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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Trouble implementing search via Siri
Hi, we're having trouble implementing search through Siri voice commands. We already did it successfully for audio playback using INPlayMediaIntentHandling. For search, none of the available ways works. Both INSearchForMediaIntentHandling and ShowInAppSearchResultsIntent never open the App in the first place. We tried various commands, but e.g. "Search for " sometimes opens the Apple Music app and sometimes shows a Google search widget. Our app is never taken into consideration for providing any results. We implemented all steps mentioned in WWDC videos and documentation (e.g. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appintents/making-in-app-search-actions-available-to-siri-and-apple-intelligence), but nothing seems to work. We're mainly testing on iOS 18 currently. Any idea why this is not working?
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204
Jul ’25
Unable to find AppShortcutProvider
Hello, I'm evaluating if it's worth to expose shortcuts from our app, it seems to be working fine on my machine - Apple Silicon, latest Tahoe beta, Xcode 26 beta. But if I compile the same code on our intel build agents which are running latest macOS 15 and Xcode 26 beta, once I install the bundle to /Applications on Tahoe I don't see any shortcuts. Only other difference is that CI build is signed with distribution DeveloperID certificate - I re-signed the build with my dev certificate and it has no effect. I found out that linkd is somehow involved in the discovery process and most relevant logs look like this: default (...) linkd Registry com.**** is not link enabled com.apple.appintents debug (...) linkd ApplicationService Created AppShortcutClient with bundleId: com.**** com.apple.appintents error (...) linkd AppService Unable to find AppShortcutProvider for com.**** com.apple.appintents Could you please advice where to look for the problem?
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160
Jul ’25
AudioPlaybackIntent usage requesting a screen unlock
Hello, I have an AppIntent that uses the AudioPlaybackIntent to trigger my app to open and initiate an AVPlayer that plays back a media stream I control. When the phone is unlocked, everything works as I expect. The app opens and plays the audio. However, when the phone is locked, any attempt to invoke the intent causes a "Request Code" dialog to be displayed. This seems counter to what I would expect with the AudioPlaybackIntent usage. Am I able to accomplish what I'm after here with AppIntents? Does the fact that I'm using openAppWhenRun require me to have the phone unlocked somehow? import AppIntents import Foundation struct PlayStationAppIntent: AudioPlaybackIntent { static var title: LocalizedStringResource = "Play radio station" static var description: IntentDescription = .init("Play radio station") static var notification: Notification.Name = .init("playStation") static var openAppWhenRun: Bool = true init() {} func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult { AudioPlayerService.shared.play() return .result() } }
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152
Jul ’25
Terminal Command or AppleScript to Set Audio Balance to Perfect Center?
Hi everyone, I'm looking for a way to programmatically set the left/right audio balance to perfect center (50/50) using either a Terminal command or AppleScript. Background: The audio balance slider in System Settings > Sound > Output & Input works functionally, but I have difficulty determining when it's positioned at the exact center point. The visual nature of the slider makes it challenging for me to achieve the precision I need, and I end up adjusting it repeatedly trying to get it perfectly centered. What I'm looking for: A Terminal command that can set the audio balance to exact center An AppleScript that accomplishes the same thing Any other programmatic method to ensure perfect 50/50 balance I've tried searching through the defaults command documentation and Core Audio frameworks but haven't found the right approach yet. Has anyone successfully automated this setting before? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, Dylan
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Jul ’25
Shortcuts: Expense Tracker Header Lines
Issue: CSV Headings Not Appearing in Shortcut-Generated File I'm using an iPhone 16 Pro with iOS 18.5 and the latest Shortcuts app to log expenses into a CSV file. The shortcut works fine, except the resulting file doesn't include the column headings. Here’s what I’ve done: Created a file called Expenses.csv with this single header line: Date,Price,Category,Store,Notes,Location Saved it to both /iCloud Drive and /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts (via iCloud on my Windows PC). My Shortcut builds the CSV line from inputs (date, price, category, etc.) and appends it to the file. I renamed the variables only in the final “Text” block, since renaming in earlier blocks seems no longer possible in this Shortcuts version. Despite this setup, the file doesn’t preserve the header row—it either doesn’t show up, or gets overwritten. Goal: Have a persistent CSV file with the correct headers once, and each new entry appended below the correct columns. Can anyone help me figure out what I’m doing wrong?
