shortcuts-shortcut

name	shortcuts:shortcut
description	Creating Apple Shortcuts programmatically as plist XML files. Use when the user wants to build, generate, or author Apple Shortcuts without the GUI app.
disable-model-invocation	true
allowed-tools	["Read","Write","Edit","Bash(swift ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/discover.swift:*)","Bash(plutil:*)","Bash(shortcuts:*)","Bash(open:*)","Bash(jq:*)","Bash(uname:*)","Bash(which:*)","Glob","Grep"]
hooks	{"PreToolUse":[{"matcher":"Bash(swift ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/discover.swift:*)|Bash(shortcuts:*)","hooks":"[Truncated]"}]}

Apple Shortcuts

Generate Apple Shortcuts as XML property list files.

Environment

• OS: !uname -s
• shortcuts CLI: !which shortcuts 2>/dev/null && echo "available" || echo "not available"

If the OS is Darwin (macOS), use the discovery CLI and the full deployment pipeline (convert, sign, import, run). If Linux, generate XML only — signing and import are unavailable; inform the user.

Discovery

On macOS, use the discovery CLI to find actions: see references/discovery.md

On any platform, use the static action catalog: see references/actions.md

Generation

Write the shortcut as an XML plist. Load references as needed.

• Starting a shortcut? See references/plist-structure.md for top-level keys, icon, types
• Writing control flow? See references/control-flow.md for if/else, repeat, menu XML
• Passing data between actions? See references/variables.md for set/get, output UUIDs
• Complex parameter values? See references/parameters.md for serialization types

Minimal template:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
  "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>WFWorkflowMinimumClientVersionString</key>
  <string>900</string>
  <key>WFWorkflowMinimumClientVersion</key>
  <integer>900</integer>
  <key>WFWorkflowClientVersion</key>
  <string>2702</string>
  <key>WFWorkflowIcon</key>
  <dict>
    <key>WFWorkflowIconStartColor</key>
    <integer>463140863</integer>
    <key>WFWorkflowIconGlyphNumber</key>
    <integer>59511</integer>
  
  WFWorkflowTypes
  
    MenuBar
  
  WFWorkflowInputContentItemClasses
  
  WFWorkflowActions
  
    
  

Key conventions:

• UUIDs: Control flow and variable references use v4 UUIDs. Generate a fresh one for each linkage.
• Variables: Prefer Set Variable / Get Variable over inline WFTextTokenString.
• Action output: Add UUID and CustomOutputName to an action's parameters to capture its output.

Deployment (macOS only)

See references/deployment.md for the full pipeline: convert, sign, import, iterate.

Quick reference:

plutil -convert binary1 -o "My Shortcut.shortcut" "My Shortcut.plist"
mkdir -p out
shortcuts sign -i "My Shortcut.shortcut" -o "out/My Shortcut.shortcut"
open "out/My Shortcut.shortcut"

Constraints

• Signing requires macOS. No way to sign on Linux.
• Shortcuts must be signed before import.
• No public action spec. Use discovery on macOS; use static references elsewhere.

References

• references/discovery.md — Swift CLI for enumerating actions, app inspection
• references/actions.md — Static catalog of common built-in actions
• references/plist-structure.md — Top-level keys, icon colors, workflow types
• references/control-flow.md — If/else, repeat, menu with full XML examples
• references/variables.md — Set/Get variable, output UUIDs, token strings
• references/parameters.md — Value types, serialization, dictionary encoding
• references/deployment.md — plutil, shortcuts sign, import via open, iteration