Shortcuts, Spotlight & Siri
Osaurus ships App Intents, Apple's framework for exposing app actions to the system. The moment you install Osaurus, two actions become available everywhere — the Shortcuts app, Spotlight, and Siri — with no configuration.
The two actions
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ask Osaurus | Sends a prompt to your currently active agent and returns (or speaks) the reply. It waits for the answer, so it's best for quick questions. |
| Run Osaurus Agent | Kicks off one of your custom agents in the background. It returns immediately; progress and results show up in Osaurus itself (Tasks and notifications). Best for longer, tool-heavy work. |
Example phrases
Each phrase must contain the app name:
- "Ask Osaurus" — then dictate or type your prompt
- "Run <agent> in Osaurus"
How to use it
- Shortcuts app — add "Ask Osaurus" or "Run Osaurus Agent" to a shortcut, fill in the parameters, and run it. "Run Osaurus Agent" shows a dropdown of your custom agents.
- Spotlight — press
⌘ Space, type "Ask Osaurus", and go. - Siri — say "Ask Osaurus" or "Run <agent> in Osaurus".
You can chain these into automations like any other shortcut — for example, a Focus-mode trigger that runs a "wind-down summary" agent each evening, or a Spotlight ask wired to a keyboard shortcut.
What you'll want first
- A model configured, so "Ask Osaurus" can actually answer.
- At least one custom agent, so "Run Osaurus Agent" has something to list. The picker shows your custom agents (the built-in agent is reserved for the in-app chat and "Ask Osaurus").
How it works
App Intents in Osaurus are thin clients: every action calls the local Osaurus HTTP server on 127.0.0.1 — the same server the in-app chat and the HTTP API use. They don't load their own models or hold any separate logic.
- Ask Osaurus streams the full agent loop (persona, memory, skills, tools) for the active agent and reads the reply to completion. Because it's connection-bound, it's tuned for short asks.
- Run Osaurus Agent dispatches a detached background run that keeps going after the shortcut returns — which is why it suits long tasks.
If Osaurus isn't running when you trigger an action, macOS launches the menu-bar app and Osaurus starts the server headlessly before handling the request (the first run is slightly slower). If it genuinely can't reach the server, you get a clear "Osaurus isn't reachable" message rather than a silent failure.
"Ask Osaurus" targets the active agent over loopback only. Like the rest of Osaurus, local (127.0.0.1) callers are trusted; remote callers can't reach your built-in agent.