You can diff these files, you can do find-and-replace because you changed file paths, you can duplicate complicated script logic more easily than in the GUI. Have you ever made a for loop in Shortcuts? Did you want to throw something across the room afterward?
The Shortcuts app is easily overlooked. While it’s capable of creating scripts to automate tasks and processes, it can initially seem overwhelmingly complex — enough that many may have written it off as an app just for pro users.
But in reality, it’s relatively straightforward, and more importantly, it’s incredibly useful. In fact, it’s now more useful than ever. If you’ve installed iOS 18.4 or later, you can gain single-tap control over certain Apple app settings without needing to open the apps themselves.
It’s still early days for these technologies, but I’m here to tell you that their speed alone is a game changer for anyone who uses voice transcription to create text from lectures, podcasts, YouTube videos, and more.
Yes, I fully agree: I want Shortcuts files to be text, and I want to use a regular text editor to create shortcuts.
I may be biased, and I may be still inexperienced, but I've never encountered any non-plain-text programming languages and programming environments that are any good at all.
(I've never really used Hypercard before, and I don't know what's the programming environment, but I'll probably concede this as an example that, perhaps, proves the rule?)
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Thanks for reading.