I have a habit tracker app that uses App Intents and Shortcuts. The app uses SwiftData to persist data, just in case that's important. One of the shortcuts serves to log habits. However, when the app has been in the background for a good while (over an hour or so), that particular shortcut always fails when I try to run it in the Shortcuts app with the system error "Invalid action metadata" caused by "a bug in the host app". The app has a total of 9 shortcuts, and it's just this one particular shortcut that seems to be failing – the others continue to run without any issues even after the app has been in the background for a long time. The app intent/shortcut that is problematic is the one called HabitEntryAppIntent. For example purposes, I've also included one of the non-problematic intents in the code snippet below called HabitEntryCounterForTodayAppIntent. Both of these intents have one @Parameter value of type HabitEntity. I'll post code snippets in the replies because the character limit is not large enough to include them here, or view them in this GitHub gist: Code snippets on GitHub I've tried everything I can think of whilst debugging, but none of the following fixed the error: Removed all usage of @MainActor and mainContext by replacing the ModelContext used in perform() with a locally created property. Removed all usage of static shared properties like Calendar.shared and ModelContainer.shared and replaced them with local properties. Removed all non-essential code such as the code for context.undoManager and WidgetManager.shared.reload(.all) and really striped it all down to the absolute essentials. Reduced the number of shortcut phrases in the problematic shortcut because there was perhaps too many (>10) originally. You might have noticed that the perform() method in the problematic intent manipulates the database whilst the non-problematic intent only reads the database. Given that the two intents in the snippet above both have the same @Property(...) var habitEntity: HabitEntity values, I tried to swap the contents of the perform() methods over to see what would happen. And here's what's strange: When the perform() method from the problematic HabitEntryAppIntent is used in HabitEntryCounterForTodayAppIntent, it works without any issues and successfully logs habits! And then when the perform() method from the non-problematic HabitEntryCounterForTodayAppIntent is used in HabitEntryAppIntent it fails with the system error "Invalid action metadata". This suggests that the problem is not in the code that logs the habit entries but rather something is wrong with HabitEntryAppIntent itself. I also tried changing the metadata used in HabitEntryAppIntent and its shortcut. I copied all the metadata used in HabitEntryCounterForTodayAppIntent (the title, description, parameterSummary etc) and pasted it into HabitEntryAppIntent. And did the same with the metadata in the shortcut (phrases, shortTitle etc) so that all the metadata used in HabitEntryAppIntent matched that used in HabitEntryCounterForTodayAppIntent. However, the shortcut for HabitEntryAppIntent continued to fail. Thus, it doesn't seem to be an issue with the code in perform() because that code succeeds when used in another app intent. And, despite the "metadata" error message, it doesn't seem to be an issue with the metadata in the app intent because I've tried using metadata from the non-problematic intent but it still fails. I have watched all WWDC videos related to app intents and shortcuts, and looked through the developer forum for similar questions, but I'm completely stumped by this issue and why it's only affecting one of my shortcuts. Also worth mentioning is that the widgets in the app that log habits using the same app intent do not suffer the same issue; they continue to work even after the Shortcut has failed. Moreover, if I try running the problematic shortcut for HabitEntryAppIntent and see the system error message, then run the shortcut for HabitEntryCounterForTodayAppIntent (which always succeeds), and then try running the HabitEntryAppIntent shortcut again, it then runs successfully on the second attempt. It seems that running HabitEntryCounterForTodayAppIntent fixes the issue, at least temporarily.

I am creating scripts to automatically switch the wallpapers on my multiple displays. System Events exposes almost all of the options accessible in the Wallpapers pane of system settings, but not the option to "Show on all Spaces". I want to add that option to the following script: tell application "System Events" set intervalSeconds to 900.0 set wpDir to POSIX file "/Path/to/Folder/" set picture rotation of every desktop to 1 set random order of every desktop to true set pictures folder of every desktop to wpDir set change interval of every desktop to intervalSeconds do shell script ("killall Dock") end tell Also, the foregoing script does not seem to successfully set the interval value, although it does not throw an error. Not sure why that does not work. Any thoughts or insights would be welcome. Thank you

Was going to add a shortcut to an app via INIntent. I followed the WWDC developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2021/10232/?time=986 Steps: Created a .intentdefinition file and created an intent. Added the intent to .intentdefinition and compiled the app. Import the header file for the custom intent in the AppDelegate MyIntentname.h Have the AppDelegate conform to the protocol created in the generated code. Implement: -application:handlerForIntent: and return self (the app delegate) Run the app. Open the Shortcuts app and search for the 'shortcut' (according to the WWDC video linked above it should show up in the actions list). Doesn't show up in the list. I tried moving the build application out from Debug to my Applications folder to see if that would help the Shortcuts app find it, but it didn't. Am I missing a step/doing something wrong?

I am on MacOS 15.5 trying to access tmutil latestbackup in AppleScript: set latestBackup to do shell script "tmutil latestbackup" It works perfect when run from script editor, and script editor is in full disk access permission list. When I export to an app and run it it fails with: Error retrieving latest backup: tmutil: latestbackup requires Full Disk Access privileges. To allow this operation, select Full Disk Access in the Privacy tab of the Security & Privacy preference pane, and add Terminal to the list of applications which are allowed Full Disk Access. Error code: 80 Terminal is on list, as is name of the app. I have same issue running in safe mode. I have tried deleting and redefining full disk access entries, all to no avail. Apple tech support says its a developer issue, but code works in script editor. any ideas?

Guys has anyone here used the PlayVideoIntent protocol while implementing app intents? If yes can you please walk me though what purpose it solves and what features and functionality I can unlock with it? Link to apple's documentation -> https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appintents/playvideointent

Sorry if topic is not exact. I write Ainu in various Roman Latin scripts on English GUI Catalina ,Text Edit. The Ainu words are similar to English ex. 'an' in Ainu is 'exist' ,Ainu Language exists 'Ne Ainu itak an ',so spell checker will not red dot many words also some Ainu words look like other foreign words. I open LocalDictionary and find it blank ,so I open TextEdit and open show spelling grammar 100 words out of 200 are red dotted !the others are not learned, so I press' learn' and it skips to some words not Allan after 100 it stops ,then I go to LocalDictionary and see all those words alphabetical order ,! great ! but what about the rest ? why does select half of the words and /part/ of a phrase/ 'Itak a-e-yay-/han-nok-kar-a' = to study language by oneself.

Hi Community, I'm new on Siri intents and I'm trying to introduce into my App a Siri Intent for Car Commands. The objective is to list into the Apple Maps the Car list of my App. Currently I've created my own target with its corresponding IntentHandlings, but in the .intentdefinition file of my App, I'm not able to find the List Car Intent. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit/car-commands Do I need some auth? Also I share my info.plist from the IntentExtension. Thank you very much, David.

After updating to macOS 14.4.1 keynote can't find all the outside video links. I have over 15 keynote presentations that I use to show videos. I have over 1500 videos. If I manually replace each video, I lose all the settings (thumbnails, cropping, animations, etc.). That's 15 years of work lost! Apple engineers tell me there's no other solution but to replace the videos manually. I've tried creating scripts via AIs but none of them work. Does anyone have any ideas?

Hello, I have two related questions: in this AppIntent: https://github.com/poml88/FLwatch/blob/moresimple/SharedPhoneWatch/AppIntents/AddInsulin.swift#L2 i am trying to work with are returned Double as the parameter. But it does not fully work, because there is a locale issue. in some languages the decimal point is a comme. If that is so, Siri returns 3,5 but the system does not use it as a double. How to solve that? or, she is returning five, not 5 and again. The system does not recognise the double. It seems Apple has some resolvers for this, for example: DoubleFromStringResolver. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appintents/resolvers But I cannot figure out how to use them are how to call that resolver. Can somebody help, please? Thanks.

