Command Line Tool
sctb drives Shortcuts Toolbox from a terminal. Apple’s own shortcuts command
can list, run, view, and sign. sctb adds everything this app layers on top — parsed
metadata, fuzzy search, enable and disable, favorites, tags, signed downloads, and the job scheduler.
Installing
In the app, go to Settings → Command Line Tool. Pick a directory on your PATH and press
Install. The pane shows which directories are on your PATH and writable, and warns you when
a different sctb already lives in the one you chose.
The pane only appears when your browser is on the same Mac as the server, since installing a command is a device-local action. Under the desktop app that is always true.
Signing In
There is nothing to configure. The first time you run a command, sctb finds your running server,
mints a token of its own, and saves it with owner-only permissions. Because it holds its own token rather
than reusing your primary one, you can revoke it on its own from Settings → Tokens, or
with sctb auth logout --revoke.
Run sctb quickstart for a full briefing: which server you are connected to, how many
shortcuts you have, which are runnable right now, every command with its flags, and worked examples. It
is also the fastest way to hand the tool to an AI agent — sctb quickstart --json
returns the same content as structured data.
Everyday Commands
sctb ls
sctb ls --folder Automation
sctb search weather --limit 5
sctb meta "Weather Conditions"
# run, with input, on a delay, or on a schedule
sctb run "Weather Conditions"
sctb run "Send Note" --input "hello"
sctb run "Daily Digest" --delay 10m
# download, signed or unsigned
sctb get "Weather Conditions" --signed --sign-for anyone
sctb sign ./unsigned.shortcut
# scheduled jobs
sctb jobs --status scheduled
sctb job cancel digest
Built for Scripts and Agents
- Every command accepts
--jsonfor machine-readable output, and--helpfor its own usage. - Results go to standard output while progress notes go to standard error, so
sctb ls | grep …stays clean. - File, image, and media results from
runandgetare written to disk; use-oto choose where. - Exit codes distinguish a usage mistake from a missing shortcut, an unreachable server, and a shortcut that is not enabled.
Tab Completion
sctb completion bash (or zsh) prints a completion script. It completes command
names, flags, flag values, your shortcut names, folders, apps, and job identifiers — and keeps working
as commands change, so you never need to regenerate it.
Bridging MCP to Any Client
sctb mcp runs an MCP server on standard input and output, forwarding everything to the
built-in MCP server with your token attached. Use it for clients that only
support stdio servers, or that cannot complete a browser sign-in. Messages pass through untouched, so every
tool on Available MCP Tools is available through it with no extra setup.
sctb mcp --print-config prints a configuration snippet you can paste into your client.
Shortcuts run on the Mac that serves them. If you point the bridge at another machine with
--host, that server names itself accordingly in your client so you can tell the two apart.
A token saved for one server is never sent to a different one — mint a token on the machine you are
connecting to and pass it with --token.