Automation & Scripting

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

Automation & Scripting Documentation

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How to get the "Is Completed" and "Is Not Completed" Filter in Shortcuts app like Reminders
When we use the "Find All Reminders" shortcut, there's these two filters "Is Completed and "Is Not Completed". When I implement this in my app, the best I could get is just "Completed" and "Not Completed", I can't figure out how to add the "Is" in front. In my entity: @Property(title: "Completed") var completed : Bool In the EntityPropertyQuery: static var properties = QueryProperties { Property(\GTDItemAppEntity.$list) { EqualToComparator { NSPredicate(format: "list.uuid = %@", $0.id as NSUUID) } } Property(\GTDItemAppEntity.$text) { ContainsComparator { NSPredicate(format: "text CONTAINS[cd] %@", $0) } EqualToComparator { NSPredicate(format: "text = %@", $0) } } Property(\GTDItemAppEntity.$completed) { EqualToComparator { NSPredicate(format: $0 ? "completed = YES" : "completed = NO") } } } If I change the property to @Property(title: "Is Completed") var completed : Bool Then it will show as "Is Completed" and "Not Is Completed" in the filter! Reminder: My App:
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139
Jul ’25
I want the "Folder" property of a folder not it's class.
I'm trying to set a boolean value to myVariable using the "Folder" property, but the Applescript editor keeps interpreting it as a class. Here is a shorted code. this is part of a bigger code to identify files dropped into a folder and create a new folder which it renames based on the date of the file that is dropped into the folder. Unfortunately, it keeps making folders every time it makes a new folder. Resalting in continuous loop of folders being created and renamed to "2025". The plan is to us an IF condition to prevent the creation of folders when a folder/s are dropped into my folder with my Folder Action. property directory : "Catalina:Users:Username:Desktop:Folder:File.pdf tell application "Finder" set pathname to POSIX path of directory set item_info to the info for directory set myVariable to Folder of item_info return myVariable end tell I noticed the following when I compile the script The color of the "Folder" is blue. I believe this means it's a class. Normally when I call a property, the color turns pink. it does it correctly when I use "set the file_name to the "name" of this_file". I also tried declaring the "Folder" property in brackets "Folder". did not help I noticed the following when I run the script: It returns ---error number -10004 "A privilege violation occurred. When it runs the "info for" command. I gave the Script Editor Full File access, Full Accessibility access and the FolderActionsDispatcher has full Finder access. Can anyone point me in the right direction! What is the cause of the privilege violation or how would I find what the cause is? How do I force the Script Editor to get the "Folder" property of a folder?
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Jul ’25
How to configure com.apple.security.scripting-targets in .entitlements file?
I use NSUserAppleScriptTask in my app to call Apple Script method to send Apple Events to Finder and System Events. The script has been deployed in the folder ~/Library/Application Scripts/{app bundle id}/ I have configured the com.apple.security.automation.apple-events in the .entitlements file, but how to configure com.apple.security.scripting-targets to meet the AppStore review requirements The existing official documentation is too incomplete to be of much use. If anyone has had similar experience, could you please share?
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Aug ’25
INStartCallIntent requires unlock when device is face down with AirPods
When my Intents extension resolves an INStartCallIntent and returns .continueInApp while the device is locked, the call does not proceed unless the user unlocks the device. After unlocking, the app receives the NSUserActivity and CallKit proceeds normally. My expectation is that the native CallKit outgoing UI should appear and the call should start without requiring unlock — especially when using AirPods, where attention is not available. Steps to Reproduce Pair and connect AirPods. Lock the iPhone. Start music playback (e.g. Apple Music). Place the phone face down (or cover Face ID sensors so attention isn’t available). Say: “Hey Siri, call Tommy with DiscoMonday(My app name).” Observed Behavior Music mutes briefly. Siri says “Calling Tommy with DiscoMonday.” Lock screen shows “Require Face ID / passcode.” After several seconds, music resumes. The app is not launched, no NSUserActivity is delivered, and no CXStartCallAction occurs. With the phone face up, the same phrase launches the app, triggers CXStartCallAction, and the call proceeds via CallKit after faceID. Expected Behavior From the lock screen, Siri should hand off INStartCallIntent to the app, which immediately requests CXStartCallAction and drives the CallKit UI (reportOutgoingCall(...startedConnectingAt:) → ...connectedAt:), without requiring device unlock, regardless of orientation or attention availability when AirPods are connected.
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2w
How do I flatten a PDF using Shortcuts or Automator?
Looking for any method to quickly flatten a PDF without opening Preview and without installing 3 party software. Any ideas? Save as PDF in Preview works, but I don't want to have to open Preview each time I need to do this. The Create PDF action which appears in Finder when you select 2 or more PDFs flattens PDFs, but it requires me to select 2 or more files, and I generally don't want to combine PDFs--I simply wish to flatten a PDF. Most Automator and Shortcuts options I am aware of do not flatten PDFs, and in some cases, strip out form field data from PDFs.
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1w
App Automatically Deleted from Applications Folder - OSX
I made an application in Script Editor and it works as expected. But the app seems to be getting automatically deleted at random times. For example, I made it a few days ago, tested it successfully, then went back today to look for it and it was gone. Tested this multiple times. I bit more detail about my process: I wrote the app in Script editor, exported it as an Application with run-only checked and no code signing after manipulating a few things (.plist file, .icns file), I then remove extended attributes and code-sign using terminal. I have an Apple developer account that I use to code-sign: xattr -cr <path_to_app> codesign -s <my_developer_account> <path_to_app_bundle> then I copy the app into my Applications folder and test it successfully a day or more later, the app is gone (and I haven't even opened it again) Ventura 13.1, Mac Book Pro 2021
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1.1k
Feb ’25
Stuck: Trying to Create Out of Office Shortcut
I want to create an Apple Shortcut that responds to text messages I receive while on vacation with an Out of the Office message. However, I want to exclude some people from getting this message, namely family and work colleagues. Does anyone know how to do this on iOS 18. I'm stuck on how to exclude contacts I don't want to send the message to. Does anyone know how to do this?
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Oct ’24
Shortcuts Services doesn't work properly in Books & iMessages
The built-in Books and iMessages on the latest macOS can not handle Shortcuts properly. If Books (no matter the Home scheme or the reading scheme) or iMessages is the current focused application, Shortcuts doesn't work. Once I move out and focus app turns to Finder or any other app, Shortcuts works properly. An exception is that when I pin the shortcut in the Menu Bar, the Menu Bar one works, while the one in the application's menu doesn't work. I have no idea why this would happen. Could it be part of privilege control or something?
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May ’25
How to inject parameter dependency at runtime in iOS App Intent
I am trying to create an App Intent that lets a user select a day in the itinerary of a trip. The trip has to be chosen before the days available can be displayed. When the PlanActivityIntentDemo intent is ran from the shortcuts app, the trip selected is not injected into the appropriate TripItineraryDayQueryDemo Entity Query. Is there a way to get the selected trip to be injected at run time from shortcuts app. Here's some code for illustration: // Entity Definition: import AppIntents struct ShortcutsItineraryDayEntityDemo: Identifiable, Hashable, AppEntity { typealias DefaultQuery = TripItineraryDayQueryDemo static var typeDisplayRepresentation: TypeDisplayRepresentation = "Trip Itinerary Day" var displayRepresentation: DisplayRepresentation { "Trip Day" } var id: String static var defaultQuery: DefaultQuery { TripItineraryDayQueryDemo() } init() { self.id = UUID().uuidString } } struct TripItineraryDayQueryDemo: EntityQuery { // This only works in shortcut editor but not at runtime. Why? How can I fix this issue? @IntentParameterDependency<PlanActivityIntentDemo>(\.$tripEntity) var tripEntity @IntentParameterDependency<PlanActivityIntentDemo>(\.$title) var intentTitle func entities(for identifiers: [ShortcutsItineraryDayEntityDemo.ID]) async throws -> [ShortcutsItineraryDayEntityDemo] { print("entities being called with identifiers: \(identifiers)") // This method is called when the app needs to fetch entities based on identifiers. let tripsStore = TripsStore() guard let trip = tripEntity?.tripEntity.trip, let itineraryId = trip.firstItineraryId else { print("No trip or itinerary ID can be found for the selected trip.") return [] } return [] // return empty for this demo } func suggestedEntities() async throws -> [ShortcutsItineraryDayEntityDemo] { print("suggested itinerary days being called") let tripsStore = TripsStore() guard let trip = tripEntity?.tripEntity.trip, let itineraryId = trip.firstItineraryId else { print("No trip or itinerary ID found for the selected trip.") return [] } return [] } } struct PlanActivityIntentDemo: AppIntent { static var title: LocalizedStringResource { "Plan New Activity" } // The selected trip fails to get injected when intent is run from shortcut app @Parameter(title: "Trip", description: "The trip to plan an activity for", requestValueDialog: "Which trip would you like to plan an activity for?") var tripEntity: ShortcutsTripEntity @Parameter(title: "Activity Title", description: "The title of the activity", requestValueDialog: "What do you want to do or see?") var title: String @Parameter(title: "Activity Day", description: "Activity Day") var activityDay: ShortcutsItineraryDayEntity func perform() async throws -> some ProvidesDialog { // This is a demo intent, so we won't actually perform any actions. .result(dialog: "Activity '\(title)' planned") } }
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Jun ’25
Debugging updateAppShortcutParameters not adding shortcuts to Shortcuts App
So I'm developing an ios application which should be showing shortcuts, but its not. I'm not sure how to debug why the functionality isnt working. Believe I'm correctly calling AppShortcutsProvider's updateAppShortcutParameters, but I dont see any errors in the console showing me a problem. And in fact, I made a simplified just swift version that works before I tried to integrate it into a more complex project. But now I'm at a loss as to what is going wrong or what debug tools I can use to figure it out. Any help would be appreciated. When building my project I see: 025-08-18 14:07:49.371 appintentsmetadataprocessor[57506:35387547] Starting appintentsmetadataprocessor export 2025-08-18 14:07:49.414 appintentsmetadataprocessor[57506:35387547] Writing Metadata.appintents 2025-08-18 14:07:49.414 appintentsmetadataprocessor[57506:35387547] Metadata root: /Users/jpetersen/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Unity-iPhone-dtnhxevagfkzsjdavesziaqrwisr/Build/Products/ReleaseForRunning-iphoneos/UnityFramework.framework/Metadata.appintents AppIntentsSSUTraining (in target 'UnityFramework' from project 'Unity-iPhone') cd /Users/jpetersen/no_doc_repos/payments_ios_investigation/SpotlightSearch/client/Build /Applications/Xcode_16.1.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/appintentsnltrainingprocessor --infoplist-path /Users/jpetersen/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Unity-iPhone-dtnhxevagfkzsjdavesziaqrwisr/Build/Products/ReleaseForRunning-iphoneos/UnityFramework.framework/Info.plist --temp-dir-path /Users/jpetersen/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Unity-iPhone-dtnhxevagfkzsjdavesziaqrwisr/Build/Intermediates.noindex/Unity-iPhone.build/ReleaseForRunning-iphoneos/UnityFramework.build/ssu --bundle-id com.unity3d.framework --product-path /Users/jpetersen/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Unity-iPhone-dtnhxevagfkzsjdavesziaqrwisr/Build/Products/ReleaseForRunning-iphoneos/UnityFramework.framework --extracted-metadata-path /Users/jpetersen/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Unity-iPhone-dtnhxevagfkzsjdavesziaqrwisr/Build/Products/ReleaseForRunning-iphoneos/UnityFramework.framework/Metadata.appintents --archive-ssu-assets 2025-08-18 14:07:49.436 appintentsnltrainingprocessor[57507:35387550] Parsing options for appintentsnltrainingprocessor 2025-08-18 14:07:49.437 appintentsnltrainingprocessor[57507:35387550] Starting AppIntents SSU YAML Generation 2025-08-18 14:07:49.444 appintentsnltrainingprocessor[57507:35387550] Training 'Start ${+applicationName}' for English 2025-08-18 14:07:49.444 appintentsnltrainingprocessor[57507:35387550] Training 'Play ${ShortcutEntity}|Play ${ShortcutEntity} on ${+applicationName}' for English 2025-08-18 14:07:49.444 appintentsnltrainingprocessor[57507:35387550] Training Negative Phrases '' for English 2025-08-18 14:07:49.444 appintentsnltrainingprocessor[57507:35387550] Application name 'UnityFramework' for English 2025-08-18 14:07:49.449 appintentsnltrainingprocessor[57507:35387550] Generated AppIntents SSU YAML files in file:///Users/jpetersen/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Unity-iPhone-dtnhxevagfkzsjdavesziaqrwisr/Build/Intermediates.noindex/Unity-iPhone.build/ReleaseForRunning-iphoneos/UnityFramework.build/ssu/ 2025-08-18 14:07:49.449 appintentsnltrainingprocessor[57507:35387550] Copied AppIntents SSU YAML files to file:///Users/jpetersen/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Unity-iPhone-dtnhxevagfkzsjdavesziaqrwisr/Build/Products/ReleaseForRunning-iphoneos/UnityFramework.framework/Metadata.appintents/ So I think it should be making the required app intent data :shrug:
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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.
