Automation (AppleScript & Shortcuts)

Automation here works in both directions.

Out: Peach Commander is scriptable, so you can drive it from AppleScript and from the Shortcuts app. A handful of core verbs let a script navigate the panels, select files by a mask, copy or move the current selection, and run any Peach Commander command by its id — reusing exactly the same actions the menus use, so a scripted step behaves like a manual one. That is the rest of this page.

In: Peach Commander can also run a script of yours — AppleScript or JavaScript — and put it on a menu, a button or a key. That needs the Scripting plugin, which ships switched off; see Running your own scripts below.

For repeating a sequence of file actions rather than one, see Macros.

See the dictionary¶

Open Script Editor (in /Applications/Utilities).
Choose Window ▸ Library, then double-click Peach Commander (add it with + if it isn't listed).
The dictionary opens, listing the commands and properties below.

The first time a script controls Peach Commander, macOS asks you to allow it (System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Automation). Approve it once and later scripts run without prompting.

What you can read¶

Property	Meaning
`active folder`	POSIX path of the active panel's folder.
`inactive folder`	POSIX path of the other panel's folder.
`selection paths`	The selected items in the active panel (or the item under the cursor).

The verbs¶

Command	What it does
`go to "<path>" [in left\\|right]`	Open a folder in a panel (default: the active panel).
`select "<mask>"`	Select items in the active panel by a wildcard mask, e.g. `*.pdf`.
`copy items to "<folder>"`	Copy the active panel's selection to a folder.
`move items to "<folder>"`	Move the active panel's selection to a folder.
`run command "<id>"`	Run any command by its id, e.g. `cm_PackFiles`.

Copy and move use the same background transfer queue as F5/F6, so progress and any overwrite prompts appear exactly as they do for a manual operation.

Example¶

tell application "Peach Commander"
    go to "~/Downloads" in left
    select "*.pdf"
    copy items to "~/Documents/PDFs"
    return selection paths
end tell

Using it from Shortcuts¶

In the Shortcuts app, add the Run AppleScript action and paste a script like the one above. That lets you fold a Peach Commander step into a larger Shortcut — for example, triggered by a folder change or a hotkey.

Running your own scripts¶

The other direction: a script of yours, run by Peach Commander.

This is a plugin, and it ships switched off, because running a program of your choosing can do everything the rest of the app can and several things none of it covers. Two switches, both off until you set them:

Configuration ▸ Plugins… — enable Scripting.
Settings ▸ AI — turn on Let scripts run. It is on that page because it is the same kind of permission as the assistant's shell, and both live together.

Then put a script in scripts/ inside your configuration folder — Commands ▸ Open Scripts Folder takes you there and leaves an example behind the first time. A .applescript, .scpt or .jxa file in that folder is a script; there is nothing to register.

What a script is given¶

The panel state arrives in the environment, so the ordinary case needs no Apple events and no permission prompt:

Variable	Means
`PC_ACTIVE_DIR`	The active panel's folder
`PC_TARGET_DIR`	The other panel's folder
`PC_CURSOR_NAME`	The file under the cursor
`PC_SELECTION_COUNT`	How many items are selected
`PC_SELECTION_FILE`	A text file with one selected path per line (absent when nothing is selected)

set here to system attribute "PC_ACTIVE_DIR"
return "The active panel is showing " & here

Anything beyond that goes through the application itself, using the verbs above — so the two halves compose.

Putting a script on a button or a key¶

Each script becomes a command named plugin.script.run.<name>, where <name> is the file's name without its extension (spaces and dots become hyphens). That id works anywhere a cm_* id does: in the button bar, in usercmd.ini, in a .mnu file, and in Configuration ▸ Edit Shortcuts….

How a script is run, and the timeout¶

By default a script runs as a separate process, which means it can be given a time limit and stopped if it overruns — thirty seconds unless you say otherwise. A script can opt into running inside the application instead, which lets it return a structured value and keeps it compiled between runs, but then there is no time limit: a script that loops holds the application. Put the choice in scripts.json beside your scripts:

[
  { "id": "Tidy", "fileName": "Tidy.applescript", "title": "Tidy Downloads",
    "language": "AppleScript", "mode": "subprocess", "timeoutSeconds": 60 }
]

Only what differs from the defaults needs an entry; a file with no entry gets its own name as its title, runs as a subprocess, and stops after thirty seconds.

For the assistant¶

With the plugin on and the setting enabled, the assistant gains run_applescript, run_jxa and check_script. Each one shows you the exact script and waits for your approval before anything runs, and none of them is ever offered to an external agent over MCP.

Notes¶

The command id you pass to run command is the same cm_* id shown in the command browser (see The Start menu & custom commands).
Scripting always acts on the active panel; use go to … in left / in right first if you need a specific side.
Peach Commander is a single-window app, so scripts target that window's two panels.