At WWDC 2025, Apple introduced several updates under the Apple Intelligence umbrella. One quietly powerful upgrade stood out: the ability to build Shortcuts using prompts. For the first time, users can describe what they want to automate in natural language and watch it come together.

This matters. Shortcuts has always been a capable tool, but most iPhone users never go beyond the basics. Building multi-step automations was too time-consuming, too technical. It was never the right time. Always a “I should automate that… later”. Now, by adding prompt support and Intelligent Actions like summarizing, proofreading, or rewriting, Apple has turned Shortcuts into a more accessible automation tool.

What Apple has done here is shift the starting point. You don’t need to know the steps. You just need to know what outcome you want. The model figures out the rest. For everyday users, that’s a leap forward.

But this shift is not just about convenience. It’s part of a broader pattern: prompt-based automation is moving from a niche feature to a new standard. And it’s not stopping at personal productivity.

Why That Matters Beyond Your iPhone

Prompt-based automation solves a real problem: knowing what you want to automate but not how to build it.

Most iPhone users never touch Shortcuts because the tool, while powerful, expected too much. You had to understand the structure of actions, the quirks of each app, and the logic connecting it all. That’s not automation: it’s homework.

Now imagine that same complexity inside a company. Dozens of teams. Thousands of tools. Endless APIs. The friction multiplies. Knowing what to automate is hard. Building is harder. So people default to manual work, even when automation is the obvious answer.

Apple’s move with Shortcuts shows what happens when you remove that friction. You lower the barrier. You shift the focus from technical assembly to business intent. In a personal context, that might mean automating a morning routine. In an enterprise, it means streamlining onboarding, speeding up incident response, or reducing ticket queues. The issues that keep people busy and under pressure, yet no one takes the time to step back and fix the root cause.

The mechanics are different, but the idea is the same: automation should start with a prompt, not a blank canvas, not a mountain to climb. Not a project people are afraid to start. Automation should begin the moment someone has an idea to make their daily work easier.

Automation promises speed, scale, and simplicity. But getting there often feels like the opposite.

The first problem is knowing what to automate. You see inefficiencies, but turning them into structured workflows requires time, context, and technical skill, not always available in the same room.

The second problem is navigating tools. Most organizations use dozens, sometimes hundreds, of platforms, each with its own API, terminology, and logic. Stitching them together means switching tabs, digging through documentation, and hoping you picked the right operations.

Then there’s maintenance. Even if you manage to build the thing, it rarely stays still. Teams grow, processes shift, APIs break. What started as a time-saver becomes another piece of technical debt.

However, the most insidious problem is the friction involved in even starting to automate. Even when you know what to automate and have access to the right APIs, the momentum fades. Automation is always postponed: “I’ll get to it later.” This delay often means the problem remains unresolved, and inefficiencies compound over time.

The result? Many teams remain stuck in manual mode, not because they want to, but because the upfront cost of automation seems too high. The irony is clear: the systems designed to save time often take too much time to build.

Mindflow’s DNA: Automating Automation

Automation isn’t just a feature in Mindflow, it’s the foundation. From day one, the goal has been clear: remove every barrier between idea and execution.

In most organizations, time is the limiting factor. Teams aim to enhance processes, minimize manual tasks, and concentrate on more significant issues. But they’re stuck. Stuck choosing what to automate. Stuck figuring out how. Stuck waiting on someone else to build it.

Mindflow solves this by automating the hardest part of automation: the build.

With features like AI··Ideation, users can describe the tools they use, the KPIs they want to improve, and get a tailored list of automation opportunities. With AI··Build, they can write a single prompt for what they want to automate and turn it into a working flow. No integration hunting. No guesswork. No engineering tickets.

This isn’t about speeding up development. It’s about removing the need for it entirely. Mindflow turns intent into action, fast. Because time-to-value isn’t just a metric, it’s the difference between automation that exists and automation that's actually utilized.

Once you have your ideas, the next challenge is building those automations. This is where AI··Build comes in, prompt-level Power for the Enterprise.

AI··Build brings prompt-based automation to where it matters most: inside the enterprise.

Instead of manually assembling steps, users describe what they want to automate in plain language. AI··Build interprets the intent, finds the right operations across 4,000+ integrations, configures them, and builds the workflow. It handles complexity behind the scenes, allowing users to focus on outcomes rather than mechanics.

It’s not just about building faster. It’s about removing the need to understand APIs, sift through service docs, or rely on technical teams to translate requirements into action. One prompt is enough.

AI··Build is more than just an enhancement; it’s a new way of thinking about automation. By combining powerful semantic search, prompt-driven step generation, and contextual AI suggestions, we’re not just making workflows easier to create; we’re making them smarter.

As our internal team knows, the more operations and integrations you have, the greater the challenge of helping users find the right combination. Addressing this challenge means removing all limits to what can be automated. Without an exhaustive catalog of integrations, achieving true hyperautomation is impossible. Your agents won’t have the whole picture and will be limited in their potential. You’ll encounter roadblocks and will still have to handle tasks you were hoping to automate manually.

By crafting features like AI··Build, we unlock the full potential of our platform, enabling users to build complex flows without these limitations. With AI··Build, there’s no need to compromise on automation, no task is too big, no process too complex.

Learn more about (AI··Build).

The Future Is Prompt-Driven, at Any Scale

Apple’s updates to Shortcuts signal a shift: prompts are becoming the new starting point for automation. Not code. Not configuration. Intent.

It’s a shift we’ve already embraced at Mindflow. With AI··Build, that same prompt-driven simplicity is now available, where the stakes and complexity are much higher.

On your phone, automating a task might save you a few taps. Useful, but limited in scope. At the enterprise level, applying these same principles to real processes can save hundreds of hours and transform how teams operate.

Think of an IT team automating access provisioning. Or a security team responding to incidents across tools. Or HR onboarding new hires across multiple platforms. These aren't one-off wins. They're recurring, high-volume tasks that eat up time every day.

With AI··Build, teams don’t need to choose between speed and scale. One prompt can generate a fully operational workflow that ties together systems, handles edge cases, and delivers immediate value. The same prompt-based simplicity that users will soon be able to enjoy on their phones, applied at an enterprise scale, creates an impact that compounds.

The direction is clear, Automation is no longer about how much you know: it’s about how clearly you can say what you need.