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5d
Does DynamicOptionsProvider work on watchOS?
I'm curious, why DynamicOptionsProvider is available on watchOS? Is there any way to present options to the user? For example in Emoji Rangers project: struct EmojiRangerSelection: AppIntent, WidgetConfigurationIntent { static let intentClassName = "EmojiRangerSelectionIntent" static var title: LocalizedStringResource = "Emoji Ranger Selection" static var description = IntentDescription("Select Hero") @Parameter(title: "Selected Hero", default: EmojiRanger.cake, optionsProvider: EmojiRangerOptionsProvider()) var hero: EmojiRanger? struct EmojiRangerOptionsProvider: DynamicOptionsProvider { func results() async throws -> [EmojiRanger] { EmojiRanger.allHeros } } func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult { return .result() } } On watchOS we usually use recommendations() to give the user predefined choice of configured widgets. Meanwhile in AppIntentProvider recommendations are empty: struct AppIntentProvider: AppIntentTimelineProvider { ... func recommendations() -> [AppIntentRecommendation<EmojiRangerSelection>] { [] } } Does it imply that there's a way to use DynamicOptionsProvider on watchOS somehow? BTW, WidgetConfiguration.promptsForUserConfiguration() is one of the methods that are not available on watchOS. And also, the Emoji Ranger project doesn't show widgets (complications) on watchOS out of the box.
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Mar ’25
iOS 18.4 - HomeKit actions from AppIntent fail when triggered from Widget
Hi all, Since updating to iOS 18.4, I'm experiencing a regression with AppIntents triggered from Widgets. In my app, I use AppIntents inside a WidgetKit extension to control HomeKit devices. This setup was working perfectly up to iOS 18.3. However, starting with iOS 18.4, when the AppIntent is triggered from the widget and the main app is not running, the action fails with this error: Error Domain=HMErrorDomain Code=80 "Missing entitlement for API." UserInfo={ NSLocalizedFailureReason=Handler does not support background access, NSLocalizedDescription=Missing entitlement for API. } Interestingly, the exact same AppIntent works fine if the app is still alive in the background — it seems like the failure only occurs when the intent is handled by the widget process. This looks like a behavior change or new restriction introduced in iOS 18.4. Has anyone experienced the same? Is there a new entitlement needed, or a recommended workaround? Thanks in advance!
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Jun ’25
macOS 26: Automator 3rd party actions cannot be configured
After installing my notarized 3rd party app in a Tahoe VM, its embedded Automator actions can not be configured in Automator while defining a workflow: After adding the actions (enabling 3rd party extensions), their views / UI elements do not respond to any mouse event. When enabling „show this action when running“, the options can be changed during execution of the workflow. Needless to say: Adjusting these action settings in Automator was working for years, macOS 12 - 15 and before. Reported via Feedback Assistent (FB19015185). Can anybody confirm this issue with Automator actions?
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2d
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?
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3w
Intents not showing up in Shortcuts app
I have an existing iOS app with shortcuts support, and I am trying to bring the same shortcuts to my Mac app in macOS Monterey. In my case, I have added the same intents definition file to my Mac target app, added "Intents eligible for in-app handling" to my Info.plust file and added the intent names, and made sure all the intent handling code is part of both iOS and Mac targets. Still, when I build and run the app on macOS Monterey, the new shortcuts don't show in the shortcut editor at all. I've tried closing and restarting the Shortcuts app, but no luck. The build logs do show the intents being built, but they're just not showing up in the Shortcuts app. I tried 'donating' one of the intents in my Mac app code, but got an error: Cannot donate interaction with intent that has no valid shortcut types Not sure what to try to make it work. Thanks.
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2.2k
Dec ’24
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
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2.0k
Feb ’25