LoginItemKit

Warning
With macOS 13, Apple introduced SMAppService and deprecated the Hide property.
Please use SMAppService or a wrapper like LaunchAtLogin-Modern for new projects.

A simple Swift package to add non-sandboxed macOS applications to user login items and to control their Hide property.

Overview

There are basically two ways to achieve Launch at Login functionality on macOS.

Let's compare LoginItemKit to the popular LaunchAtLogin package.

	LaunchAtLogin	LoginItemKit
Framework	ServiceManagement	LaunchServices
Deprecated	Partly (10.10)	Yes (10.11)
Sandbox support	Yes	No
SwiftPM support	Yes	Yes
Needs helper app & build script	Yes	No
Shows up in system preferences	No	Yes

So feel free to use this package in all your non-sandboxed apps and let's hope that Apple does not remove the LaunchServices API from future versions of macOS.

The Hide checkbox

Checking Hide can cause problems for applications using high values for NSWindow.Level, e.g. the tooltip windows in Swish. Version 2 of LoginItemKit allows you to read and write this property.

Installation

SwiftPM

.package(url: "https://github.com/chrenn/LoginItemKit", from: "2.0.0")

API

LoginItemKit exposes a tertiary .launchState enum for granular control as well as a simple .launchAtLogin boolean.

	launchState	launchAtLogin { get, set }
Not in Login Items	.none	false, false
In Login Items & Hide checked	.hide	true, -
In Login Items & Hide unchecked	.show	true, true

Usage

import LoginItemKit

print(LoginItemKit.launchState, LoginItemKit.launchAtLogin)
// → .none, false

LoginItemKit.launchAtLogin = true

print(LoginItemKit.launchState, LoginItemKit.launchAtLogin)
// → .show, true

LoginItemKit.launchState = .hide

print(LoginItemKit.launchState, LoginItemKit.launchAtLogin)
// → .hide, true

Resources

• LaunchAtLogin
• LoginServiceKit
• HWSensors3
• