Ever opened one of your own shortcuts months later and had no idea what it does? This is the developer tool that cracks a shortcut open and shows you everything inside it. You point it at a shortcut or a source file, and it lets you read, edit, compare, repair, and copy actions in ways the Shortcuts editor never lets you.
What this shortcut does
It takes a shortcut, or a raw source file in .txt, .json, .xml, .plist, .wflow, or .shortcut form (or an iCloud share URL), and unpacks it. From there you can convert between plist and json, save or share either format, edit the source and import it straight back into Shortcuts, set a custom color with RGB and alpha values, and compare two shortcuts side by side to spot the differences.
The headline feature for most people is Copy Actions. You drop two blank Comment actions around a chunk of a shortcut, run the tool, and it copies everything between them to your clipboard so you can paste it into another shortcut. There’s also a Web Review mode that renders a shortcut as a foldable HTML page you can search, screenshot, and read on any browser, and an automatic corruption check that repairs unbalanced if/repeat/menu blocks.
How to install
- Tap Add Shortcut on this page to open it in the Shortcuts app.
- Install the companion Shortcut Source Helper, which the tool depends on to run.
- For Copy Actions, grab the Actions app (this feature wants iOS 16.1 or macOS 13 and up).
- To compare shortcuts side by side, install a-Shell mini.
- On iOS 14 or earlier, route the install through Shortcut Downgrader first.
How to use it
Run it from the Share Sheet on a shortcut or a source file, then pick what you want from the menu: a Quick Look in plist or json, a save, an edit-and-reimport, or a Web Review. To copy a block of actions, place an empty Comment before and after the section you want, then choose Copy Actions. With no empty comments it copies the whole thing; with a single one it copies from that point to the end.
One thing to watch. Because of how the Shortcuts editor handles pasting, some parameters (Find and Filter actions are the usual suspects) can get quietly rewritten when you paste them back. That happens even with the built-in single-action paste, so check anything important after a big paste rather than trusting it blind.
Quick answers
Do I really need the Helper shortcut too?
It isn’t optional, no. The main tool calls Shortcut Source Helper to do its work, so install that one before your first run or nothing happens.
Why convert decimal numbers to E notation?
Decimals like 3.14 only behave correctly in certain regions inside Number, Calculate, If, Dictionary, and Ask for Input actions. Converting 3.14 to 314E-2 sidesteps the regional formatting trap so the value reads the same everywhere.
My shortcut got weird after editing. Can this fix it?
Often, yes. Unbalanced if/repeat/menu blocks cause that kind of flaky behavior, and the editor won’t flag them. The tool checks for that corruption automatically when it opens a shortcut and builds a repaired copy when it finds any.
