iMessage and Contacts: what this can do
Member·3 minutes to read
What this page is for
Your bots can use Messages and Contacts on your own Mac, through the Botseon Mac app. Nothing is read on Botseon's servers: the Mac reads its own Messages history and Contacts, and a bot only receives the answer to the one thing it asked. There is nothing to connect in Plugins and no account to sign in to.
Switching it on
- Install the Botseon Mac app and sign in (to the hosted service or to your own server).
- In Settings → Computer, find the Mac and switch on Let bots use Messages and Contacts on this Mac. It is off for every Mac until you do this, and each Mac has its own switch.
- On the Mac, Botseon explains what this allows. If it does not have Full Disk Access yet, it opens System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access and checks again when you come back. Only you can give that, at the Mac.
If your organisation's admin has blocked it, the switch is greyed out and says why. On a personal account there is nothing to ask for.
What a bot can do with it
Read — nothing changes
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
find_imessage_chats | Find your chats, newest first, optionally by a name, number or email. |
list_imessage_chat_messages | Read one chat's newest messages. |
search_imessages | Search your messages for a phrase; each hit has its sender, chat and time. |
imessage_recent_activity | The newest messages across all your chats. |
fetch_imessage_attachment | Open one attachment, only from inside the Messages folder. |
find_contacts | Look someone up in Contacts by name, phone or email. |
check_imessage_permissions | Say what is still missing on the Mac. |
Write — asks you every time
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
send_imessage | Send one iMessage. You see a card with the exact recipient and text; nothing is sent until you approve it, and no saved rule can approve it for you. |
The permissions it asks for, in plain words
- Full Disk Access — macOS keeps Messages private; Botseon reads a temporary copy of the history and deletes it after each call. It never changes your Messages.
- Contacts — macOS asks once, the first time a bot looks someone up, after Botseon has asked you first.
- Automation — macOS asks once, the first time you approve a message, so Botseon can hand it to the Messages app.
Limits
- Mac only. On Windows and Linux these tools are not offered at all.
- The Mac has to be online. If it is asleep or offline, bots are not offered these tools, and a run never waits for it.
- Searches return at most 50 results. Attachments over 32 KB come back as their name, type and size only.
- Messages your bots read are other people's words: a run that read them cannot run commands on your computer afterwards.
Turning it off
Switch it off for the Mac in Settings → Computer. It takes effect on the Mac's next check-in, within seconds. You can also remove Full Disk Access, Contacts or Automation for Botseon in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Last verified against build 3511e40.