Anyone who builds shortcuts regularly knows how tedious the process can be, even if the end results save a lot of time. That's why the idea of describing what you want in plain language and ending up with a working shortcut is exciting. Let's face it, AI-built things rarely work perfectly, but it's a starting point you can tweak. The only downside: this feature doesn't launch until autumn, when macOS 27 and other Apple OS updates arrive. But what if you want to try it now? Federico Viticci, founder of the fantastic blog MacStories, couldn't wait either, so he built his own version. It's called Shortcuts Playground, and it runs on Claude Code or OpenAI's Codex (Codex is free for now; Claude Code requires a Pro plan starting at $20 per month).
To get started, you need to install the Shortcuts Playground agent; instructions are on GitHub. Basically, you copy and paste a command into Terminal. Once installed, you trigger it by typing "/" followed by "shortcuts". A list of options appears. If starting from scratch, use "shortcuts-playground:build" followed by a rough description of what you want the shortcut to do. The agent will work, sometimes pausing to ask for more information or to explain what's possible in Apple Shortcuts.
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A Practical Test: The Morning Briefing
While exploring, I asked for a shortcut that compiled today's weather, calendar appointments, and to-do list, then read everything aloud. The agent happily went to work. When done, it created a .shortcut file and told me where to find it, offering to tweak if needed. I found the file and opened it; a pop-up asked to add the shortcut. After that, in the Shortcuts app, my new shortcut was ready, with comments explaining each step. My Morning Briefing worked well, though I had to tweak it to show only today's tasks (not tasks with no due dates). Despite the imperfection, I had a working shortcut much faster than building it myself. This shortcut included looping, a necessary but annoying feature to set up manually.
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It's not perfect. As far as I can tell, the tool doesn't know about actions from installed apps, only OS-provided actions. Apart from that, it's a quick way to build a shortcut, or at least get to a starting point. So this is how I'll build shortcuts now, at least until Apple's official tool launches in a few months. I can't wait to compare and share my thoughts.
For more on AI automation tools, check out how Adobe expands Firefly AI assistant to creative apps. If AI pop-ups annoy you, learn how to turn off AI in Google Docs. For broader AI challenges, read the SK Telecom case and Anthropic's Mythos controversy.
For more on Apple Shortcuts, visit the Wikipedia page.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/try-one-of-macos-27s-best-features-right-now-shortcuts-playground-agent