The built-in Books and iMessages on the latest macOS can not handle Shortcuts properly. If Books (no matter the Home scheme or the reading scheme) or iMessages is the current focused application, Shortcuts doesn't work. Once I move out and focus app turns to Finder or any other app, Shortcuts works properly. An exception is that when I pin the shortcut in the Menu Bar, the Menu Bar one works, while the one in the application's menu doesn't work. I have no idea why this would happen. Could it be part of privilege control or something?

I'd like to display a list of items to disambiguate for a fulltext search intent. Using the Apple AppIntentsSampleApp, I added TrailSearch.swift: import AppIntents @AssistantIntent(schema: .system.search) struct TrailSearch: AppIntent { static let title: LocalizedStringResource = "Search Trail" static let description = IntentDescription("Search trail by name.", categoryName: "Discover", resultValueName: "Trail") @Parameter(title: "Trail") var criteria: StringSearchCriteria func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult & ReturnsValue<TrailEntity> { if criteria.term.isEmpty { throw $criteria.needsValueError(IntentDialog("need value")) } let trails = TrailDataManager.shared.trails { trail in trail.name.contains(criteria.term) } if trails.count > 1 { throw $criteria.needsDisambiguationError(among: trails.map { StringSearchCriteria(term: $0.name) }) } else if let firstTrail = trails.first { return .result(value: TrailEntity(trail: firstTrail)) } throw $criteria.needsValueError(IntentDialog("Nothing found")) } } Now when I type "trail" which matches several trails and thus lets us enter the disambiguation code path, the Shortcut app just displays the dialog title but no disambiguation items to pick from. Is this by design or a bug? (filed as FB17412220)

While playing around with AppShortcuts I've been encountering some problems around getting the invocation phrase detected and/or the parameter get recognized after invocation phrase via Siri. I've found some solutions or explanations here in other posts (Siri not recognizing the parameter in the phrase & Inform iOS about AppShortcutsProvider), but I still have one issue and it's about consistency. For context, I've defined the parameter to be an AppEntity with it's respective query conforming to the EntityStringQuery Protocol in order to be able to fetch entities with the string given by Siri struct AnIntent: AppIntent { // other parts hidden for clarity @Parameter var entity: ModelEntity } For an invocation phrase akin to "Do something with in ", if the user uses the phrase with a entity previously donated via suggestedEntities() the AppShortcut get executed without problems. If the user uses a phrase with no parameter, like "do something with ", if the user gets asked to input the missing parameter and inputs one, it may or may not get recognized and be asked to input a parameter again, like in a loop. This happens even if the parameter given is one that was donated. I've found that when this happens the entities(matching string: String) function in the EntityQuery doesn't get called. The input can be of one word or sometimes two and it will not be called. So in other words entities(matching string: String) does not get called on every user parameter input Is this behavior correct? Do parameters have some restrictions on length or anything? Does Siri shows the user suggested entities when asked for entity input? It doesn't on my end. Additional question related to AppShortcuts: On AppShortcut definition, where the summary inside the parameter presentation is used? I see that it was defined in the AppIntentsSampleApp for the GetTrailInfo Intent but didn't find where it was used

When using NSScriptCommand, is there any way to create an NSAppleEventDescriptor from an NSDictionary with arbitrary keys without using keyASUserRecordFields? Am I correct in thinking that this constant is deprecated? I ask because there is still active documentation using it. Is there another way to return a record where the keys aren't known at compile-time?

Is VIP an object contained in the mail or contacts apps/objects? Or is it just a property somewhere? Or is it an independent object? Where is the VIP object? Is it still managed in the mail app or is it just hidden because the design is changing at Apple? The following AppleScript is failing: tell application "Mail" set theVIPs to VIPs with the error: error "Die Variable „VIPs“ ist nicht definiert." number -2753 from "VIPs" (The variable "VIPs" is not defined.". In Mail.sdef documentation and in Contacts.sdef documentation I cannot find any documentation of VIP object or VIP property.

