Automator vs Shortcuts — The Gap Analysis

📖 Public: Automator vs Shortcuts

What Automator can do that Shortcuts can't. What Shortcuts can do that Automator can't. And what neither can do that someone at Apple should be thinking about.

By the Numbers

	Automator	Shortcuts
Built-in actions	227	246 (across 20 apps via App Intents)
Third-party extensible	Yes (`.action` bundles)	Yes (App Intents framework)
AppleScript inside	Yes (`Run AppleScript` action)	No
Shell scripts inside	Yes (`Run Shell Script` action)	No
JavaScript inside	Yes (`Run JavaScript` action)	No (removed)
Cross-device	Mac only	Mac + iPhone + iPad + Watch
Siri integration	No	Yes (1,254 phrases across 20 apps)
URL scheme	No	Yes (`shortcuts://`, `workflow://`)
CLI interface	No built-in	Yes (`shortcuts run/list/view/sign`)
Scripting dictionary	16 cmds, 17 classes	1 cmd (`run`), 2 classes
Can save as app	Yes (`.app` bundle)	No
Can save as service	Yes (Services menu)	No
Can save as folder action	Yes	No
Can save as calendar alarm	Yes	No
Can save as print plugin	Yes	No
UI recording	Yes (`Watch Me Do`)	No
Status	Deprecated (still ships, no updates)	Active development

What Automator Has That Shortcuts Doesn't

1. Scripting Escape Hatches

Automator's killer feature: when the built-in actions aren't enough, drop to code.

Run AppleScript — full AppleScript with access to every scripting dictionary
Run Shell Script — bash, zsh, python, ruby, perl, any CLI tool
Run JavaScript — JXA with Cocoa bridge

Shortcuts has none of these. If a Shortcuts action doesn't exist for what you want, you're stuck. There's no escape hatch to raw code.

2. Save As Anything

Automator workflows can become:

Output	What it means
Application (`.app`)	Double-click to run. Drag files onto it. Put it in the Dock.
Quick Action / Service	Right-click context menu, Services menu, Touch Bar
Folder Action	Triggers automatically when files are added to a folder
Calendar Alarm	Triggers at a scheduled time via Calendar
Print Plugin	Appears in the Print dialog
Dictation Command	Triggers by voice (Sal's addition)
Image Capture Plugin	Triggers when importing from scanner/camera

Shortcuts can be: a Shortcut. That's it. You can add it to the menu bar or dock, but it's always a Shortcut.

3. Watch Me Do

Record mouse clicks and keystrokes and replay them. Fragile, yes — but it works for automating apps with zero scripting support. Shortcuts has no equivalent.

4. Variables and Flow Control

Automator has explicit variables (Set Value of Variable, Get Value of Variable), loops (Loop), and user interaction (Ask for Confirmation, Choose from List, Wait for User Action).

Shortcuts has its own flow control (If/Otherwise, Repeat, Choose from Menu) — but no persistent variables across runs without workarounds.

5. Deep App Actions (Legacy)

227 built-in actions covering apps Shortcuts ignores:

Category	Actions Shortcuts doesn't have
PDF	Combine, split, encrypt, watermark, extract annotations, render pages as images, search, set metadata, extract text, create contact sheets
iDVD	Full disc authoring pipeline (dead app, but the actions existed)
iPod	Direct iPod management (obsolete)
Finder deep	Label items, set Spotlight comments, set folder views, create aliases, sort items, set application for files
Web	Download URLs, get webpage contents/links/images, run web service, save images from web content, website popup
Text processing	Extract data from text (dates, URLs, addresses), filter paragraphs, combine text files, text to EPUB, text to audio
Image processing	Crop, flip, rotate, pad, scale, watermark, change type, apply Quartz filters, create thumbnails, create banner from text
Developer	Build Xcode Project, CVS operations, Apply SQL, Convert CSV to SQL, Create Package
System	Change system appearance, set computer volume, eject disk, mount disk image, start screen saver, system profile, take screenshot

What Shortcuts Has That Automator Doesn't

1. Cross-Device

Shortcuts runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Automator is Mac-only. This is the width Sal talked about.

2. App Intents (Modern API)

20 apps expose 246 Shortcuts actions via the App Intents framework:

App	Actions	Siri Phrases
Notes	50	318
Books	27	125
Mail	26	164
Music	23	123
Freeform	23	144
Preview	17	35
Maps	16	17
Finder	16	67
Voice Memos	14	45
Shortcuts	13	49
Weather	6	149
Home	4	—
Pages	2	—
Numbers	2	—
Keynote	2	—
Tips	1	8
Reminders	1	—
News	1	—
Calculator	1	—
App Store	1	27

Automator has zero App Intents awareness.

3. Siri Voice Triggering

"Hey Siri, run my shortcut" — no equivalent in Automator. (Sal added Dictation Commands to macOS, but those were OS-level, not Automator-level.)

