App Shortcuts

DevKnife supports App Shortcuts and Shortcuts actions for common developer tasks.

You can use them to run quick transformations, generate values, or open a DevKnife tool with input already filled in. This is useful when you want to stay in the keyboard, build a macOS automation, or send selected text into DevKnife from another workflow.

Where to use DevKnife shortcuts

DevKnife shortcuts can be used from:

• the Shortcuts app
• Spotlight
• Siri
• system-wide automation workflows
• custom keyboard shortcuts assigned in macOS Shortcuts

Some actions return a result directly. Others open DevKnife and load the input into the matching tool.

Promoted shortcuts and additional actions

macOS limits how many shortcuts an app can promote as top-level App Shortcuts.

Because of that, DevKnife promotes a small curated set for quick access:

• Domain Whois
• IP Location

DevKnife may still provide additional actions in the Shortcuts app. You can add those actions manually to your own shortcuts and assign your own keyboard shortcuts if needed.

This keeps the built-in list focused while still allowing deeper automation for tools that need it.

Shortcuts that return a result

Some DevKnife shortcuts run without opening the app. They take input, perform the operation, and return text that can be passed to the next Shortcuts action.

Available transformation actions include:

• Base64 Encode
• Base64 Decode
• URL Encode
• URL Decode
• HTML Escape
• HTML Unescape
• MD5 Hash
• SHA-1 Hash
• SHA-256 Hash
• SHA-512 Hash
• CRC32 Hash

DevKnife also includes password generation actions:

• Generate Password
• Generate Memorable Password

These are best for keyboard-driven workflows where you want the output immediately available to copy, paste, save, or pass into another action.

Shortcuts that open DevKnife

Some tools are visual or inspection-oriented. For those, the shortcut opens DevKnife and loads your input into the right module.

Supported open-in-DevKnife actions include:

• Domain Whois Lookup
• IP Location Lookup
• Open URL Editor with a URL
• Open Time Inspector with input
• Open Cron Inspector with an expression
• Open Regex Tester with a pattern
• Open Text Inspector with text
• Open JSON Editor with JSON
• Open Markdown Editor with Markdown
• Open HTML Editor with HTML
• Open SVG Editor with SVG

These actions are useful when the result is easier to inspect in DevKnife than as plain shortcut output.

Create a custom keyboard shortcut

To run a DevKnife action from the keyboard:

1. Open the Shortcuts app on macOS.
2. Create a new shortcut.
3. Search for DevKnife actions.
4. Add the action you want.
5. Configure its input.
6. Open the shortcut details.
7. Assign a keyboard shortcut.

For example, you can create separate keyboard shortcuts for Base64 encode and Base64 decode instead of opening the Encoder & Decoder tool and choosing options manually.

Use selected text as input

You can build a shortcut that accepts selected text from another app and sends it to DevKnife.

Common examples:

• Encode selected text as Base64.
• Decode a selected URL-encoded string.
• Open selected JSON in the JSON Editor.
• Inspect selected text in the Text Inspector.
• Open a selected URL in the URL Editor.

The exact setup depends on the source app and how you want to trigger the shortcut, but the general pattern is:

1. Configure the shortcut to receive text input.
2. Pass that text into a DevKnife action.
3. Use the returned result or let DevKnife open the matching module.

Choosing between result actions and open actions

Use a result action when you want a simple output:

• encode text
• decode text
• generate a hash
• generate a password

Use an open action when you want to inspect, edit, or continue working in DevKnife:

• view JSON in the editor
• test a regex
• inspect text metrics
• parse a URL
• check a cron expression
• load Markdown, HTML, or SVG into an editor

This keeps shortcuts fast without recreating the full DevKnife interface inside Shortcuts.

Privacy

Shortcut input is processed locally by DevKnife unless the selected tool inherently requires an external lookup.

Most transformation actions, editor-opening actions, hashing, and password generation run on your Mac. Network-oriented tools, such as Domain Whois or public lookup features, may contact the required external service to perform that lookup.