Build Your Own AI Team BYU-Idaho

iPhone Shortcut: View a File

Build an iPhone shortcut that opens a text file your AI team keeps updated — like a weekly workout plan — with a single tap from your Home Screen.

This how-to builds a simple iPhone shortcut that opens a text file your AI team keeps up to date — in this example, your weekly workout plan. The file lives in iCloud Drive > Shortcuts > ClaudeTeam, where your team can update it whenever you ask. Once the shortcut is on your Home Screen, you tap it like an app and instantly see the latest version.

What's a shortcut? A mini-app you build in Apple's Shortcuts app by stacking simple actions. No coding. See the Glossary.

This guide uses a workout plan as the example, but the same steps work for any file your team keeps updated — a shopping list, a daily plan, work priorities, and so on.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

  • An iPhone with the Shortcuts app and Files app.
  • iCloud Drive turned on.
  • An AI team already set up (see Build Your Team).

Part 1 — Create the iCloud folder

On your iPhone:

  1. Open the Files app.
  2. Tap Browse at the bottom.
  3. Tap iCloud Drive.
  4. Open the Shortcuts folder. (If you don't see one, create it.)
  5. Inside Shortcuts, create a new folder called: ClaudeTeam

So the path is: iCloud Drive > Shortcuts > ClaudeTeam

Part 2 — Create the file to view

You need a file for the shortcut to open. Creating files on a phone can be fiddly, so you can do this from your computer instead.

On your computer:

  1. Open iCloud Drive.
  2. Go to: iCloud Drive > Shortcuts > ClaudeTeam
  3. Create a plain text file named: workout.txt
  4. Put some sample text in it so the shortcut has something to show while you test:
# Workout for This Week

## Monday
Walk 30 minutes.

## Tuesday
Strength training.

## Wednesday
Rest.

## Thursday
Walk 30 minutes.

## Friday
Strength training.

## Saturday
Stretching or light activity.

## Sunday
Rest.

✅ You should now have: a workout.txt file inside the ClaudeTeam folder.

Part 3 — Create the "Show My Workout" shortcut

On your iPhone:

  1. Open the Shortcuts app.
  2. Tap the + button in the top-right corner.
  3. Tap the name at the top and rename it: Show My Workout
  4. Tap Add Action.
  5. Search for: Get File
  6. Tap Get File from Folder.

Now configure that action:

  1. Set it to get a file from iCloud Drive.
  2. Turn off Show Document Picker if that option appears.
  3. For the file path, the default will be "Shortcuts." Tap Shortcuts and choose the ClaudeTeam folder you created.
  4. After "at Path," type the name of your text file: workout.txt

Part 4 — Display the file

Add one more action:

  1. Search for: Quick Look
  2. Add Quick Look after the Get File action.

Your shortcut should now read:

Get File
Show [file] in Quick Look

Tap the play button to test it. Your workout should pop up on screen.

✅ If your file appears, it works.

Part 5 — Add it to your Home Screen

Once it works:

  1. Open the shortcut.
  2. Tap the small dropdown arrow or the three dots near the shortcut name.
  3. Choose Add to Home Screen.
  4. Name it: Workout
  5. Pick an icon if you want.
  6. Tap Add.

Now it behaves like a tiny app on your phone.

Part 6 — Tell your AI team to keep the file updated

Give your team an instruction like:

When I ask for my workout plan, write the current weekly workout to this file:
iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/ClaudeTeam/workout.txt
Overwrite the full file each time. Here is how I'd like it formatted: [describe your format].

Now, whenever you ask your team for a new plan, it updates the file — and your Home Screen button always shows the latest version.

Part 7 (optional) — A "Team Dashboard" version

Once the single-file version works, you can read several files from one shortcut. First create more files in the ClaudeTeam folder, for example:

daily_checkin.txt
work_priorities.txt
shopping_list.txt
team_update.txt

Then build a shortcut that uses the Choose from Menu action with options like:

Workout
Daily Check-in
Work Priorities
Shopping List

Each menu option reads a different file.

But don't start there. Start with one file: workout.txt. Get that working first. Then make it fancy.

What's next