react-native-cross-shortcuts

One config, all platforms. Generate iOS App Intents + Siri Shortcuts, Android App Shortcuts + Google Assistant App Actions for any React Native app.

What you get from a single shortcuts.config.json

| Surface | Result | |---|---| | iOS Spotlight | App actions appear in Spotlight without users adding them | | Siri | "Hey Siri, " launches the right screen | | Action Button (iPhone 15 Pro+) | Bindable to any of your shortcuts | | Shortcuts app | All actions auto-registered via AppShortcutsProvider | | iOS Home Screen | Long-press app icon → quick actions | | Android Home Screen | Long-press app icon → quick actions | | Google Assistant | "Hey Google, " launches the right screen |

All actions land in your existing React Native deep-link handler (Linking API).

Install

npm install react-native-cross-shortcuts
# Optional, only if you also want iOS NSUserActivity donations:
npm install react-native-siri-shortcut

Configure

Create shortcuts.config.json at your project root:

{
  "scheme": "myapp",
  "appName": "My App",
  "ios": {
    "xcodeprojPath": "ios/MyApp.xcodeproj",
    "targetName": "MyApp",
    "groupName": "MyApp",
    "swiftOutputPath": "ios/MyApp/AppIntents.generated.swift",
    "infoPlistPath": "ios/MyApp/Info.plist",
    "minIosVersion": "16.0",
    "shortcutTileColor": "purple"
  },
  "android": {
    "modulePath": "android/app",
    "applicationId": "com.myorg.myapp"
  },
  "shortcuts": [
    {
      "id": "open-feed",
      "shortLabel": "Open Feed",
      "longLabel": "Jump straight into your feed",
      "systemImage": "list.bullet",
      "deepLink": "/feed",
      "siriPhrases": ["Open my feed in ${appName}"],
      "assistantBII": "actions.intent.OPEN_APP_FEATURE"
    },
    {
      "id": "search",
      "shortLabel": "Search",
      "longLabel": "Search anything in My App",
      "systemImage": "magnifyingglass",
      "deepLink": "/search",
      "siriPhrases": ["Search with ${appName}"],
      "parameter": {
        "name": "query",
        "title": "Search query",
        "description": "What would you like to search for?",
        "paramQuery": "q"
      },
      "assistantBII": "actions.intent.GET_THING"
    }
  ]
}

Run codegen

npx cross-shortcuts sync

The CLI:

1. Generates ios/<App>/AppIntents.generated.swift with one AppIntent per shortcut and a single AppShortcutsProvider.
2. Patches Info.plist with the matching NSUserActivityTypes entries.
3. Injects the generated Swift file into your .xcodeproj via the bundled Ruby script (xcodeproj gem — comes with CocoaPods).
4. Generates android/app/src/main/res/xml/shortcuts.xml and actions.xml.
5. Patches AndroidManifest.xml with the custom-scheme intent filter and the <meta-data> references.
6. Adds the per-shortcut label <string> resources to strings.xml (inside an idempotent <!-- BEGIN cross-shortcuts --> block).

Wire it up at runtime

import { addShortcutListener, donateShortcut } from 'react-native-cross-shortcuts';

useEffect(() => {
  const unsub = addShortcutListener({ scheme: 'myapp' }, (event) => {
    // event.id === 'feed' | 'search' | ...
    // event.params === { q: 'gita' } when launched with ?q=gita
    navigateTo(event.id, event.params);
  });
  return unsub;
}, []);

// Donate on success — teaches the system to suggest this shortcut.
donateShortcut({
  applicationId: 'com.myorg.myapp',
  shortcutId: 'open-feed',
  title: 'Open Feed',
  invocationPhrase: 'Open my feed',
});

How re-runs behave

The CLI is idempotent. Re-run it whenever you edit shortcuts.config.json:

• Swift file is regenerated wholesale (and re-injected into the project file if missing).
• Info.plist NSUserActivityTypes array is replaced (not duplicated).
• AndroidManifest.xml patches detect existing entries and skip.
• strings.xml block is delimited and replaced atomically.

Limitations / roadmap

• Dynamic Android shortcuts and iOS NSUserActivity-only fallback to be added.
• iOS EntityQuery-style parameter resolution not yet generated; current parameter support is a free-form string.
• We don't add xcodeproj as a dependency — assumes CocoaPods is installed (already required by RN). If it isn't: gem install xcodeproj.

License

MIT