Call Objective-C Foundation/AppKit APIs directly from a JavaScript for Automation (JXA) script via osascript's built-in ObjC bridge
domain: developer.apple.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
Import the framework you need with ObjC.import('Foundation') (or another framework name) at the top of the JXA script; Foundation symbols are available by default but other frameworks must be explicitly imported.
Access Objective-C classes and call their methods through the global ObjC object, which exposes classes/methods/properties from every imported framework to JavaScript.
Convert between JS and Objective-C string/object types using the $ bridge helper where a native Cocoa object (e.g. an NSString) needs to be produced or read back as a JS value.
Run the script with `osascript -l JavaScript <file.js>` (or as a saved JXA script), since the ObjC bridge is available only in the JavaScript (JXA) language context, not classic AppleScript.
Wrap ObjC bridge calls that can raise Cocoa exceptions in try/catch, since a failing Objective-C call surfaces as a thrown JS exception rather than a typical AppleScript-style error.
Known gotchas
The ObjC bridge only exposes classes/methods from frameworks you've explicitly imported beyond the default Foundation; calling an AppKit class without first running ObjC.import('AppKit') fails because the symbol isn't in scope.
Because the bridge gives raw access to Cocoa APIs, mistakes such as a wrong selector name or argument count tend to produce native Objective-C-style runtime errors rather than the friendlier errors typical of AppleScript-level automation, making debugging less forgiving.
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