Hello, Productivity Friends!

My name is Carlo. I'm the author of several Shortcuts-related macOS & iOS apps, such as Actions for Obsidian, Browser Actions, and BarCuts. You received this email because you signed up for updates on my website or in one of my apps.

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TL;DR: My contextual Shortcuts workflow launcher, BarCuts, was updated, completely changing the way you can tie your Shortcuts workflows to specific apps while keeping your workflows clean.

Also, a personal request for help (at the end).

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BarCuts 2025.4:
Goodbye, Shortcuts Tagger Action; Hello, Floating Tagger Panel

I’ve talked to a number of folks who told me that the idea of BarCuts appealed to them, but was unusable because it prevented them from sharing their workflows with others or from using the same workflows on iOS. Since the initial release, because the BarCuts Tagger came in the form of a Shortcuts action, any tagged workflow would stop with an “Unknown action” error on devices that didn’t have BarCuts installed — and that’s all of iOS, plus (usually) other people’s Macs.

Hence I’ve entirely rewritten the way we tag workflows. BarCuts now adds a floating panel to the Shortcuts editor for tagging your workflows, which means they are no longer "polluted" by any BarCuts actions. It’s pretty sweet!

And you'd still use BarCuts' menu, Raycast, Alfred, the CLI tool, or the URL scheme to access your relevant workflows when you need them.

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Wait, what’s BarCuts again?

ICYMI, BarCuts adds context to your workflows and only shows those that are relevant for the currently active app. For example, if you have a lot of Obsidian workflows, you'd want them on "quick dial" when that app is in front, but not if you're doing something else.

I call it a ”surprisingly useful macOS Shortcuts launcher” because that’s what it is.

Here’s a short video explaining it — watch the first minute for a quick overview of what it does.

You’ll find more details on BarCuts’ product page. I’d be delighted if you would give it a go! I think you’ll like it. 🤞🏼

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A personal request for help

I’d love to say that BarCuts and Browser Actions have been smashing successes for this indie dev, but that’d be a lie. To be honest, I’m struggling to get the word out. I did my homework, read up on best practices for approaching the media as an app maker, and gathered a sensible list of relevant websites and people to contact — but all those attempts have been met with silence. 🫤

Building apps is comparatively easy, yet getting them noticed is boss-level hard, which, frankly, is dispiriting AF.

So here’s my plea: I clearly lack the connections and/or skills here. If you could connect me with tech journalists or content creators who are interested in this kind of thing, or if you know who to contact about my apps and/or how to do it, please put me in touch!

(Also, just forwarding this newsletter to others who might be interested in what I do would be mighty nice of you, too.)

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And that’s it for today. Thanks for reading!

If you have questions or ideas for actions or tutorial videos, or have written or recorded something about my apps, please email me, say Hi on Mastodon or Bluesky, or post on the ActionsDotWork Forum! I'm always happy to chat with customers! 🤙🏼

Thanks again for your interest in my work, it means a lot to me 🙏🏼

Talk to you soon,
– Carlo