Run macOS Shortcuts by name from the command line and pass file input/output using the shortcuts CLI
domain: support.apple.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
List available shortcuts with: shortcuts list
Run a shortcut by name with: shortcuts run "Shortcut Name"
Pass an input file with the -i / --input-path flag: shortcuts run "Shortcut Name" -i /path/to/input.txt
Capture output to a file with the -o / --output-path flag; the file extension hints the desired format: shortcuts run "Shortcut Name" -o /tmp/result.pdf
Inspect available sub-commands with: shortcuts help — valid commands include run, list, view, and sign.
Known gotchas
Shortcut names containing spaces must be quoted or have spaces escaped with a backslash.
The shortcuts command exits 0 on success and 1 on error; check $? in calling scripts to detect failures.
Shortcuts that require user interaction or display UI may stall when called from a non-GUI context such as a launchd daemon running as root.
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