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Set up Shortcuts for Treadle's controls: brightness, Bluetooth, and Focus

October 1, 2026 · shortcuts · setup · controls

Most of Treadle's controls talk to macOS directly — volume, mic, the output device, keeping the Mac awake. Three of them can't: brightness, Bluetooth, and Focus. Apple provides no public API for those, so Treadle drives them through the Shortcuts app instead — the supported, sandbox-safe way to automate macOS. You create a small Shortcut once; Treadle runs it when you move the slider or tap the toggle.

If you open the Controls tab on your iPad and a control is greyed out, this is why. Each disabled control names the Shortcut it needs. Here's how to make them.

The three Shortcuts

Control Shortcut name (exact) What the Shortcut does
Brightness Treadle Brightness Sets the display brightness to a number Treadle passes in
Bluetooth Treadle Bluetooth Turns Bluetooth on or off
Focus Treadle Focus Turns a Focus (e.g. Do Not Disturb) on or off

The names must match exactly, Treadle included.

Create "Treadle Brightness"

  1. Open the Shortcuts app on your Mac.
  2. Click + to make a new Shortcut, and name it Treadle Brightness.
  3. Add the action Set Brightness.
  4. Make it use the Shortcut's input: set the brightness to Shortcut Input (Treadle sends the level as the input).
  5. Close the editor. That's it — Treadle will find it by name.

Create "Treadle Bluetooth"

  1. New Shortcut, named Treadle Bluetooth.
  2. Add Set Bluetooth and leave it on Toggle (or wire it to the Shortcut Input if you prefer explicit on/off).
  3. Close the editor.

Create "Treadle Focus"

  1. New Shortcut, named Treadle Focus.
  2. Add Set Focus (choose the Focus you want, e.g. Do Not Disturb) and set it to Toggle.
  3. Close the editor.

Brightness: showing the current level is optional

The Treadle Brightness Shortcut lets Treadle set brightness. macOS has no public way to read it back, so the brightness slider can only mirror the Mac's actual level — including changes you make with the keyboard's brightness keys — if the small open-source brightness command-line tool is installed:

brew install brightness

Without it, everything still works: the slider sets brightness fine, it just won't move on its own when brightness changes elsewhere; it shows the last value it set. Volume and mic gain don't need this — macOS lets Treadle read those directly.

Prefer not to install a command-line tool? Make a second Shortcut named exactly Treadle Get Brightness whose last action is Get Device Details → Brightness (so it returns the brightness). Treadle runs it to read the current level. Don't add this to the Treadle Brightness set-shortcut — a read has to be its own Shortcut, or reading would overwrite your brightness.

How Treadle finds them

Treadle asks the Shortcuts app for its list and looks for the three names above. There's nothing to point at and no path to configure — if the name matches, the control lights up. Reopen the Controls tab after creating a Shortcut to re-check.

Prefer to keep things minimal? Create only the Shortcuts for the controls you'll actually use. Everything else in Treadle works without any of this.

Questions & answers

Why does Treadle need Shortcuts for brightness, Bluetooth, and Focus?
macOS has no public API that lets a third-party app set display brightness, toggle Bluetooth, or change a Focus. The one supported, Apple-blessed way to automate them is the Shortcuts app. Treadle calls a Shortcut you create rather than using a private API, so it stays signed, notarized, and App-Store-honest.
What are the Shortcuts called?
Treadle looks for three Shortcuts by exact name: "Treadle Brightness", "Treadle Bluetooth", and "Treadle Focus". The names must match exactly, including the word Treadle and the capitalisation.
Do I have to create all three?
No. Create only the ones you want. A control whose Shortcut is missing simply shows as disabled in the Controls tab with a note naming the Shortcut to create; every other control keeps working.
The control is still disabled after I made the Shortcut. What now?
Check the name matches exactly, then reopen the Controls tab so Treadle re-checks the Shortcuts app. Treadle detects your Shortcuts by running the Shortcuts app's own list, so a renamed or duplicated Shortcut won't be found.
Why doesn't the brightness slider move when I change brightness on the Mac?
The Shortcut lets Treadle set brightness, but macOS has no public API to read the current brightness back. Install the open-source `brightness` command-line tool (brew install brightness) and the slider will mirror the Mac's actual level, including the keyboard brightness keys. Without it, the slider still sets brightness; it just won't follow external changes. Volume and mic gain are readable directly, so they always track live.