AppleScript & JXA

Drive macOS apps from the command line via osascript. AppleScript and JXA both compile to OSA bytecode and run through the same engine — pick whichever syntax you prefer, but understand both. They have full access to the running user account; treat them like shell scripts that can also click buttons.

When to Use This Skill

• Driving a macOS GUI app that doesn't have a CLI (Mail, Notes, Calendar, Keynote, etc.)
• Reading or writing properties exposed by an app's scripting dictionary
• Triggering keystrokes or menu items via System Events
• Running shell commands inside an AppleScript block (do shell script)
• Wrapping AppleScript inside a Python/Node tool

Execution Methods

# AppleScript inline
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to activate'