I have a custom intent. When my app is unable to complete the resolution of a parameter within the app extension, I need to be able to continue within the app. I am unable to figure out what the correct objective C syntax is to enable the execution to continue with the app. Here is what I have tried: completion([[PickWoodIntentResponse init] initWithCode:PickWoodIntentResponseCodeContinueInApp userActivity:nil]); This results in the following error: Implicit conversion from enumeration type 'enum PickWoodIntentResponseCode' to different enumeration type 'INAnswerCallIntentResponseCode' (aka 'enum INAnswerCallIntentResponseCode') I have no idea why it is referring to the enum type of 'INAnswerCallIntentResponseCode' which is unrelated to my app. I have also tried: PickWoodIntentResponse *response = [[PickWoodIntentResponse init] initWithCode:PickWoodIntentResponseCodeContinueInApp userActivity:nil]; completion(response); but that results in 2 errors: Implicit conversion from enumeration type 'enum PickWoodIntentResponseCode' to different enumeration type 'INAnswerCallIntentResponseCode' (aka 'enum INAnswerCallIntentResponseCode') and Incompatible pointer types passing 'PickWoodIntentResponse *' to parameter of type 'INStringResolutionResult *' The relevant autogenerated code provided to me with the creation of my intent is as follows: @class PickWoodIntentResponse; @protocol PickWoodIntentHandling <NSObject> - (void)resolveVarietyForPickWood:(PickWoodIntent *)intent withCompletion:(void (^)(INStringResolutionResult *resolutionResult))completion NS_SWIFT_NAME(resolveVariety(for:with:)) API_AVAILABLE(ios(13.0), macos(11.0), watchos(6.0)); @end typedef NS_ENUM(NSInteger, PickWoodIntentResponseCode) { PickWoodIntentResponseCodeUnspecified = 0, PickWoodIntentResponseCodeReady, PickWoodIntentResponseCodeContinueInApp, PickWoodIntentResponseCodeInProgress, PickWoodIntentResponseCodeSuccess, PickWoodIntentResponseCodeFailure, PickWoodIntentResponseCodeFailureRequiringAppLaunch } @interface PickWoodIntentResponse : INIntentResponse - (instancetype)init NS_UNAVAILABLE; - (instancetype)initWithCode:(PickWoodIntentResponseCode)code userActivity:(nullable NSUserActivity *)userActivity NS_DESIGNATED_INITIALIZER; @property (readonly, NS_NONATOMIC_IOSONLY) PickWoodIntentResponseCode code; @end Am I overlooking something? What would be the proper syntax to have within the completion block to satisfy the compiler?

I am trying to setup in Automator a Folder Action, where screenshots on Desktop are automatically imported into my Photos app Unfortunately, the automation is not working. When I have a screenshot on the Desktop and I open Automator to manually trigger, I receive the error: The action "Import Files into Photos" encountered an error: "Import Files into Photos script failed" Under log, it further says: The action "Import Files into Photos" was not supplied with the required data

