Use built-in presets (via the hamburger menu icon of the module).

If you have a series of photos taken under the same conditions, you can save some time by editing only one of them and then copying the adjustments to all the others (using the 'copy' and 'paste' buttons of the 'history stack' panel in the lighttable view).

That said, there are some things you can do with darktable to speed up the processing: Its strength lies more with the high level of control that you get over all the adjustments but to my understanding that is quite the opposite of what you are looking for. It has a few functions for automatic white balance or exposure adjustment but that's it. I'm afraid if you are looking for a one-click-and-be-done feature, darktable might not be the right application for you. But if not (and hopefully not), somebody has a suggestion about a better way to go with darktable or something else. And maybe Mac Photos is as good as it gets so I should stick with that. That's not the level of effort / interest I have in photography, sorry (not sorry)! My needs are basic and my time is limited so I'm looking for the simple/quick/easy way to improve the pictures. I know some will comment that I should use RAW or that I should edit each picture individually but it's just not going to happen. Is there some similar module that I could add to darktable to do this same sort of thing? Or is there an alternative product I should consider that would do that for me? Note that nearly all of my images are taken as JPEGs from either my phone, a waterproof camera, or my Sony α6000. But maybe 95% of the time it works for me. Sometimes I need to do more than it can do or undo something I don't like.

You just select a picture and push a button and boom the picture looks 'better'. Photos has this feature and I think it works really well for my very basic needs. I want some sort of algorithm to analyze each picture and determine the best way to enhance it for me. I don't want to individually enhance each picture. But now looking at a pile of pictures and trying to replicate the flow I have used in Photos, I'm realizing one key piece is missing. I've played around with it and sort of have the hang of how to select pictures in lighttable and how to edit them in darkroom.

I am looking for an alternative to Mac Photos and have stumbled upon darktable.

Darktable online