macOS: AppleScript / JXA

Automation Mechanism

AppleScript is macOS's native scripting language, supported by almost all system applications and many third-party applications.

JXA (JavaScript for Automation) is AppleScript's modern alternative using JavaScript syntax, more popular among developers.

IPC Method: AppleEvents

• AppleScript uses AppleEvents for inter-process communication underneath
• This is macOS's native IPC mechanism with excellent performance

Examples

AppleScript

tell application "Mail"
    set newMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:"Hello", content:"Hi Alice...", visible:false}
    tell newMessage
        make new to recipient at beginning of to recipients with properties {address:"alice@example.com"}
        send
    end tell
end tell

JXA (JavaScript for Automation)

const Mail = Application('Mail');
Mail.activate();
const msg = Mail.OutgoingMessage({
  subject: 'Hello',
  content: 'Hi Alice...',
  visible: false,
});
Mail.outgoingMessages.push(msg);
msg.toRecipients.push(Mail.Recipient({ address: 'alice@example.com' }));
msg.send();

Integration Guide

Existing automation support

If the application already supports AppleScript or JXA, zero code is needed to integrate with AAI:

1. Write aai.json configuration file
2. Place in ~/.aai/<appId>/aai.json
3. Done!

No automation support

If the application has no automation support, you need to:

1. Enable AppleScript in Info.plist:

   <key>NSAppleScriptEnabled</key>
   <true/>

2. Implement script commands (Swift/ObjC) or leverage JXA
3. Write aai.json configuration file

aai.json Fields

Field	Type	Description
platforms.macos.automation	string	Automation type: applescript or jxa
platforms.macos.tools[].script	string	Script template, supports ${param} placeholders
platforms.macos.tools[].output_parser	string	Output parsing method: result as text (string), result as record (dictionary)
platforms.macos.tools[].timeout	integer	Timeout in seconds, default 30

---

Back to Spec Index | Back to Platforms