ShortKit: Headless Shortcuts Launcher for macOS

Tired of shortcuts:// links opening the Shortcuts GUI app every time? ShortKit is a lightweight AppleScript application that registers its own custom shortkit:// URL scheme, allowing you to silently trigger Shortcuts in the background—no GUI.

Installation

1. Create the AppleScript

Open Script Editor and paste:

on open location theURL
    set oldDelims to AppleScript's text item delimiters
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"?"}
    if (count of text items of theURL) < 2 then return
    set query to text item 2 of theURL

    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"&"}
    set pairs to text items of query

    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"="}
    set shortcutName to do shell script "echo " & quoted form of (text item 2 of item 1 of pairs) & " | sed -E 's/%20/ /g'"
    set textInput to do shell script "echo " & quoted form of (text item 2 of item 3 of pairs) & " | sed -E 's/%20/ /g; s/%7C/|/g'"

    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDelims

    tell application "Shortcuts Events"
        run shortcut named shortcutName with input textInput
    end tell
end open location

Compile, then File → Export as an Application named ShortKit.app in /Applications.

2. Define the URL Scheme

Open ShortKit.app/Contents/Info.plist and insert:

<key>LSBackgroundOnly</key>
<true/>
<key>LSUIElement</key>
<true/>
<key>LSMultipleInstancesProhibited</key>
<true/>
<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
  <dict>
    <key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
    <string>Viewer</string>
    <key>CFBundleURLName</key>
    <string>ShortKit URL Scheme</string>
    <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
    <array>
      <string>shortkit</string>
    </array>
  </dict>
</array>

In Terminal, verify and register:

plutil /Applications/ShortKit.app/Contents/Info.plist

3. Testing

Open The new URL scheme with your shortcuts name/input:

shortkit://run-shortcut?name=AirDrop%20Sorter%20Notification&input=text&text=reveal%7C/Users/yazan/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Downloads/IMG_8311.PNG

ShortKit will silently execute your Shortcut with exactly the text provided—no prompts, no interruptions.

Official Documentation: See Apple’s Shortcuts User Guide for more details about the native shortcuts:// URL scheme. ShortKit extends this capability on macOS by running shortcuts silently, without launching the Shortcuts app UI.

yazanzaid00/ShortKit.md

ShortKit: Headless Shortcuts Launcher for macOS

Installation