Pythonide automation

PythonIDE Automation

Rules for scripts and automation surfaces that are not AppUI MiniApps or widgets.

Read Before Coding

1. Shortcuts guide
2. shortcuts module
3. keyboard module
4. ui module for legacy imperative UI
5. Automation extension index
6. Load pythonide-native when the script imports iOS modules

Use When

• Run an existing iOS Shortcut by name
• Open URL handoff or app settings through shortcuts
• Add editor keyboard buttons/snippets
• Build Pythonista-compatible ui scripts
• Plain Python utilities with optional native module calls
• JS/extension workflows referenced in js-api

Do Not Use When

• The user wants a native MiniApp with navigation and forms → pythonide-appui
• The user wants a Home Screen widget → pythonide-widget
• The user wants a game or frame loop → pythonide-scene
• PythonIDE can solve the task with only stdlib and no iOS integration

Shortcuts Pattern

import shortcuts


def open_daily_log():
    return shortcuts.run_shortcut("Daily Log")

Shortcuts Rules

• Use only Shortcut names the user provided
• Call run_shortcut, open_url, or open_settings from user-triggered actions
• Treat False or empty results as failure; do not claim success without evidence
• Do not invent installed Shortcuts
• Do not launch shortcuts at import time or from AppUI body()

Keyboard Pattern

Use keyboard module for editor buttons, groups, snippets, and cursor insertion. Keep handlers short and user-triggered.

Legacy ui Pattern

import ui


class DemoView(ui.View):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.frame = (0, 0, 320, 240)
        button = ui.Button(title="Tap")
        button.frame = (20, 20, 120, 40)
        button.action = self.tapped
        self.add_subview(button)

    def tapped(self, sender):
        ui.hud_alert("Tapped")


DemoView().present("sheet")

ui Rules

• Frame-based UIKit-style hierarchy with explicit frames
• Assign callable handlers; do not invoke callbacks while building controls
• Present once with .present("sheet") or .present("fullscreen")
• Do not mix ui and appui unless repairing an existing hybrid with explicit user consent
• Not for new MiniApps; prefer pythonide-appui

Plain Python Scripts

• Use stdlib when sufficient
• Import native modules only when iOS integration is required; follow pythonide-native
• Print or file output is acceptable when the user does not want preview UI
• Do not wrap side-effect-only code in AppUI

Hard Stops

• No AppUI navigation for Shortcut-only tasks unless the user asked for a launcher UI
• No guessed Swift App Intent names without source inspection
• No objc_util unless the user explicitly needs advanced runtime bridging
• c_extensions is reference-only; do not import as runtime code

Runtime Choice

Outcome	Runtime
Editor helper / Shortcut / batch script	this skill
Pythonista-style view	ui
Native iOS capability only	pythonide-native
Interactive product UI	pythonide-appui

Examples

• examples/run_shortcut/ — named Shortcut launcher function