
Shortcuts JS – Create Apple Shortcuts Using JavaScript - jonbaer
https://shortcuts.fun/
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joshfarrant
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...](https://medium.com/@JoshFarrant/creating-ios-12-shortcuts-with-
javascript-and-shortcuts-js-942420ca9904)

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philo23
I believe you can still import shortcuts from files in iOS 13, you just need
to “Allow untrusted shortcuts” in the Settings app first.

~~~
joshfarrant
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](https://imgur.com/a/NmHcPY2)

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schappim
Previous Coverage:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18468766](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18468766)

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azr79
Picking TS for something like this was the smartest choice.

~~~
joshfarrant
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.

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kkotak
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.

~~~
joshfarrant
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.

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jeffrogers
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?

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joshfarrant
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.

