Buried deep inside everything was announced at WWDC this year It was something I, an Lover of Apple ShortcutsI can’t wait to try: the ability to create Apple Shortcuts using artificial intelligence. In macOS 27, you’ll be able to just type what you want the shortcut to do, and the app will build it.
Anyone who regularly creates shortcuts knows the process of doing so can be tedious, even if the end result saves you a lot of time. So I’m happy with the idea of explaining what you want in simple language and ending up with a working shortcut. Even if it doesn’t work perfectly (let’s face it, AI-built stuff rarely does), it’s a starting point that you can tweak to suit your needs.
The only downside: This feature doesn’t launch until the fall, when the 27th version of Apple’s operating systems comes out.
What if you want to try it now? It turns out to be Federico Viticci, who founded and runs an amazing blog MacStorieshe also couldn’t wait—so much so that he went and built his own version. It is called Shortcuts Playgroundwhich runs in Claude Codex or OpenAI Codex. (The OpenAI codex is currently free; Claude’s Code requires at least the Pro planwhich starts at $20 per month.)
To get started, you first need to install the Playground Shortcuts agent; there are instructions on GitHub. Basically you will need to copy and paste the command into the terminal. (I won’t include the command here in case it changes.)
I tried this in Claude’s Code, but the tool works the same way in Codex. Once you have installed Shortcuts Playground you can launch it by typing / followed by “shortcuts.” You will see a list of options pop up:
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If you are starting from scratch, I recommend using shortcuts-playground:build option, followed by a rough description of what you want the shortcut to do. (Alternatively, shortcuts-playground:remixis for making changes to existing shortcuts.)
The agent will start working on creating a shortcut for you. Sometimes it will stop to ask you for more information, or to explain what can and cannot be created in Apple Shortcuts.
While exploring this tool, I requested a shortcut that gathered today’s weather, my calendar appointments, and my to-do list for the day, then read the whole thing aloud. The agent went to work happily.
