Shortcuts URL Scheme

Is it possible to open a specific Siri shortcut from a URL scheme? I was wondering if I can open an OmniOutliner outline from OmniFocus through a shortcut link

1 Like

Yes!

If you tap the share icon within a workflow you’ll be redirected to the instructions page in Safari that tells you to add the link to the home screen.

In that screen you can tap the address bar and copy the URL, which looks like this:

data:text/html;base64,47k23h4lqhladf.... (long string of characters)

Just copy the whole part after the comma after after base64 and paste it into https://www.base64decode.org/ to decode it.

The result will be something like:

<html>
<head>
  <title>Test</title>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0,     user-scalable=no" />
  <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
  <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black-translucent">
  <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="http:/localhost:51361/webclips/images/Test/icon.png">
  <link rel="apple-touch-startup-image" media="(orientation: landscape)" href="http:/localhost:51361/webclips/images/Test/landscape-launch.png"/>
<link rel="apple-touch-startup-image" media="(orientation: portrait)" href="http:/localhost:51361/webclips/images/Test/portrait-launch.png"/>
</head>
<body>
  <a id="jump" href="shortcuts://x-callback-url/run-shortcut?name=Test&id=D46311FA-yyyy-472D-8F23-xxxxxxxxxxx&source=homescreen"></a>
  <img id="icon" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0... (another long string)

The end of that anchor-, image- and html-tags as well as the actual glyph are base64 encoded again. So it’s a nested base4 encoding :smiley:

But the relevant URL you are looking for would be already displayed:

shortcuts://x-callback-url/run-shortcut?name=Test&id=D46311FA-yyyy-472D-8F23-xxxxxxxxxxx&source=homescreen 

That shortcuts-x-callback-url can be used in other apps :ok_hand:

2 Likes

I wonder if there is a way to automate this? :thinking:

Workflow links still work with Shortcuts.
workflow://run-workflow?name=exactWorkflowName
Just add %20 for any spaces in the name of the shortcut.

1 Like

I did try to create one, but for whatever reason it fails, as the decode base64 action outputs an error. :thinking:

Just to clarify,
When you run the shortcut from the shortcut app you do not get this error. However when you run the shortcut from the link it generates an error?

As long as you know the Shortcut name, then you can generate a launching URL just by specifying that name with the name parameter.

This Shortcuts custom shortcut allows you to select a shortcut from a list or enter a name (in a variety of ways) and then generate the corresponding shortcut launch URL from that. It also allows you to optionally, auto-test opening the link at the end so that you can make sure it works. The URL is placed on the clipboard so that you can easily paste it wherever you need it.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/7abe23bd8e4347a2a1658b74196fc24b

Hope that’s of some use.

2 Likes