Siri AI is open to every developer now. Here is what I would do with my Mac app

Yesterday, November 3, Apple put up a short post called Siri AI is now open to all developers. It came out the same day as the first macOS 27.3 beta, and it's the most useful thing in that beta for people like me who make small Mac apps. So I spent this morning reading the new docs instead of doing my actual job.

Here's what changed, what you can and can't do with it yet, and what I'm going to do first.

What changed

• Any app can now talk to Siri AI. Until now Siri mostly understood actions that fit Apple's fixed "schema" domains, like sending a message or making a note. The new Siri AI Developer Preview lets Siri find your own custom content and run your own custom actions, as long as you expose them with App Intents.
• It's in the 27.3 betas. iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS 27.3 and visionOS 27.3, on devices that support Apple Intelligence. MacRumors and 9to5Mac have the rest of what's in beta 1.
• No new entitlement and no separate program. Apple's docs say this plainly. You update the App Intents code you have, or write some.
• Skills. For tasks that take several steps, you can ship "app skills": Markdown files that explain to Siri how your actions fit together.
• Testing tools. A Siri Integration Advisor in Xcode gives suggestions on your intents, and a new SiriEvaluations framework lets you script requests to Siri and check how it handles them.
• Six languages to start. English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, with Traditional Chinese, Norwegian, Turkish and Vietnamese coming soon.

What you can't do yet

This part matters more than the shiny part.

• Customers can't use it yet. The preview works in builds you run from Xcode with a development profile, and for internal testers in TestFlight. Apple says it isn't available to external TestFlight testers or to App Store versions. Submission to the App Store opens in the spring.
• Direct downloads are unclear. I couldn't find a line about apps sold outside the App Store with Developer ID. Until Apple says otherwise, I'm assuming they're in the same position: build it now, ship it later.
• The rules aren't out. Apple says it will share the terms and usage policies for Siri AI experiences later.
• Limits. Siri AI isn't available to people under 13. Apple's note says it's unavailable in the EU on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS (macOS isn't on that list). Features that use Apple's server models, Siri AI among them, have daily usage limits, and Apple says expanded access will cost a fee in the future.

So nobody needs to rush an update out this week. What you have is a few months to get it right before the people who use your app can try it.

How it works, in plain words

There are three pieces, and the first one is most of the job.

1. Tool intents. You add the @AppIntent(.tool) macro to an app intent. That makes it a tool Siri can call. Apple's advice is to give the intent and each of its parameters a real title and description, because Siri reads them to decide which tool fits what a person said. If your intent already uses one of Apple's schemas that supports Siri, you don't add the macro.
2. Content Siri can find. Siri can only find what you make available. The docs tell you to put your app entities into Spotlight, and Siri can now surface any entity in the Spotlight semantic index, not just ones that fit a schema.
3. Skills, only if you need them. You add one Skills.skillsbundle to your app target. Inside its Skills folder, each skill gets its own folder, named in lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, holding a single SKILL.md file. Apple is clear that a skill is guidance, not a script: Siri doesn't run your listed steps in order.

Apple is already doing this in its own apps, including Finder, Files, Notes, Preview, Reminders, Safari and Shortcuts. If you have one of those habits Siri now covers, like "archive files I haven't opened in a year", that's a fair hint of where the bar sits.

What I'd do first, in this order

These are my own opinions, not Apple's list.

1. Write down five things a person would ask for. Not features. Requests, in plain words. "Start a 25-minute focus session." "Show me the clips I copied this morning." If you can't think of five, your app may not need this yet, and that's fine.
2. Check the intents you already have. Many Mac apps already ship App Intents for Shortcuts. Read their titles and descriptions as if you were Siri. "Run Action" with no description won't get picked.
3. Mark two or three as tools. Start with the actions from step 1. Don't mark everything: an intent that only configures a widget and does nothing in perform() shouldn't be a tool, according to the docs.
4. Get your content into Spotlight. If people would ask about your app's things (notes, clips, projects, timers), Siri can only find them through Spotlight.
5. Run Apple's checks. Use the Siri Integration Advisor in Xcode, then script a few of your five requests with SiriEvaluations, so you notice when a change makes Siri worse.
6. Write a skill only for a real multi-step job. One clear SKILL.md beats five vague ones.
7. Don't promise it to users yet. Don't put "Works with Siri AI" in your listing or release notes until people can actually use it in a version they can download.

If you can't run the 27.3 beta, steps 1, 2 and 3 still work: it's mostly reading your own code and writing better descriptions, which also helps Shortcuts today.

Talk to Apple while it's cheap

Apple is running Apple Intelligence Group Labs today, November 4, from 9 to 10 a.m. Pacific, and tomorrow, November 5, from 6 to 7 p.m. Pacific. The sign-up links are in Apple's post. It's a preview, and Apple says the API may change, so this is the moment when feedback can still change something.

The MacPip angle

I list a lot of AI apps and productivity apps on MacPip, and most of them do exactly the kind of small, nameable action that Siri can now run. I think the apps that get this right in the spring will have a new way to be found: people asking Siri for a job, not searching for an app name. I'll be watching for that.

If you use a coding agent, the get ready for the next macOS prompt is a decent start for reading your project before a beta. It won't write your skills for you, but it'll tell you where your intents live. And if your own app's AI features cost you money per request, the new subscription or one-time price calculator shows what each pricing model leaves you after fees.

When it ships, say so in your release notes and update your listing. If your app isn't on MacPip yet, listing it is free.

Sources

• Apple Developer: Siri AI is now open to all developers
• Apple Developer: Siri AI Developer Preview
• Apple Developer: Bringing custom actions and content to Siri
• Apple Developer: Orchestrating complex actions with app skills
• MacRumors: Apple Releases First macOS Golden Gate 27.3 Beta
• 9to5Mac: macOS 27.3 Golden Gate beta 1 now available

Keep reading

• Touchscreen Macs ship on November 6. Here is what I would check in my Mac appApple's first touch Macs arrive November 6. What changed, what Apple tells developers to do, and a short list of things to test in your own Mac app.
• Introducing MacPipWhat MacPip is, why I built it, how listing and launch day work, what a blue tick really means, and the real numbers from its first days.
• How to launch a Mac app: a checklist that fits on one pageWhat to do before, on and after launch day for a Mac app: signing, your page, directories, Product Hunt, Show HN and what to measure.
• How to write a one-line description that says what your Mac app doesA plain way to write the one line under your Mac app's name: name the job, cut the hype, and test it on someone who has never seen the app.
• Signing and notarization, in plain words, for people making their first Mac appWhat code signing, notarization and stapling each do, in what order, what your users see without them, and how to check your own build.
• What a dofollow link is honestly worth, from a site that offers oneWhat dofollow means, what Google says about links, why a link from a new directory is worth little today, and what to do instead of buying links.

Submit your appFree tools for makers