier, where all returned entities are correctly displayed in the selection list. This issue significantly impacts dynamic configuration use cases where AppEntity is used to represent server-driven or runtime-generated options.(The screenshots below illustrate the difference in shortcut presentation between iOS 26.4 and earlier versions.)
Replies
1
Boosts
2
Views
156
Activity
1w
Mac App Store review policy for Apple Event temporary exception entitlements
I’m looking for some advice regarding the usage of temporary exception entitlements in Mac App Store apps. Specifically the Apple Event Temporary Exception to communicate with other third party applications (not first-party macOS system apps): The Best Practices for Submitting Scriptable and AppleScript Apps to the Mac App Store section is a bit vague (how to 'request' a temporary entitlement?) and I couldn't find it mentioned in the Review Guidelines. Before designing, implementing and testing functionality based on the Apple Event Temporary Exception I’d like to know if these entitlements would: A. Always be rejected on the Mac App Store B. Only accepted in highly specific use cases C. Accepted if there is a clear use case and sufficient argumentation For this particular use case I’d like to send Apple Events to Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXPress. The application helps the user with some design tasks in their documents. The app requests the currently open documents and accesses document content to process used design elements. This is optional functionality that the user must explicitly enable in the app. I’m aware that the com.apple.security.scripting-targets entitlement is preferred. (Side question: are these always allowed or can they also be rejected for third party app scripting?) However, many third party applications don’t offer any scripting access groups in their definition, including Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXPress in this case. So before spending a lot of time implementing this feature I’d like to have some indication whether it is unlikely that sending Apple Events to third party apps will be allowed on the Mac App Store. Thanks for any insights!
Replies
5
Boosts
0
Views
112
Activity
2d
AppShortcutsProvider limitedAvailability in result builder crash
My team is preparing for iOS 18, and wanted to add intents using assistant schemas that are iOS 18 and above restricted. We noticed that the result builder for AppShortcuts added support for limitedAvailabilityCondition from iOS 17.4 so we marked the whole struct as available from it. The app compiles but writing a check like below inside appShortcuts property a crash will happen in iOS 17.5 runtime. (Removing the #available) is solving this problem. if #available(iOS 18, *) { AppShortcut( intent: SearchDonut(), phrases: [ "Search for a donut in \(.applicationName)" ], shortTitle: "search", systemImageName: "magnifyingglass" ) } We tried out putting the os check above and returning shortcuts in arrays and that both compiles and runs but then AppShortcuts.strings sends warnings that the phrases are not used (This phrase is not used in any App Shortcut or as a Negative Phrase.) because the script that extracts the phrases somehow fails to perform when shortcuts are written like below: static var appShortcuts: [AppShortcut] { if #available(iOS 18.0, *) { return [ AppShortcut( intent: CreateDonutIntent(), phrases: [ "Create Donut in \(.applicationName)", ], shortTitle: "Create Donut", systemImageName: "pencil" ) ] } else { return [ AppShortcut( intent: CreateDonutIntent(), phrases: [ "Create Donut in \(.applicationName)", ], shortTitle: "Create Donut", systemImageName: "pencil" ) ] } } This is very problematic because we can't test out on TF with external users new intents dedicated for iOS 18. We filed a radar under FB15010828
Replies
2
Boosts
5
Views
740
Activity
Nov ’25
Apple Script for Music app no longer supports current track event
AppleScript for the Music app no longer supports the current track event. Before macOS Tahoe, running the following script in Script Editor would return the current track information: tell application "Music" return name of current track end tell However, when I run this script on a device with macOS 26 Tahoe, I receive this error: "Result: error "Music got an error: Can’t get name of current track." number -1728 from name of current track” I've tested this extensively, and here are my findings: Going to the “songs” tab and playing something from there makes everything work. Playing any song directly will make it work with current track UNLESS this song is NOT in your Music library (either added through Apple Music or uploaded). If you play a song not in your library, current track is not updated even if you clicked on it specifically. Playing an album (in your library obviously) makes all the tracks within it appear in current track until autoplay takes over. Any autoplayed track won’t appear in current track even if in your library (unless: see the last bulletpoint) Music played through the “songs” tab all appear in current track even if autoplay kicks in. I assume this is because this tab is an iTunes legacy (visually and under the hood) and doesn’t use the modern autoplay. This tab also won’t play non-library songs unlike the “albums” tab which seems to use the correct autoplay and suffers the same symptoms as the “recently added”, “home”, “radio”, etc… tabs. Is this a bug, or has Apple simply deprecated this functionality?
Replies
10
Boosts
4
Views
1.2k
Activity
Oct ’25
Shortcuts Automation Trigger Transaction Timeouts
Description The Shortcut Automation Trigger Transaction frequently times out, ultimately causing the shortcut automation to fail. Please see the attached trace for details. Additionally, the Trigger is activated even when the Transaction is declined. Details In the trace I see the error: [WFWalletTransactionProvider observeForUpdatesWithInitialTransactionIfNeeded:transactionIdentifier:completion:]_block_invoke Hit timeout waiting for transaction with identifier: <private>, finishing. Open bug report: FB14035016
Replies
15
Boosts
25
Views
3.5k
Activity
Feb ’26