Data

Tools

Indexes

Applications

Experiments

Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

https://github.com/scriptingosx/utiluti

A macOS command-line to work with default apps
https://github.com/scriptingosx/utiluti

command-line-tool default defaultapps macadmins macos terminal

Last synced: 3 months ago
JSON representation

A macOS command-line to work with default apps

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

          
# utiluti



macOS command line utility to work with default apps.



## What it does



You can use `utiluti` to inspect and modify default apps for url schemes and file types/uniform type identifiers (UTI).



## Important notes:



- `utiluti` should run as the current user



- when you attempt to set the default app for the `http` url scheme, macOS will prompt the user for confirmation. The user has the option to reject the change. The user must make a selection for the tool to continue. Consider this when using `utiluti` for automation. You should wrap the script in some other UI to prepare the user for the dialog.

  (See [macadmins/default-browser](https://github.com/macadmins/default-browser/tree/main) for an alternative solution)



- macOS connects the `http` and `https` url schemes and the `public.html` UTI. You can only set the default app for `http`. Then the default app for `https` and the `public.html` type will be set to the same app. Attempting to change the default apps for `https` or `public.html` independently will result in an error.



- many commands require the bundle identifier to specify an app. You can determine an app's bundle identifier with `utiluti` itself, `mdls`, `osascript`/AppleScript, or a GUI tool like [Apparency](https://www.mothersruin.com/software/Apparency/)



```

$ utiluti app id /Applications/Safari.app

com.apple.Safari

```



```

$ mdls -n kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier /Applications/Safari.app

kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier = "com.apple.Safari"

```



```

$ osascript -e 'id of app "Safari"'

com.apple.Safari

```



## URL schemes



URL schemes are the part of the URL before the colon `:` which identify which app or protocol to use. E.g. `http`, `mailto`, `ssh`, etc.



Get the current default app for a given url scheme:



```

$ utiluti url mailto          

/System/Applications/Mail.app

```



Use the `--bundle-id` flag to receive the app's bundle identifier instead:



```

$ utiluti url mailto --bundle-id     

com.apple.mail

```



List all apps registered for a given url scheme:



```

$ utiluti url list mailto          

/System/Applications/Mail.app

/Applications/Microsoft Outlook.app

```



Use the `--bundle-id` flag to receive the apps' bundle identifiers instead:



```

$ utiluti url list mailto --bundle-id 

com.apple.mail

com.microsoft.Outlook

```



Set the default app for a given URL scheme:



```

$ utiluti url set mailto com.microsoft.Outlook

set com.microsoft.Outlook for mailto

```



## File Type/Uniform Type Identifiers (UTI)



[Uniform type identifiers](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uniformtypeidentifiers/) (UTI) are how macOS maps file and mime types. `utiluti` uses UTIs. 



To get the UTI associated with a file extension, use `get-uti`:



```

$ utiluti get-uti txt            

public.plain-text

```



Get the default application for a UTI:



```

$ utiluti type public.plain-text

/System/Applications/TextEdit.app

```



List all applications registered for the given UTI:



```

$ utiluti type list public.plain-text

/System/Applications/TextEdit.app

/Applications/Numbers.app

/Applications/Pages.app

/System/Applications/Utilities/Script Editor.app

/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/App/System/Applications/Safari.app

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/Instruments.app

/Applications/Xcode.app

/System/Applications/Notes.app

```



Add the `--bundle-id` flag to receive bundle identifiers instead of paths.



Set the the default app for a given UTI:



```

$ utiluti type set public.plain-text com.barebones.bbedit

set com.barebones.bbedit for public.plain-text

```



## Getting an App's declarations and other information



`utiluti` can list the UTIs and url schemes an app has declared in their Info.plist:



List the URL schemes for a given app with `app schemes`:



```

$ utiluti app schemes com.apple.safari

http

https

file

x-safari-https

```



List the UTIs and file extensions for a given app with `app types`



```

$ utiluti app types com.apple.TextEdit

public.rtf

com.apple.rtfd

public.html

com.apple.webarchive

org.oasis-open.opendocument.text

org.openxmlformats.wordprocessingml.document

com.microsoft.word.wordml

com.microsoft.word.doc

public.text

public.plain-text

com.apple.traditional-mac-plain-text

public.data

```



Some apps declare file extensions instead of UTIs. In this case `utiluti` will prepend `file extension:`. If there is an associated UTI, it will be shown in parenthesis:



```

$ utiluti app types com.apple.safari

file extension: css (public.css)

file extension: pdf (com.adobe.pdf)

file extension: webarchive (com.apple.webarchive)

file extension: webbookmark (com.apple.safari.bookmark)

file extension: webhistory (com.apple.safari.history)

file extension: webloc (com.apple.web-internet-location)

file extension: download (com.apple.safari.download)

file extension: safariextz (com.apple.safari.extension)

file extension: gif (com.compuserve.gif)

file extension: html (public.html)

file extension: htm (public.html)

file extension: shtml (public.html)

file extension: jhtml

file extension: js (com.netscape.javascript-source)

file extension: jpg (public.jpeg)

file extension: jpeg (public.jpeg)

file extension: txt (public.plain-text)

file extension: text (public.plain-text)

file extension: png (public.png)

file extension: tiff (public.tiff)

file extension: tif (public.tiff)

file extension: url (com.microsoft.internet-shortcut)

file extension: ico (com.microsoft.ico)

file extension: xhtml (public.xhtml)

file extension: xht (public.xhtml)

file extension: xhtm (public.xhtml)

file extension: xht (public.xhtml)

file extension: xml (public.xml)

file extension: xbl

file extension: xsl (org.w3.xsl)

file extension: xslt (org.w3.xsl)

file extension: svg (public.svg-image)

file extension: avif (public.avif)

file extension: webp (org.webmproject.webp)

file extension: heic (public.heic)

file extension: jxl (public.jpeg-xl)

