Start tasks from Siri, Shortcuts, Raycast or Alfred

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Ask Siri on your Mac

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Get the answer back in a shortcut

1. In the Shortcuts app, make a new shortcut.
2. Search the actions for Mobster and add Ask Mobster.
3. Type the task in the action, or put a variable there, such as Provided Input from Ask for Input, or Shortcut Input.
4. To choose the phone or send the result on, click the arrow on the action. Phone lists this Mac’s phones; leave it empty for your first one. Send to lists the connectors that send results, such as Zapier or a Slack channel.
5. Add what happens with the answer, such as Show Result, Append to Note, Save File, Send Message or Send Email. Mobster Answer goes in as the answer’s text.
6. Run it. The first time, Shortcuts asks Allow "Dinner address" to run actions from "Mobster"?, with your shortcut’s name. Choose Allow.

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What the action returns

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Approvals and questions

• The action waits up to 15 minutes for the task to end.
• Mobster waits 10 minutes for an approval. Then the task ends without that step, and Status is approval_timeout.

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When the task can’t start

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Run a workflow from a shortcut

1. Publish the workflow in Mobster and make it a tool: asTool: true on the workflow, the same setting that makes it an MCP tool (From MCP and the terminal). The action lists only those workflows, so your list stays short.
2. In the Shortcuts app, add Run Mobster Workflow and choose the workflow. Each one shows its inputs under its name, such as who (text), count (a number, default 3).
3. In Values, give each input one line, like who: Sam. A number is written as a number, true or false (or yes or no) answers a yes-or-no input, and a list is its items between commas or a JSON list. A whole JSON object works too, such as {"who": "Sam", "count": 2}. An input with a default can be left out.
4. In Input, put text for the workflow’s steps to read, such as Shortcut Input or a note’s text. It reaches the workflow’s Shortcut trigger as input: data for its steps, never their instructions. A workflow with no Shortcut trigger starts at its manual one with the same input.

• Answer is the workflow’s result as text.
• Data is the result as JSON when it’s an object or a list.
• Status is completed, or how the run ended, such as approval_denied.
• Task ID is the run’s id.

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Run a shortcut from Terminal

shortcuts run "Dinner address"

Alex suggested dinner at Luca, 214 Pine St, on Friday at 7:30.

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Use the script

• Mobster for Mac is open with your iPhone set up, or mobster serve is running. With neither, the script says Mobster isn't running on your Mac. Open it and try again. and starts nothing.
• The script finds the mobster command inside Mobster for Mac in /Applications or ~/Applications, or on your PATH. Set MOBSTER_BIN to use another copy.
• The scripts are in ~/Library/Scripts/Mobster:

base=https://mobster.dev/launchers
dir=~/Library/Scripts/Mobster
for file in mobster-task.sh ssh-task.sh raycast/ask-mobster.sh; do
  curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o "$dir/$file" "$base/$file" && chmod +x "$dir/$file"
done

~/Library/Scripts/Mobster/mobster-task.sh "What's my battery level?"

Mobster couldn't start the task: Add OPENAI_API_KEY or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY to the agent's env file

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The script in a shortcut

1. Open Shortcuts. In Shortcuts › Settings › Advanced, turn on Allow Running Scripts.
2. Make a new shortcut.
3. Add Ask for Input. Set it to Text, with the prompt What should Mobster do?.
4. Add Run Shell Script. Set Shell to zsh, Input to Provided Input, Pass Input to as arguments, and the script to:
   "$HOME/Library/Scripts/Mobster/mobster-task.sh" "$1"
   
5. Add Show Result, with Shell Script Result.

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Run a saved workflow

~/Library/Scripts/Mobster/mobster-task.sh --workflow "Reels digest" topic=basketball minutes=10

"$HOME/Library/Scripts/Mobster/mobster-task.sh" --workflow "Reels digest" "topic=$1"

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Get the answer back with the script

1. Make the shortcut as in The script in a shortcut, with this as the Run Shell Script step’s script:
   "$HOME/Library/Scripts/Mobster/mobster-task.sh" --json "$1"
   
2. Add Get Dictionary from Input, with Shell Script Result.
3. Add Get Dictionary Value, set to get Value for answer. That’s the whole answer, as text.
4. Add what happens with it, such as Append to Note, Save File, Send Message or Send Email.

~/Library/Scripts/Mobster/mobster-task.sh --json "How many unread emails do I have?"

{"status":"completed","answer":"You have 3 unread emails.","message":"You have 3 unread emails.","runId":"a1b2c3d4e5f6","threadId":"3f9c2a1b7d0e","outcome":"done","costUsd":0.03,"elapsedMs":41200}

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Siri and Shortcuts on your iPhone

key='ssh-ed25519 AAAA…'
mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh
printf 'restrict,command="%s" %s mobster-shortcut\n' "$HOME/Library/Scripts/Mobster/ssh-task.sh" "$key" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

restrict,command="/Users/you/Library/Scripts/Mobster/ssh-task.sh" ssh-ed25519 AAAA… mobster-shortcut

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What the key can do

• It can only start a Mobster task. command= makes the Mac’s SSH server run ssh-task.sh whatever the phone asks to run. restrict turns off the terminal, port, agent and X11 forwarding, and ~/.ssh/rc. The key gets no shell, can’t copy files and can’t open tunnels.
• The text is words, not a command. ssh-task.sh refuses text with line breaks or other control characters, text that starts with - or /, shell syntax (` $( ${ ; | && < >), requests from scp, sftp, rsync and git, and anything over 4,000 characters. Everything else goes to mobster chat as one argument.
• Approvals stay on the Mac. A task from the phone follows the same rules as one you type in Mobster: it stops and waits for you before it sends, buys, posts or deletes.
• Anyone who can use your iPhone can start tasks with this shortcut. They can’t approve them.
• Remote Login is SSH for your whole account, not only for this key. Your Mac’s password works over it too, from your network. Allow only your account, use a strong password, and turn Remote Login off when you stop using this.

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Turn it off

1. Remove the key. The phone’s key then opens nothing on your Mac:
   sed -i '' '/ mobster-shortcut$/d' ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
   
2. Turn off Remote Login in System Settings › General › Sharing, unless something else uses it.
3. Delete the Ask Mobster shortcut on the iPhone.

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Raycast

1. In Raycast’s Settings › Extensions, click +, choose Add Script Directory, and pick ~/Library/Scripts/Mobster/raycast. The Library folder is hidden in the file dialog: press ⌘⇧G and paste the path.
2. Open Raycast, type Ask Mobster, press Tab, type the task and press Enter. Raycast shows the line at the bottom of its window.

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Alfred

1. In Alfred Preferences › Workflows, click +, choose Blank Workflow and name it Mobster.
2. Right-click the canvas and add Inputs › Keyword. Set the keyword to mob, choose Argument Required, and set the title to Ask Mobster.
3. Add Actions › Run Script. Set Language to /bin/bash, choose with input as argv, and set the script to:
   "$HOME/Library/Scripts/Mobster/mobster-task.sh" "$1"
   
4. Add Outputs › Post Notification, with the text {query}.
5. Connect Keyword to Run Script, and Run Script to Post Notification.
6. In Alfred, type mob What's my next calendar event? and press Enter.