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Jul ’25
how to use a 3D short cut with the totally closed application
I'm soliciting you because I'm having a problem using the 3D short cut for my ios application in uikit in the AppDelegate file but it's impossible to redirect the route when the user has completely killed the application. It works as a background application. I'd like it to redirect to the searchPage search page when the application is fully closed and the user clicks on search with 3D touch. final class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate { lazy var window: UIWindow? = { return UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds) }() private let appDependencyContainer = Container() private let disposeBag = DisposeBag() var pendingDeeplink: String? private lazy var onboardingNavigationController: UINavigationController = { let navigationController = UINavigationController(nibName: nil, bundle: nil) navigationController.setNavigationBarHidden(true, animated: false) return navigationController }() private func handleShortcutItem(_ shortcutItem: UIApplicationShortcutItem) { guard let windowScene = UIApplication.shared.connectedScenes.first as? UIWindowScene, let window = windowScene.windows.first(where: { $0.isKeyWindow }), let rootVC = window.rootViewController else { DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 1.0) { [weak self] in self?.handleShortcutItem(shortcutItem) } return } if let presentedVC = rootVC.presentedViewController { presentedVC.dismiss(animated: !UIAccessibility.isReduceMotionEnabled) { [weak self] in self?.executeShortcutNavigation(shortcutItem) } } else { executeShortcutNavigation(shortcutItem) } } private func executeShortcutNavigation(_ shortcutItem: UIApplicationShortcutItem) { DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.1) { [weak self] in guard let self = self else { return } switch shortcutItem.type { case ShortcutType.searchAction.rawValue: self.mainRouter.drive(to: .searchPage(.show), origin: AppRoutingOrigin()) case ShortcutType.playAction.rawValue: self.mainRouter.drive(to: .live(channel: Channel(), appTabOrigin: AppTabOrigin.navigation.rawValue), origin: AppRoutingOrigin()) case ShortcutType.myListHistoryAction.rawValue: self.mainRouter.drive(to: .myList(.history), origin: AppRoutingOrigin()) default: break } } } What I've tried: Adding delays with DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter Checking for window availability and rootViewController Dismissing presented view controllers before navigation Environment: iOS 15+ Swift 6 Using custom router system (mainRouter) App supports both SwiftUI and UIKit Questions: What's the best practice for handling shortcuts on cold launch vs warm launch? How can I ensure the router is properly initialized before navigation?
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157
Jul ’25
AppleScript
Here's my AppleScript: tell application "Finder" activate open application file "Messages.app" of folder "Applications" of folder "System" of startup disk end tell I just need the step to send the message making the script automatically send the message which has already been created. This step opens the completed iMessage ready to send . I want to send it without and keyboard usage. All that is needed is the step to send
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100
Nov ’25
UI Testing and 'Allow Paste'
I am developing an app that allows the user to ask it to process the clipboard contents and do something with it. In developing a XC UI Test, I find the app stops while it waits for the user to give permission. That breaks the automation. I tried: let springboard = XCUIApplication(bundleIdentifier: "com.apple.springboard") let allowButton = springboard.buttons["Allow Paste"] But that does not work. Is there a way to tell the framework to automatically give the test permission to access the Paste clipboard (or to allow me to write tests to grant this)?
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180
Nov ’25
Siri media search unable to provide keyword
Hi, I am developing a music app. We are using siri media search functionality for a while. We recently had a case where siri would not provide keyword for a search. When user speaks "Play Kid songs" (in Turkish, çocuk şarkıları çal), when I debug I see mediaSearch.mediaName is nil. When user speaks "Play Kids" (in Turkish, çocuklar çal) a keyword is given and we can search and play related song. Normally I would think that siri is somehow censoring the word "Kid". But when i try the same voice search in Spotify, I get a children song search result. I've read documentations and searched web but couldnt find any similar experience. What would be the cause, is there an extra setting for this kind of behaviour. What would be the cause or a different capability that Spotify can get a keyword out of this voice search but not us?