4. The `shortcuts` CLI

shortcuts list                    # Show all shortcuts
shortcuts run "My Shortcut"       # Run by name
shortcuts run "My Shortcut" -i input.txt  # With file input
shortcuts view "My Shortcut"      # Open in editor
shortcuts sign -i in.shortcut -o out.shortcut  # Code sign

Automator has no CLI. You can open workflow.app or automator workflow.workflow but there's no automator run.

5. Automation Triggers

Shortcuts can trigger automatically on:

Time of day
Arriving at / leaving a location
Connecting to Wi-Fi / Bluetooth
Opening an app
NFC tag
Email/message received (limited)

Automator only triggers via folder actions or calendar alarms.

6. Share Sheet Integration

Shortcuts appear in the Share Sheet across iOS and macOS. Automator Quick Actions appear in Services menus on Mac only.

What NEITHER Can Do

This is the real gap — the things someone at Apple should be building.

Gap	Why it matters
Record audio in one action	NOTES-001 — Notes has 318 Siri phrases but "start recording" isn't one
Chain AppleScript into Shortcuts	No `Run AppleScript` action in Shortcuts. The depth layer is severed from the width layer. This is the AND Sal asked for.
Access scripting dictionaries from Shortcuts	Shortcuts can't send Apple Events. 30 apps with rich sdef dictionaries are invisible to Shortcuts.
UI recording/playback	Automator's Watch Me Do is frozen in time. Shortcuts has nothing. No modern macro recorder.
Read message content	Messages has 3 sdef commands (send, login, logout). Neither tool can read or search messages.
Automate System Settings	3 sdef commands, no App Intents. The entire preferences system is dark. `defaults` CLI is the only way.
Deep PDF workflows in Shortcuts	Automator has 12 PDF actions. Shortcuts has zero.
Deep image processing in Shortcuts	Automator has 10+ image actions. Shortcuts has basic resize/convert only.
Automate Disk Utility	Zero sdef, zero Intents. `diskutil` CLI only.
Automate Activity Monitor	Zero sdef, zero Intents. `top`/`ps` CLI only.
Save Shortcuts as standalone apps	Automator can. Shortcuts can't.
Folder actions in Shortcuts	Automator can trigger on folder changes. Shortcuts can't watch folders.

The 36 Apps With Zero sdef

These apps have no scripting dictionary at all — AppleScript can only activate them, nothing more.

App	Has App Intents?	Has URL Schemes?	The only way in
Activity Monitor	No	No	`top`, `ps`, `vm_stat` CLI
AirPort Utility	No	Yes (`apconfig:`)	URL scheme only
App Store	Yes (1 action)	Yes (`itms-apps:`)	URL + 1 Intent
Audio MIDI Setup	No	No	`system_profiler SPAudioDataType`
Books	Yes (27 actions)	Yes (`ibooks:`)	Intents + URL (no depth)
Calculator	Yes (1 action)	No	1 Intent. `bc` CLI.
Chess	No	No	PGN files only
Clock	No	No	Widget. `date` CLI.
ColorSync Utility	No	No	`colorsync` CLI
Dictionary	No	Yes (`dict:`)	URL scheme + Services menu
Digital Color Meter	No	No	System Events UI only
Disk Utility	No	No	`diskutil`, `hdiutil` CLI
FaceTime	No	Yes (`facetime:`)	URL scheme to call contacts
Find My	No	Yes (`findmy:`)	URL scheme only
Font Book	No	Yes (`fontbook:`)	URL + `atsutil` CLI
Freeform	Yes (23 actions)	Yes (`freeform:`)	Rich Intents, no sdef depth
Grapher	No	No	GCX files only
Home	Yes (4 actions)	No	HomeKit Intents
Image Capture	No	No	`sips`, `system_profiler`
Launchpad	No	No	`open -a` CLI
Maps	Yes (16 actions)	Yes (`maps:`)	Rich Intents + URL
Migration Assistant	No	No	Not meaningfully automatable
Mission Control	No	No	`defaults write com.apple.dock`
News	Yes (1 action)	Yes (`applenews:`)	URL + 1 Intent
Passwords	No	Yes (`otpauth:`)	`security` CLI
Photo Booth	No	No	System Events UI only
Podcasts	No	Yes (`pcast:`)	URL scheme only
Preview	Yes (17 actions)	No	Intents but no sdef
Screenshot	No	No	`screencapture` CLI
Stickies	No	No	1 Service ("Make Sticky")
Stocks	No	Yes (`stocks:`)	URL scheme only
Time Machine	No	No	`tmutil` CLI
Tips	Yes (1 action)	Yes (`help:`)	URL + 1 Intent
Voice Memos	Yes (14 actions)	No	Intents only
VoiceOver Utility	No	No	`VoiceOver` CLI
Weather	Yes (6 actions)	Yes (`weather:`)	Intents + URL

20 of these 36 have NO automation surface at all — no sdef, no Intents, no URL schemes. The only way to control them is System Events UI scripting or CLI tools.

