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Shortcuts Essentials

SLC: A Shortcut to Create New Launcher Shortcuts for Any URL

• Federico

Today on MacStories, I released FS Bookmarks, an advanced shortcut that lets you reopen any file or folder directly in the Files app by using filesystem paths. As I was working on FS Bookmarks and creating new launchers for files and folders, I realized I could use an easier, faster way to create new standalone shortcuts for those URLs. So after much experimentation with Shortcuts’ underlying data format, I created Shortcuts Launcher Creator (or ‘SLC’) – a shortcut that creates new shortcuts for you.

Here’s the high-level overview: with SLC, you can create a new standalone shortcut in your Shortcuts library whose sole purpose is to open a specific URL. You can feed SLC any URL – whether it’s a Safari webpage, an Apple Music link, a filesystem path, or an arbitrary URL scheme – and it’ll assemble a new shortcut for it, prompting you to install it directly from iCloud at the end.