I've been using /usr/bin/shortcuts for various tasks (eg. Quicksilver uses it to list and run shortcuts), and after updating from 14.7.4 to 14.7.5 the tool gets killed on startup. Eg. here is what it looks like in my shell: ❯ shortcuts list zsh: killed shortcuts list (And this is regardless of whether I have "full disk access" or "developer tools" toggled on or off for iTerm.) Looking at system logs it seems like the binary is missing an entitlement, which causes MACF / Gatekeeper to throw a fit: 2025-04-12 18:38:48.847576 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /usr/bin/shortcuts: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /usr/bin/shortcuts: in-kernel: com.apple.shortcuts.ShortcutsCommandLine disallowed without com.apple.private.security.restricted-application-groups 2025-04-12 18:38:48.847582 kernel: validation of code signature failed through MACF policy: 1 2025-04-12 18:38:48.847583 kernel: check_signature[pid: 2475]: error = 1 2025-04-12 18:38:48.847587 kernel: proc 95761: load code signature error 4 for file "shortcuts" 2025-04-12 18:38:48.847613 kernel: exec_mach_imgact: not running binary "shortcuts" built against preview arm64e ABI 2025-04-12 18:38:48.855481 syspolicyd: (Security) SecTrustEvaluateIfNecessary 2025-04-12 18:38:48.857970 syspolicyd: [com.apple.syspolicy.exec:default] GK evaluateScanResult: 2, PST: (path: /usr/bin/shortcuts), (team: (null)), (id: (null)), (bundle_id: (null)), 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0evaluateScanResult: 2, PST: (path: /usr/bin/shortcuts), (team: (null)), (id: (null)), (bundle_id: (null)), 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0 I used Time Machine to compare the binary's entitlements between 14.7.4 and 14.7.5, and looks like in 14.7.5 /usr/bin/shortcuts indeed is missing the com.apple.private.security.restricted-application-groups entitlement that 14.7.4 had. The old binary had these two entitlements that the new one doesn't: [Key] com.apple.private.security.restricted-application-groups [Value] [Array] [String] group.com.apple.shortcuts [String] group.is.workflow.my.app [String] group.is.workflow.shortcuts [Key] com.apple.security.application-groups [Value] [Array] [String] group.com.apple.shortcuts [String] group.is.workflow.my.app [String] group.is.workflow.shortcuts Is there a sensible workaround for this (and by "sensible" I mean something that'd allow me to keep using the tool)? (I already asked this on the support forums but I figured I might as well ask here too)

I have seen some application having custom images in shortcuts app, but after refreing all the apple documentation and source code im yet to figure out a way to show images. the AppShortcutProvider only supports Sfsymbols as of now. then how come other applications is able to do this ? please advice ?