```



Show an app's bundle identifier:



```

$ utiluti app id /Applications/Safari.app

com.apple.Safari

```



Show an app's version:



```

$ utiluti app id /Applications/Safari.app

18.5

```



List paths to applications for a given bundle identifier: (note that the output might have multiple lines, when there are multiple copies of the app, or be empty when there are no apps matching the identifier)



```

$ utiluti app for-id com.apple.notes

/System/Applications/Notes.app

```



## Default app for specific files



macOS allows for a file to be assigned to an app different from the general default app for that file type. `utiluti` has the `file` verb to inspect or set the default app for a specific file.



Get the UTI for a given file:



```

$ utiluti file get-uti ReadMe.md

net.daringfireball.markdown

```



Get the app that will open the file when double-clicked:



```

$utiluti file app ReadMe.md

/System/Applications/TextEdit.app

```



List all apps that can open the file:



```

$ utiluti file list-apps ReadMe.md

/System/Applications/TextEdit.app

/Applications/Xcode.app

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/Instruments.app

/System/Applications/Notes.app

```



Set the default app for this file:



```

$ utiluti file set ReadMe.md com.apple.dt.xcode

set com.apple.dt.xcode for ReadMe.md

```



## Setting multiple defaults



The `manage` verb reads multiple default app assignments from files or from user defaults/configuration profiles.



### Reading from files



The file format is an XML Property list. You will need two separate files for assigning URL schemes (`--url-file`) and one for assigning file types/UTIs (`--type-file`).



The root object of the property list is a `dict`, each key will be the url scheme or UTI, respectively. The value is the application bundle identifier for the default app that should be set.



```

$ utiluti manage --type-file types.plist

set com.fatcatsoftware.pledpro for com.apple.property-list

set com.barebones.BBEdit for public.plain-text

set com.barebones.BBEdit for public.shell-script

```



```

$ utiluti manage --url-file urls.plist

set com.microsoft.Outlook for mailto

set com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen for feed

```



```

$ utiluti manage --type-file types.plist --url-file urls.plist

set com.fatcatsoftware.pledpro for com.apple.property-list

set com.barebones.BBEdit for public.plain-text

set com.barebones.BBEdit for public.shell-script

set com.microsoft.Outlook for mailto

set com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen for feed

```



You can have either the `--type-file` or the `--url-file` or both. When only file is given, `utiluti` will _not_ read additional settings from defaults.



**Note:** You can add a default app for the `http` url scheme this way, but it will show the user confirmation dialog when the default browser changes. See [the notes above](#important-notes).



Example (URL Schemes):



```xml



	feed

	com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen

	mailto

	com.microsoft.Outlook



```



Example (UTIs):



```xml



	com.apple.property-list

	com.fatcatsoftware.pledpro

	public.plain-text

	com.barebones.BBEdit

	public.shell-script

	com.barebones.BBEdit



```



### From defaults and managed preferences



For managed deployments, the settings can be read from a configuration profile.



```

$ utiluti manage

set com.fatcatsoftware.pledpro for com.apple.property-list

set com.barebones.BBEdit for public.plain-text

set com.barebones.BBEdit for public.shell-script

set com.microsoft.Outlook for mailto

set com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen for feed

```



Example (configuration profile):



```xml



	PayloadContent

	

		

			PayloadDisplayName

			Utiluti URL Schemes

			PayloadIdentifier

			com.scriptingosx.utiluti.url

			PayloadType

			com.scriptingosx.utiluti.url

			PayloadUUID

			C6BE539F-85CC-424B-BD10-6160A9B87507

			PayloadVersion

			1

			feed

			com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen

			mailto

			com.microsoft.Outlook

		

		

			PayloadDisplayName

			Utiluti UTIs

			PayloadIdentifier

			com.scriptingosx.utiluti.type

			PayloadType

			com.scriptingosx.utiluti.type

			PayloadUUID

			21078E7C-9C38-45F8-92C1-DFF7FBD77405

			PayloadVersion

			1

			com.apple.property-list

			com.fatcatsoftware.pledpro

			public.plain-text

			com.barebones.BBEdit

			public.shell-script

			com.barebones.BBEdit

		

	

	PayloadDisplayName

	Utiluti

	PayloadIdentifier

	com.scriptingosx.utiluti

	PayloadScope

	System

	PayloadType

	Configuration

	PayloadUUID

	E0A43215-6114-413B-BB0B-1478AB79181B

	PayloadVersion

	1



```



By default, `utiluti manage` will _ignore_ unmanaged defaults, i.e. defaults that come from local settings rather than configuration profiles. You can override this behavior with the `--include-unmanaged` option.



```

$ defaults write com.scriptingosx.utiluti.type net.daringfireball.markdown com.barebones.BBEdit

$ defaults read com.scriptingosx.utiluti.type

{

    "net.daringfireball.markdown" = "com.barebones.BBEdit";

}

$ utiluti manage --include-unmanaged

set com.fatcatsoftware.pledpro for com.apple.property-list

set com.barebones.BBEdit for net.daringfireball.markdown

set com.barebones.BBEdit for public.shell-script

set com.barebones.BBEdit for public.plain-text

set com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen for feed

set com.microsoft.Outlook for mailto

```