The Bridge That Doesn't Exist

Sal's "AND not OR" — the bridge between AppleScript depth and Shortcuts width — would look like this:

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│         Shortcuts               │  ← WIDTH: every app, every device
│  ┌───────────────────────────┐  │
│  │   Run AppleScript Action  │  │  ← THE MISSING BRIDGE
│  │   (like Automator has)    │  │
│  └───────────────────────────┘  │
│              ↓                  │
│     Apple Events / sdef         │  ← DEPTH: 30 apps, every property
└─────────────────────────────────┘

If Shortcuts had a Run AppleScript action, every scripting dictionary in the system would instantly become a Shortcuts action. 30 apps. Hundreds of commands. Thousands of properties. That's the AND.

Instead, each app must individually implement App Intents in Swift. 20 have. 46 haven't. And the 30 apps with rich scripting dictionaries — the depth layer Sal spent 20 years building — are invisible to Shortcuts entirely.

The 20 Apps With Zero Automation Surface

No scripting dictionary. No App Intents. No URL schemes. The only way in is System Events UI scripting or CLI tools.

Activity Monitor → top, ps, vm_stat
Audio MIDI Setup → system_profiler SPAudioDataType
Chess → PGN files only
Clock → date CLI
ColorSync Utility → colorsync CLI
Digital Color Meter → nothing
Disk Utility → diskutil, hdiutil
Grapher → GCX files only
Image Capture → sips, system_profiler
Launchpad → open -a
Migration Assistant → not meaningfully automatable
Mission Control → defaults write com.apple.dock
Photo Booth → nothing
Screenshot → screencapture
Stickies → 1 Service only ("Make Sticky")
Time Machine → tmutil
VoiceOver Utility → VoiceOver CLI
Passwords → security CLI (has URL schemes but no sdef/Intents)

Every one of these has a CLI tool that does more than the GUI. The pattern holds.

The Actual Bridge (What Works Today)

Automator and Shortcuts aren't fully isolated — there are seams:

Automator "Run Shell Script" → shortcuts run "Name" → App Intents

This chain works today. An Automator workflow can call a Shortcut via CLI, which triggers App Intents actions. That's depth (Automator's scripting) reaching width (Shortcuts' cross-app Intents).

Going the other direction:

Shortcuts → open workflow.app → Automator runs (but can't pass data back)

What the AND future looks like:

Feature	Today	AND
Shortcuts runs AppleScript	No	`Run AppleScript` action in Shortcuts
Shortcuts runs shell scripts	No	`Run Shell Script` action in Shortcuts
Automator actions in Shortcuts	No	Auto-import 227 actions as Shortcuts actions
Shortcuts saves as `.app`	No	Save to Dock, drag files onto it
Folder Actions from Shortcuts	No	Trigger Shortcut when file added to folder
Shortcuts reads sdef	No	Bridge to 30 apps' scripting dictionaries
Shared variable space	No	Automator variables ↔ Shortcuts input/output

The technology exists for all of this. The shortcuts CLI already bridges Layer 1 (AppleScript) to Layer 4 (App Intents). What's missing is Apple making that bridge official — inside Shortcuts itself, not just from the Terminal.

The whole sausage. The whole widget. The whole service. Someone at Apple needs to think about this.

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automator-vs-shortcuts.md

automator-vs-shortcuts.md

Automator vs Shortcuts — The Gap Analysis

By the Numbers

What Automator Has That Shortcuts Doesn't

1. Scripting Escape Hatches

2. Save As Anything

3. Watch Me Do

4. Variables and Flow Control

5. Deep App Actions (Legacy)

What Shortcuts Has That Automator Doesn't

1. Cross-Device

2. App Intents (Modern API)

3. Siri Voice Triggering

4. The `shortcuts` CLI

5. Automation Triggers

6. Share Sheet Integration

What NEITHER Can Do

The 36 Apps With Zero sdef

The Bridge That Doesn't Exist

The 20 Apps With Zero Automation Surface

The Actual Bridge (What Works Today)

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Automator vs Shortcuts — The Gap Analysis

By the Numbers

What Automator Has That Shortcuts Doesn't

1. Scripting Escape Hatches

2. Save As Anything

3. Watch Me Do

4. Variables and Flow Control

5. Deep App Actions (Legacy)

What Shortcuts Has That Automator Doesn't

1. Cross-Device

2. App Intents (Modern API)

3. Siri Voice Triggering

4. The shortcuts CLI

5. Automation Triggers

6. Share Sheet Integration

What NEITHER Can Do

The 36 Apps With Zero sdef

The Bridge That Doesn't Exist

The 20 Apps With Zero Automation Surface

The Actual Bridge (What Works Today)

4. The `shortcuts` CLI