Show HN: Python library to create Siri shortcuts | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Python library to create Siri shortcuts

github.com

82 pointsoboroten12 comments

I might be missing something but I couldn’t find a way to trigger shortcuts to make them useful.

So for example, I’d love to have a shortcut that checked if I was still at work at 17:15 each day and tell me to leave (potentially after checking for train delays). It seemed from the developer intro I read about shortcuts this would be possible but it doesn’t seem like there’s an interface to wire up shortcuts to trigger like that. Anyone have a workaround?

can you wire up shortcuts to calendar events?

I think it's not possible. I looked for a way to trigger shortcuts automatically too but seems like they can be triggered only manually.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/shortcuts/run-a-shortc...

Here one describes a way to send a push notification with a link and when he taps the notification, it starts the shortcut. But still, you need to tap...

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/337309/how-to-auto...

Haven't tried it yet but the guide suggests you can run shortcuts on a recurring schedule.

> You can use Siri to add shortcuts to the Reminders app, specifying shortcuts to be shown at a particular time or location. For example, you can schedule a reminder to run the Log Weight shortcut each morning, or to display the Home ETA shortcut when you depart from work.

https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/add-a-shortcut-to-...

Sadly, this will really just create a reminder to run the shortcut. Not run the shortcut.

Apps like YouTube Music need to add Siri Shortcuts so I can say play my youtube mix or whatever on YouTube Music. I know Pandora just enabled this similar Siri Shortcut and that's where I think Siri Shortcuts will be the most useful. ALlowing to interface with 3rd party apps.

What is “YouTube Music” - couldnt find an app like that in the app store

They might mean YouTube red? Which is the premium version of YouTube where videos keep playing in the background on your phone and no ads so it’s mainly used for music. It’s just the YouTube app itself however.

Pardon I think it’s called YouTube premium here in the US now. It was YouTube Red.

YouTube has an another app called “YouTube Music” designed specifically for playing music. It mostly just gives you the option to play only the audio of a given video (saving on bandwidth, etc). Only works if you have YouTube premium/red or whatever it’s called.

Might be called something different in other regions (I’m in the US).

Without the checking for trains you could set this up with a reminder with time and location (“on arrival”), once you get the reminder its no big deal to trigger the shortcut (for checking trains etc) manually I guess?

In a way you're certainly right: Not really a big deal. But then again, it's a difference like day and night. True automation versus assisted manual task-activation. I love the shortcuts feature, but not being able to have them run truly automatically (and in the background, you can't have a "wait"-action for longer than ca. 3 minutes) is a major roadblock that Apple should hopefully solve in iOS13.

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