macprefs

Export and keep track of changes to your preferences.

How to use

Usage: prefs-export [OPTIONS]

  Export preferences.

Options:
  -K, --deploy-key FILE           Key for pushing to Git repository.
  -c, --commit                    Commit the changes with Git.
  -d, --debug                     Enable debug logging.
  -o, --output-directory DIRECTORY
                                  Where to store the exported data.
  --help                          Show this message and exit.

prefs-export is the main utility. You can export preferences, generate a ~/.macos-like script, and store the results in a Git repository.

My primary usage is like so:

prefs-export -o ~/.config/defaults -c

About the generated shell script

A shell script named exec-defaults.sh will exist in the output directory. It may be executed, but is primarily for copying defaults commands for use in your actual ~/.macos file.

Filtered domains and keys

Certain domains are filtered because they generally do not have anything useful to preserve, such as com.apple.EmojiCache which only has a cache of Emoji usage data.

Some keys are filtered, as they contain values that often changing and non-useful values such as session IDs and UI state (e.g. QtUi.MainWin(Geometry|State|Pos|Size), NSStatusItem Preferred Position).

Automated usage

A command macprefs-install-job is included which will install a daily launchd job. The job name is sh.tat.macprefs

Usage: macprefs-install-job [OPTIONS]

  Job installer.

Options:
  -K, --deploy-key FILE           Key for pushing to Git repository.
  -o, --output-directory DIRECTORY
                                  Where to store the exported data.
  --help                          Show this message and exit.

If the output directory has a .git directory, a commit will be automatically made. Be aware that files will be added and removed automatically.

To stop this job permanently, run launchctl unload -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/sh.tat.macprefs.plist.

To uninstall this job, after stopping permanently, delete ~/Library/LaunchAgents/sh.tat.macprefs.plist.