Grocery Shortcut – Step-by-Step Creation Guide

This guide walks you through creating an Apple Shortcut that adds grocery items to the family dashboard via Siri.

Trigger: “Hey Siri, grocery” Siri asks: “What would you like to add?” You say: “milk, eggs, and bread” Siri confirms: “Added milk, eggs, bread”

Features: - Multiple items in one command (separated by commas or “and”) - Duplicate items are silently skipped (case-insensitive) - Quantities as part of the name (“2 milk” stays as “2 milk”) - Retries once on network failure, then shows an error

Before You Start

You need your Supabase Project URL and anon key. See README.md for where to find them.

Create the Shortcut

Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone. Tap + to create a new Shortcut. Tap the name at the top and rename it to Grocery.

Step 1: Ask for Input

1. Tap Add Action
2. Search for Ask for Input and add it
3. Set Type to Text
4. Set Prompt to: What would you like to add?

This captures the user’s voice input. When triggered via Siri, the user speaks their response.

Step 2: Set Up Supabase Configuration Variables

5. Add a Text action
6. Set the text to your Supabase project URL (e.g., [YOUR_SUPABASE_URL])

7. Long-press the action, tap Rename, name it supabaseUrl

8. Add another Text action

9. Set the text to your Supabase anon key (e.g., [YOUR_ANON_KEY])
10. Long-press the action, tap Rename, name it anonKey

Step 3: Parse Multi-Item Input

11. Add a Replace Text action
12. Set Find to: and (with spaces on both sides)
13. Set Replace with to: ,

14. Set Input to: Provided Input (from Step 1)

15. Add a Split Text action

16. Set Separator to Custom
17. Set the custom separator to: ,
18. Set Input to: Updated Text (from Step 12)

This converts “milk, eggs, and bread” into a list: [“milk”, ” eggs”, ” bread”].

Step 4: Initialize the Added Items Tracker

19. Add a Set Variable action
20. Set Variable Name to: addedItems
21. Set Value to an empty Text action (just leave it blank)

Step 5: Begin the Loop

22. Add a Repeat with Each action
23. Set Input to: Split Text (from Step 16)

Everything from Step 24 to Step 43 goes INSIDE this Repeat with Each block.

Step 6: Trim Whitespace from Each Item

24. Inside the loop, add a Replace Text action
25. Set Find to: ^\s+|\s+$ (enable Regular Expression)
26. Set Replace with to: (leave empty)
27. Set Input to: Repeat Item

This trims leading and trailing spaces from each item.

Step 7: Skip Empty Items

28. Add an If action
29. Set the condition: Updated Text (from Step 25) has any value

Everything from Step 30 to Step 42 goes inside this If block.

Step 8: URL-Encode the Item Name

30. Add a URL Encode action
31. Set Input to: Updated Text (the trimmed item name from Step 25)

This ensures item names with spaces (like “orange juice”) are properly encoded for the URL.

Step 9: Check for Duplicates (with Retry)

32. Add a Set Variable action
33. Set Variable Name to: retryCount

34. Set Value to: 0

35. Add a Repeat action

36. Set Count to: 2

37. Inside the Repeat, add a Get Contents of URL action

38. Tap the URL field and build it by combining:

    • Variable: supabaseUrl (from Step 6)
    • Text: /rest/v1/groceries?name=ilike.
    • Variable: URL Encoded Text (from Step 31)
    • Text: &checked=eq.false&select=id

    The full URL looks like: [supabaseUrl]/rest/v1/groceries?name=ilike.[encodedItem]&checked=eq.false&select=id

39. Set Method to: GET

40. Tap Headers and add:

    • apikey: [anonKey variable]
    • Authorization: tap the value, type Bearer, then insert the anonKey variable

41. Add an If action after Get Contents of URL

42. Set the condition: Contents of URL has any value

43. In the If path (result has value – meaning the request succeeded):

    • Add a Text action set to done
    • Add a Set Variable action, set retryCount to done

44. In the Otherwise path (request failed):

    • Do nothing (the Repeat loop will retry)

45. Add End If

46. Add End Repeat

Step 10: Evaluate the Duplicate Check Result

47. Add a Count action
48. Set Type to: Items

49. Set Input to: Contents of URL (the response from the GET request)

50. Add an If action

51. Set the condition: Count is 0

This means no duplicate was found – proceed with inserting the item.

Step 11: Insert the Grocery Item (with Retry)

52. Inside the “Count is 0” If block, add a Repeat action

53. Set Count to: 2

54. Inside the Repeat, add a Get Contents of URL action

55. Build the URL: [supabaseUrl]/rest/v1/groceries
56. Set Method to: POST
57. Tap Headers and add:
    • apikey: [anonKey variable]
    • Authorization: Bearer [anonKey variable]
    • Content-Type: application/json
58. Tap Request Body and set to JSON

59. Add these key-value pairs:

    • name: Updated Text (the trimmed item name from Step 25) – set type to Text
    • checked: false – set type to Boolean
    • added_by: siri – set type to Text

60. Add an If action to check for success

61. Set the condition: Contents of URL has any value
62. In the If path (success):
    • Add a Text action set to done
    • This breaks the retry intent (the loop will run its remaining iteration harmlessly)
63. Otherwise (failure):
    • Do nothing (retry via loop)
64. Add End If

65. Add End Repeat

66. After the POST Repeat block, add an Add to Variable action

67. Set Variable Name to: addedItems
68. Set Value to: Updated Text (the trimmed item name)

Step 12: Close All Blocks

69. Add End If (closes “Count is 0” from Step 51)
70. Add End If (closes “has any value” from Step 29)
71. End Repeat (closes the Repeat with Each from Step 23)

Step 13: Handle Network Failure

72. Add an If action
73. Set the condition: Check if retryCount is not done
74. In the If path:
    • Add a Show Result action
    • Set the text to: Couldn't reach the dashboard
    • Add a Stop This Shortcut action (optional – prevents the confirmation below)
75. Add End If

Step 14: Show Confirmation

76. Add an If action

77. Set the condition: addedItems has any value

78. In the If path:

    • Add a Show Result action
    • Set the text to: Added [addedItems]
    • (When Siri speaks this, it reads the list naturally)

79. In the Otherwise path:

    • Add a Show Result action
    • Set the text to: Already on the list

80. Add End If

Testing

1. Tap the play button in the Shortcuts app to test with typed input
2. Type: milk, eggs, and bread
3. Verify: Shows “Added milk, eggs, bread”
4. Run again with: milk
5. Verify: Shows “Already on the list” (duplicate detected)

Then test with Siri: 1. Say “Hey Siri, grocery” 2. When prompted, say “milk and eggs” 3. Verify items appear on the wall display

Troubleshooting

• “Couldn’t reach the dashboard” – Check that supabaseUrl and anonKey are correct. Verify your internet connection.
• Duplicates not detected – Make sure the GET URL uses ilike (not eq) for case-insensitive matching.
• “orange juice” split into two items – Make sure you are only splitting by commas, not by spaces. The “Replace Text” action should only replace and with ,.
• Items not appearing on wall display – Verify the Supabase realtime publication includes the groceries table (it should already be configured).