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Siri & phone shortcuts

Trigger a CommandLatch action by voice — “Hey Siri, sleep my Mac” — or with a tap on a Home-Screen button. A shortcut is a single, secret URL that fires one action on one device. Anything that can open a URL can use it: the Apple Shortcuts app, an Android automation app, a browser, or curl.

1. Create the shortcut endpoint (in the dashboard)

Section titled “1. Create the shortcut endpoint (in the dashboard)”
  1. Open the dashboard and go to a device’s Shortcuts section (or the Shortcuts tab).
  2. Give it a name (e.g. “Sleep my Mac”), pick the action (lock, sleep, lock + sleep, keep-awake, …), and submit.
  3. The dashboard shows a URL — copy it now.

2. Wire it into a trigger

Section titled “2. Wire it into a trigger”

Apple — iPhone, iPad & Mac

Section titled “Apple — iPhone, iPad & Mac”
  1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap + for a new shortcut.
  2. Add the Get Contents of URL action and paste your URL.
  3. (Optional) Tap Show More → Method and pick POST (GET also works).
  4. (Recommended) Add a Show Notification step after it, so Siri doesn’t read the raw response aloud.
  5. Name it something you can say — e.g. “Sleep my Mac.”

Now run it by saying “Hey Siri, sleep my Mac,” tapping it on your Home Screen, or from the Share sheet / Mac menu bar.

Android

Section titled “Android”
  • HTTP Shortcuts (free on Google Play) — add a shortcut with the URL, choose GET/POST, and drop its home-screen widget. Launchable from Google Assistant.
  • Tasker / MacroDroid — add an HTTP Request action with the URL and bind it to a widget, voice command, or NFC tag.

Browser, terminal, or automation tools

Section titled “Browser, terminal, or automation tools”
  • Paste the URL into a browser address bar, or curl -X POST "<your URL>".
  • Zapier / IFTTT (Webhooks), Make (HTTP), n8n (HTTP Request) — paste the URL so any trigger they support can fire it.

3. Try it

Section titled “3. Try it”

Run the shortcut. Your paired Mac performs the action within a couple of seconds (it has to be Online). If nothing happens, see Troubleshooting.

Optional: pass a value at run time

Section titled “Optional: pass a value at run time”

Some actions take a parameter — e.g. “lock in 30 seconds.” Use POST with a JSON body that overrides the stored defaults:

{ "payload": { "delay_secs": 30 } }

So one “lock my Mac” shortcut can serve both “now” and “in N seconds.”

Notes & limits

Section titled “Notes & limits”
  • One action, one device per shortcut. The action is fixed when you create it. To change it, delete the shortcut and make a new one (a new URL — by design, so a swap is deliberate).
  • Rate-limited. Each shortcut allows about 60 triggers per minute by default — ample for human use, and a cap on the damage if the URL leaks.
  • Revoke anytime. Delete the shortcut in the dashboard and the URL is dead.
  • Need signed requests (for a server or CI)? Use a webhook instead — Webhooks.

If it doesn’t fire

Section titled “If it doesn’t fire”
  • {"error":"invalid_token"} — the URL’s last segment is wrong (a trailing slash, a typo, a stray query string). Re-copy it exactly.
  • Nothing happens on the Mac — confirm the device is Online in the dashboard. A shortcut command expires after 60 seconds, so an offline/asleep Mac will miss it.
  • {"error":"remote_disabled"} — the device has remote commands turned off. Re-enable it on the Mac (menu bar → Enable Remote Commands).
  • Siri reads the response aloud — add a Show Notification (or Stop and Output) step after Get Contents of URL.

More: Shortcut endpoints and Troubleshooting.

See also

Section titled “See also”