Siri Shortcut Editing

Siri Shortcut Editing Skill

Edit signed macOS Siri Shortcuts (.shortcut files) by decoding them to XML, making changes, and re-signing.

File Format

A .shortcut file is a signed Apple Encrypted Archive (AEA1) containing:

[0-3]     "AEA1" magic
[4-7]     zeros (reserved)
[8-11]    plist length (uint32 LE)
[12-...]  auth plist (bplist) — signing certificate chain
[after]   CMS signature + encrypted payload (Apple Archive)

The actual shortcut workflow is a bplist inside the Apple Archive, named Shortcut.wflow.

Prerequisites

• macOS with aea, aa, shortcuts CLI tools (all built-in)
• plutil (built-in)
• Python 3 with plistlib (built-in)

Verify:

which aea aa shortcuts plutil python3

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Workflow: Decode .shortcut → XML

Use the bundled scripts/decode_shortcut.py:

python3 scripts/decode_shortcut.py INPUT.shortcut OUTPUT.xml

This script performs all three steps automatically:

1. Extracts the signing certificate's public key from the AEA1 auth plist
2. Decrypts the Apple Archive via aea decrypt -profile 0
3. Locates the embedded bplist inside the decoded archive and converts to XML

If doing it manually, the steps are:

Step 1: Extract signing certificate public key

The first 12 bytes of a .shortcut file are the AEA1 header (magic + zeros + plist length as uint32 LE). The auth plist starts at byte 12. Parse it, grab the leaf certificate from SigningCertificateChain, derive the public key with openssl x509.

Step 2: Decrypt the Apple Archive

aea decrypt -profile 0 -sign-pub /tmp/signing_pub.pem \
  -i INPUT.shortcut -o /tmp/decoded.bin

Step 3: Extract bplist → XML

The decoded archive starts with AA01 metadata; the actual workflow bplist is embedded further in. Find the bplist marker and parse from there with plistlib.

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Workflow: Edit & Re-sign XML → .shortcut

> ⚠️ shortcuts sign requires the input file to use a .wflow extension, otherwise it fails.

Step 1: Convert XML back to bplist

plutil -convert binary1 -o /tmp/workflow.wflow OUTPUT.xml

Step 2: Sign the shortcut

shortcuts sign -m anyone \
  -i /tmp/workflow.wflow \
  -o OUTPUT.shortcut

shortcuts sign accepts a bare bplist (old-format shortcut) and automatically wraps it in the AEA1 Apple Archive format with a new CMS signature.

Signing modes:

• -m anyone — anyone can import the shortcut
• -m people-who-know-me — only your contacts (default)

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XML Structure Overview

Key keys in the shortcut plist:

| Key | Description | |-----|-------------| | WFWorkflowActions | Array of action dicts — the core logic | | WFWorkflowActionIdentifier | Action type, e.g. is.workflow.actions.gettext | | WFWorkflowActionParameters | Per-action parameters | | WFWorkflowTypes | Where shortcut appears (e.g. WFWorkflowTypeShowInSearch) | | WFWorkflowInputContentItemClasses | Accepted input types | | WFWorkflowOutputContentItemClasses | Output types | | WFWorkflowMinimumClientVersion | Minimum iOS/macOS version | | WFWorkflowIcon | Icon glyph & color |

Variable References

There are two distinct ways to reference a value from earlier in the workflow. They use different fields and are NOT interchangeable:

| Reference Type | Type value | Required fields | When to use | |---|---|---|---| | Action Output | ActionOutput | OutputUUID + OutputName | Source action has a named output (CustomOutputName + UUID) | | Named Variable | Variable | VariableName | Source is a SetVariable action (which has NO UUID on its output) |

Both types use WFSerializationType=WFTextTokenAttachment. This applies both in WFInput fields and in inline attachmentsByRange within WFTextTokenString strings.

Literal strings use WFTextTokenString with string field.

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Action Reference

ALWAYS consult this before writing XML. Only use identifiers that appear in the reference. Guessing identifiers (e.g. is.workflow.actions.runpython) will produce "Unknown Action" in the Shortcuts app.

→ [references/action-identifiers.md](references/action-identifiers.md) — Complete list of verified-valid WFWorkflowActionIdentifier values, required parameters, and XML templates.

WFItemType Reference

For dictionary value types, nested object syntax, and common failure modes, see:

→ [references/dictionary-actions.md](references/dictionary-actions.md)

Key points:

• WFItemType=0 = Text, 1 = Nested Object, 2 = Array, 3 = Number, 5 = Variable Reference
• Nested objects require WFItemType=1 with double-wrapped WFDictionaryFieldValue
• WFItemType=5 + inline WFDictionaryFieldValue → crash

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Security Warning

Shortcuts often contain hardcoded secrets (API keys, tokens). Always warn the user if you find:

• API keys in WFTextActionText fields
• Bearer tokens in Authorization headers
• Any other credentials

After editing, advise rotating any exposed keys.

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Complete Round-Trip Example

# Decode
python3 scripts/decode_shortcut.py MyShortcut.shortcut MyShortcut.xml

# Edit MyShortcut.xml manually or programmatically...

# Re-sign
plutil -convert binary1 -o /tmp/workflow.wflow MyShortcut.xml
shortcuts sign -m anyone -i /tmp/workflow.wflow -o MyShortcut.shortcut

The full decode logic lives in scripts/decode_shortcut.py — read that file if you need to understand or modify the internals.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: Jansen611
• Source: Jansen611/Agent-Skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.