ActionClip can turn any shortcut already in your Mac's Apple Shortcuts library into a normal selected-text action. The binding stays local, uses the shortcut's stable identifier, and never creates or edits the shortcut for you.

Before you start

  • Install ActionClip 1.3.2 or later.
  • Create or import the automation in the Apple Shortcuts app.
  • Run it once in Shortcuts so you can approve any app, data, or network permissions it needs.

Add a shortcut to ActionClip

  1. Open ActionClip → Actions Marketplace.
  2. Open Apple Apps → Shortcuts.
  3. Find the shortcut and select Add.
  4. Close the integration sheet. The shortcut now behaves like a normal ActionClip action: you can rename it, change its icon or display style, reorder it, pin it, or place it in a Group.

ActionClip reads the shortcut list only when you open this integration. Adding a shortcut does not create an ActionClip Group or change the automation in Apple Shortcuts.

Pass selected text into the shortcut

Open the shortcut action's settings in ActionClip and choose one input mode:

  • Selected text: ActionClip writes the selection to a private temporary text file and passes it as Shortcut Input.
  • No input: the shortcut can run even when no text is selected.

Inside Apple Shortcuts, use Get Text from Shortcut Input when the next action expects text. Then insert the resulting Text magic variable into actions such as Add New Reminder. Do not type the words “Shortcut Input” into a text field; that creates literal text instead of using the incoming value.

The Shortcut settings also provide a time limit. ActionClip stops the process and reports a timeout when the run exceeds that limit.

What ActionClip shows while it runs

  1. Select text and choose the installed shortcut action.
  2. ActionClip shows a compact loading state while Apple Shortcuts runs the automation.
  3. A successful process exit becomes a compact green Shortcut completed confirmation.
  4. A timeout, missing shortcut, permission problem, or nonzero process exit remains visible as an error.

Completion is status, not output. ActionClip does not request, open, copy, replace, or log the content produced by the shortcut.

Show a result from the shortcut

If you want to see the shortcut's result, add Show Content inside the automation in Apple Shortcuts and give it the value you want displayed. Apple Shortcuts then owns that result window; ActionClip still finishes with its green completion confirmation after the automation succeeds.

Do not add Stop and Output only to send data back to ActionClip—ActionClip no longer consumes returned output. Keep that action only when the automation itself needs its stop or branching behavior.

Privacy, permissions, and sync

  • Shortcut names and the local inventory are not uploaded to the ActionClip Marketplace.
  • Selected text is passed locally through an owner-only temporary file that ActionClip removes after the run.
  • ActionClip does not request or log shortcut-produced output.
  • The shortcut controls which apps, personal data, websites, or network services it uses. macOS may ask for those permissions when it runs.
  • If Actions & Groups iCloud Sync is enabled, the ActionClip binding can sync through the user's private iCloud database. ActionClip does not sync the shortcut definition; the same shortcut identifier must exist on the other Mac.

Troubleshooting

  • The shortcut completes but nothing appears: this is the expected run-only behavior. Add Show Content inside Apple Shortcuts when you want a visible result.
  • A reminder contains “Shortcut Input”: replace the typed phrase with the Text magic variable produced by Get Text from Shortcut Input.
  • The side effect happened but ActionClip reports failure: a later shortcut action still failed. Run the automation in the Shortcuts editor and inspect its final actions, prompts, and Stop and Output configuration.
  • The action says Needs Attention: the shortcut's stable identifier is unavailable on this Mac. Restore the original shortcut or remove the stale ActionClip binding and add the available shortcut explicitly.
  • The run waits or times out: look for an action that asks for input, an unanswered permission prompt, or a time limit that is too short.

Apple documents the input flag and success/error exit status in Run shortcuts from the command line.

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