Platform and Version iOS Development Environment: Xcode 16.2.0, macOS 15.3 Run-time Configuration: iOS 18.3, 17.x Description of Problem We have started migrating some of the app’s core functionality over to App Intents. Our first release of App Intent support focused on two settings a user can modify on their Bose products, Audio Modes and Immersive Audio, giving users the ability to modify these settings via Siri and shortcuts. The implementation uses two separate shortcuts for each setting type, with each shortcut supporting a single phrase for Siri each: “Change my Bose mode to ” and “Change my Bose immersive audio to ”. Each shortcut uses their own App Intent, and each App Intent has support for optionally providing both a product and a setting when performing the intent. Failing to provide a device, which happens when the intent is performed via Siri, simply auto selects a currently connected Bose product. Failing to provide a setting, like in cases where a user says “Change my Bose ” without providing a setting will simply have Siri confirm the setting the user wants to change before changing the setting. We are using AppEntity to identify a Bose product for both App Intents. Because the App Intent for the Audio Modes setting has a larger number of supported values (up to 15 maximum), we are also using AppEntity to identify these settings. We are using AppEnum to identify available settings for the Immersive Audio App Intent, as only 3 static values are supported. Our original implementation of App Intent support had quite a few phrases supported for each shortcut. We had explicit support for direct synonyms of the verb “Change” in other phrases, supporting words like “Switch” and “Set”. We also had support for words that are like the word “Change”, but not directly related, like the word “Toggle” for instance. We also had support for phrases with or without the setting in each phrase. However, early on we had a lot of trouble with phrase detection with Siri. Siri had a hard time identifying what shortcut was being requested, as well as not being able to identify what settings the user was providing for the setting parameter of each App Intent. While researching potential fixes for this issue, we found a response to a thread in the Apple forums (https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/759909) that seemed to indicate that Siri phrase recognition was very much an aggregate process. With the total number of phrases supported combined with the available settings for each phrase further compounding the total number of phrases Siri needs to learn to recognize for each shortcut. So, to hopefully improve Siri phrase detection, we added logic to limit the amount of Audio Mode settings supported based on what Audio Modes the user had setup on their Bose products. But, more importantly, we limited the number of explicit phrases supported for each shortcut to just a single phrase. In our testing, not only did this improve phrase recognition, but support for synonyms like “Set” or “Switch” seemed to implicitly still be recognized by Siri. The issues we ran into with Siri phrase detection above has us a bit concerned about scaling App Intent support to other settings and features for our products in the future. Our app supports the ability to modify a large number of settings on their Bose products, with support constantly expanding to new products as they are released. Our roadmap for App Intent support was initially very ambitious, supporting much more than just the two settings mentioned above. But our initial experience with App Intents has us tapering our expectations a little bit as far as how much can be supported in total for App Intents. One thing we also noticed is less than optimal display of default shortcuts in the Shortcuts app. The default shortcuts appeared like so, with shortcuts displayed based on available settings fro each shortcut: However, we could not find a way to indicate to users that one particular section pertained specifically to the Audio Mode setting and the other to the Immersive Audio setting. The only information the user has to make this determination for themselves is the available settings (or shortcuts) for each. This may not be immediately clear to a new customer who might be using one of our products for the first time. This display of default shortcuts in the Shortcuts app has us wondering if our shortcuts implementation is what is intended as far as support for the Shortcuts app is concerned. We did survey default shortcuts displayed by other third-party applications and they mostly dealt with navigation with a single section containing default options clearly indicating where the user can navigate with a shortcut. We couldn’t find an example of an application supporting the ability to change different setting types, with each setting type having their own available values for each. So, to summarize the questions we have concerning App Intent support: What can we do with our App Intents and Shortcuts implementation to guarantee optimal performance with Siri? What is an ideal number of phrases to support for each Shortcut. What limitations should we be placing as far as the total number of available settings for each Shortcut. Are there phrases that might work better than others for what we’re trying to achieve with App Intent support? i.e. Is “Change my Bose mode” or “Change my Bose immersive audio” a good phrase to use for this kind of functionality? Or should we be using different verbs or wording? Assuming optimal support of each Shortcut above. What is a reasonable expectation as far as how many different supported shortcuts we can scale to support at the same time. One issue we ran into early on was Siri confusing one shortcut with the other and triggering the wrong App Intent at times. While this was ultimately resolved, this outcome seems much more likely the greater the number of individual shortcuts supported. Are there any recommendations on how to display these App Intents to customers as far as default shortcuts in the Shortcuts app is concerned? Is what we currently display for default shortcuts in the Shortcuts app what was initially intended for third party support for App Intents? If what we are currently displaying is expected, would it be possible to support the ability to provide additional context to each section of default shortcuts displayed? We would like to indicate to the user that one set of shortcuts pertains to the Audio Modes settings, and the other to Immersive Audio. Something along the lines of a section header like some of the first-party apps use. Are there any recommendations or tips for supporting App Intents, particularly phrases for Siri, in other languages?

Hi all, Since updating to iOS 18.4, I'm experiencing a regression with AppIntents triggered from Widgets. In my app, I use AppIntents inside a WidgetKit extension to control HomeKit devices. This setup was working perfectly up to iOS 18.3. However, starting with iOS 18.4, when the AppIntent is triggered from the widget and the main app is not running, the action fails with this error: Error Domain=HMErrorDomain Code=80 "Missing entitlement for API." UserInfo={ NSLocalizedFailureReason=Handler does not support background access, NSLocalizedDescription=Missing entitlement for API. } Interestingly, the exact same AppIntent works fine if the app is still alive in the background — it seems like the failure only occurs when the intent is handled by the widget process. This looks like a behavior change or new restriction introduced in iOS 18.4. Has anyone experienced the same? Is there a new entitlement needed, or a recommended workaround? Thanks in advance!