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274
Nov ’25
oascript stop working for sending notification
I have a script that stop working since Tahoe migration. The script need to send a notification on the my mac. The issue is this line: osascript -e 'display notification "The task has been completed" with title "✅ My script"' It doesn't fail (return 0), nothing in outputs, but doesn't show anything. I check all my notification settings, but all seems to be right, I tested the configuration of iterm & script editor. And the global ettongs of the notifications:
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232
Nov ’25
SetFocusFilterIntent app cannot be copied to another Mac
I have recently added a SetFocusFilterIntent target extension to my app which is a system utility which goes into the menu bar(Application is agent = YES). I have followed the approach in the WWDC22 video introducing Focus Intent and I have created an App Groups to being able to make the Extension to communicate with my main app, however from when I did this sometimes when I run the app I do get this log line: Couldn't read values in CFPrefsPlistSource<0x97cd34700> (Domain: group.xxx.xxx.MyApp, User: kCFPreferencesAnyUser, ByHost: Yes, Container: (null), Contents Need Refresh: Yes): Using kCFPreferencesAnyUser with a container is only allowed for System Containers, detaching from cfprefsd Despite this the Focus mode integration is working correctly on my development Mac. However I used to Archive the app and then Copy the app to my MacBook but when I do that now my other Mac cannot open the app and it is giving me an error. If I revert this change then I can bring the app back to my other Mac as usual following the procedure: Product -> Archive. Then from the archiver: Distribute App -> Copy App. After that I copy the app generated to the App folder of my other MacBook but it doesn't open anymore. During the archival phase now I am even getting this warning: MyAppFocus.appex is an ExtensionKit extension and must be embedded in the parent app bundle's Extensions directory, but is embedded in the parent app bundle's ../../../BuildProductsPath/Release/MyApp.app/Contents/Extensions directory. How can I solve this issue? If I rollback the commit related to this SetFocusFilterIntent new feature the app can be Copied and moved to the other Mac as before. Is this related to the extension or to the fact that I had to use this new entitlement: com.apple.security.application-groups ?
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205
Dec ’25
Custom AppEntity nested dictionary
I am creating an AppIntent to be used with Shortcuts and I would like to return a flexible dictionary of values with nested structures. As far as I understand the custom AppEntity only uses the displayRepresentation to store a title and subtitle which are LocalizedStringResource. types. Although I can convert my dictionary into a string I found no way in shortcuts to be able to retrieve the original structure of it and inspect individual elements like in subsequent actions. Is there a way to do this? Thank you in advance Nick Karanatsios
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228
Dec ’25
App 自动更新,导致App功能错乱。
当用户开启App自动更新后,自动更新App后,App有些功能会错乱。 1.有的会触发旧App代码功能,如旧版本有个选择框,在新版本选择框从界面移除了,但自动更新看,有的用户会还会触旧版本选择框的功能 2.数据错乱,如App录入数字6,发送到服务端变成5.4 现在发现这些问题。都是要把App删除,重新下载就可以。 请问要如何避免这样的问题。 App是有Objective-C,会不会与开启 BITCODE有关?
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206
Dec ’25
Deliver/bundle entire Shortcut automations with an app
Is there any way of creating complete Shortcuts automations and bundling them with my app? Specifically, I would like the user to be able to Take a photo and open it with my app Or take a screenshot and open it with my app Of course I could offer a Share extension, but going through the Share menu and selecting my app there is time consuming for the user. I would like the user to be able to configure his or her action button such that it takes a new picture and opens it with my app right away. I can, of course, offer the respective App Shortcuts and let the user combine them into a pipeline with the Take Screenshot or Take Photo system actions. However, only power users would do this. Hence, I would like to bundle this complete pipeline with my app, such that the user just has to assign his/her Action Button to this pipeline if he/she wants to use this feature. How to go about this? I was thinking of exporting the shortcut into a file, bundling it with the app as a resource, and offering it via a Share action for the user to install it, or by sharing it on iCloud and adding the iCloud link to the UI of my app. What is the recommended approach?
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Dec ’25