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defineIntent()

defineIntent() is the single entry point for authoring an App Intent in TypeScript. Every field below flows through the IR into the generated Swift.

Signature

Section titled “Signature”
import { defineIntent, param } from "@axint/compiler";


defineIntent({
  name: string;              // Swift type name (must end in "Intent")
  title: string;              // Human-facing title in Shortcuts
  description: string;        // Human-facing description
  domain: IntentDomain;       // "messaging" | "productivity" | ...


  params?: Record<string, ParamSpec>;
  entitlements?: string[];
  infoPlistKeys?: Record<string, string>;
  isDiscoverable?: boolean;   // default: true


  perform?: () => unknown;    // optional; used for return-type inference
});

Required fields

Section titled “Required fields”

name

Section titled “name”

The Swift struct name. Must be a valid Swift identifier ending in Intent.

name: "SendMessageIntent"  // ✅
name: "SendMessage"        // ❌ AX100: must end in "Intent"
name: "send-message"       // ❌ AX100: not a valid Swift identifier

title

Section titled “title”

Human-facing title shown in Shortcuts and the Siri prompt sheet.

description

Section titled “description”

Longer description shown in Shortcuts. Keep it under ~140 characters.

domain

Section titled “domain”

One of Apple’s standard App Intent domains: messaging, productivity, transportation, navigation, music, finance, health, smartHome, commerce, utility.

Optional fields

Section titled “Optional fields”

params

Section titled “params”

Object literal mapping parameter names to param.* calls.

params: {
  recipient: param.string("Who to send the message to"),
  body: param.string("What to say"),
}

entitlements

Section titled “entitlements”

Array of reverse-DNS entitlement identifiers.

entitlements: ["com.apple.developer.healthkit"]

infoPlistKeys

Section titled “infoPlistKeys”

Map of Info.plist usage description keys to their human-facing permission copy.

infoPlistKeys: {
  NSHealthUpdateUsageDescription: "Log workouts to HealthKit."
}

isDiscoverable

Section titled “isDiscoverable”

Whether the intent shows up in Shortcuts’ action library. Defaults to true. Set to false for background-only intents.

perform

Section titled “perform”

An optional stub function. If present, Axint walks its body to infer the Swift return type. If absent, the generated perform() returns .result() with no value.

perform: () => ({
  orderId: "42",
  total: 19.99,
})
// → generates `-> some IntentResult & ReturnsValue<OrderConfirmation>`

See also

Section titled “See also”