macOS command line utility to work with default apps.
You can use utiluti to inspect and modify default apps for url schemes and file types/uniform type identifiers (UTI).
utilutishould run as the current userwhen you attempt to set the default app for the
httpurl 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 usingutilutifor automation. You should wrap the script in some other UI to prepare the user for the dialog. (See macadmins/default-browser for an alternative solution)macOS connects the
httpandhttpsurl schemes and thepublic.htmlUTI. You can only set the default app forhttp. Then the default app forhttpsand thepublic.htmltype will be set to the same app. Attempting to change the default apps forhttpsorpublic.htmlindependently will result in an error.many commands require the bundle identifier to specify an app. You can determine an app's bundle identifier with
utilutiitself,mdls,osascript/AppleScript, or a GUI tool like 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 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 Uniform type identifiers (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 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 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 The manage verb reads multiple default app assignments from files or from user defaults/configuration profiles.
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.
Example (URL Schemes):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPEplist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plistversion="1.0"> <dict> <key>feed</key> <string>com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen</string> <key>mailto</key> <string>com.microsoft.Outlook</string> </dict> </plist>Example (UTIs):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPEplist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plistversion="1.0"> <dict> <key>com.apple.property-list</key> <string>com.fatcatsoftware.pledpro</string> <key>public.plain-text</key> <string>com.barebones.BBEdit</string> <key>public.shell-script</key> <string>com.barebones.BBEdit</string> </dict> </plist>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 version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPEplist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plistversion="1.0"> <dict> <key>PayloadContent</key> <array> <dict> <key>PayloadDisplayName</key> <string>Utiluti URL Schemes</string> <key>PayloadIdentifier</key> <string>com.scriptingosx.utiluti.url</string> <key>PayloadType</key> <string>com.scriptingosx.utiluti.url</string> <key>PayloadUUID</key> <string>C6BE539F-85CC-424B-BD10-6160A9B87507</string> <key>PayloadVersion</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>feed</key> <string>com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen</string> <key>mailto</key> <string>com.microsoft.Outlook</string> </dict> <dict> <key>PayloadDisplayName</key> <string>Utiluti UTIs</string> <key>PayloadIdentifier</key> <string>com.scriptingosx.utiluti.type</string> <key>PayloadType</key> <string>com.scriptingosx.utiluti.type</string> <key>PayloadUUID</key> <string>21078E7C-9C38-45F8-92C1-DFF7FBD77405</string> <key>PayloadVersion</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>com.apple.property-list</key> <string>com.fatcatsoftware.pledpro</string> <key>public.plain-text</key> <string>com.barebones.BBEdit</string> <key>public.shell-script</key> <string>com.barebones.BBEdit</string> </dict> </array> <key>PayloadDisplayName</key> <string>Utiluti</string> <key>PayloadIdentifier</key> <string>com.scriptingosx.utiluti</string> <key>PayloadScope</key> <string>System</string> <key>PayloadType</key> <string>Configuration</string> <key>PayloadUUID</key> <string>E0A43215-6114-413B-BB0B-1478AB79181B</string> <key>PayloadVersion</key> <integer>1</integer> </dict> </plist>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 
