Shortcuts JS – Create Apple Shortcuts Using JavaScript | Hacker News Reader

Shortcuts JS – Create Apple Shortcuts Using JavaScript

shortcuts.fun

120 pointsjonbaer17 comments

Developer of Shortcuts JS here, happy to answer any questions!

At the moment the future of Shortcuts JS is uncertain. In the latest (iOS 13) betas of the Shortcuts app Apple have removed the ability to import Shortcuts from a file, only allowing them to be installed from the iCloud Shortcut sharing service. I’m hopeful that this feature will be added back in when the Shortcuts app comes out of beta in a few months. If not, then unfortunately Shortcuts JS may be dead in the water.

If you want to read a bit more about how Shortcuts JS came to be, then take a look at the medium post I wrote when I launched it. https://medium.com/@JoshFarrant/creating-ios-12-shortcuts-wi...

I mainly came across it while I was printing a QRcode to actually run a shortcut:// and while I see the file -> Airdrop as being useful you could at the end of the process deliver the same thing a QRcode to the shortcut you just developed no? Or am I missing something?

I don’t believe so, unfortunately. Regardless of what you use to trigger the Shortcut (a QR code, NFC, running it manually) the actual .shortcut file needs to be on the device so that it can actually be run. This means that you still need to find a way to import your generated .shortcut file onto your iOS device.

There is an ‘Allow Untrusted Shortcuts’ option in the Shortcuts section of the Settings app, but as far as I can tell this currently has no effect. Hopefully enabling that toggle will, in the future, allow the import of .shortcut files directly into the app.

I wonder if Apple disabled it accidentally. They still have documentation up on importing from a url: https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/import-a-shortcut-...

I really hope so. I've submitted a radar, but as of yet there's been no progress on it.

I've not explored importing a Shortcut from a URL to be honest, I may look into that later.

EDIT: That doesn't work either.

I believe you can still import shortcuts from files in iOS 13, you just need to “Allow untrusted shortcuts” in the Settings app first.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like that works. I've been testing periodically as new betas are released, but I'm still seeing this every time I try to AirDrop a .shortcut over.

https://imgur.com/a/NmHcPY2

Besides this particular change in shortcut deployment that do not allow users to import from external sources and that is constraining for your project, can you please share your thoughts on Apple vision regarding shortcuts ? Shortcut being deployed native in ios 13 means a programmatic interactivity with the OS that powers much of digital life of decision makers in Occident.

Assuming that ios is :

- famous for being pretty closed

- in the hands of many industry decision maker

what do you think will happen ?

cheers !

edit : clarity

Sorry, I'm not sure I completely understand your question. Would you mind clarifying slightly please?

Previous Coverage: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18468766

Picking TS for something like this was the smartest choice.

I agree, it made life significantly easier than just using regular JS. I’d not built anything from scratch with TS before this, but it seemed such a great fit for the project I decided to take the time to familiarise myself with it. No regrets whatsoever.

Great effort Josh! It's a shame that Apple decided to drop Workflow in favor of Shortcuts. Many powerful features were lost as a result. Case in point, Apple Watch geofencing automation. Apple will continue to get more closed as long as the market will allow them to do so.

? It's the same team and the same codebase.

Thank you!

I’ll be honest, I didn’t spend too much time with Workflow before Apple acquired them. I’m hoping that the community that’s grown around Shortcuts, and the ever more interesting things that people are doing with them, will help convince Apple to continue adding more and more powerful features to the app. Full control over system-level features would be incredible for power users.

Assuming iOS 13 doesn’t kill the ability to distribute via Shortcuts JS or otherwise use it, are there any plans to reconcile it to ScPL?

No plans currently, but the more libraries pop up around Shortcuts the more likely it is that knowledge can be shared between them, and that things may be able to be reconciled in the future. 10 different libraries all working to implement the same thing is needlessly wasteful.

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