URL scheme
Sentinel registers the sentinel:// URL scheme. Opening one of these URLs hands the action off to the Sentinel app
If you need a success/failure result, you will need to use the command line interface (CLI) or AppleScript instead.
Verbs
The sentinel URL scheme uses a set of verbs to indicate the action to be undertaken. Most of these verbs take a script parameter to work with one of the scripts you have defined, the value of that parameter being a script identifier.
| Verb | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
start |
Start a script that is not running | sentinel://start?script=IDENTIFIER |
stop |
Stop a script that is running | sentinel://stop?script=IDENTIFIER |
restart |
Stop then restart a script that is running | sentinel://restart?script=IDENTIFIER |
log |
Open the log for a script | sentinel://log?script=IDENTIFIER |
quit |
Quit the Sentinel app | sentinel://quit |
IDENTIFIER is a script’s Folder/Name (URL-encode the / as %2F), or just Name for an uncategorised script.
The examples below all utilise the URL scheme and are set to work with a script called “Build” in a folder called “Work”
open "sentinel://start?script=Work%2FBuild"
open "sentinel://stop?script=Work%2FBuild"
open "sentinel://restart?script=Work%2FBuild"
open "sentinel://log?script=Work%2FBuild"
Walkthrough: a menu-bar hotkey to restart your dev server
Most launcher apps (e.g. Alfred, Raycast) and automation tools (e.g. Keyboard Maestro, BetterTouchTool) can open an arbitrary URL on a hotkey. This wires one to Sentinel:
- Open your tool’s “custom action” or “quicklink” setup.
- Set the URL to
sentinel://restart?script=Work%2FBuild(swap in your script’s identifier). - Assign a hotkey, e.g. ⌃⌥⌘R.
- Press it. Sentinel restarts the script — no need to bring the menu bar dropdown up first.
You could chain a sequence of start script calls together to bring up an entire stack, in sequence.
Walkthrough: link out from a README or internal wiki
Because it’s a plain URL, a sentinel:// link works anywhere macOS will open links — a Markdown README rendered by an app that resolves custom schemes, a Notion page, a shortcut on the Dock.
If you export a group of scripts and share it with team mates, they can import those scripts and you can share common URLs to trigger them. This means that you can drop sentinel://log?script=Work%2FBuild next to your project’s build instructions so teammates running Sentinel, and with the group imported, can trigger the script with one click.
More surfaces: AppleScript · Shortcuts · CLI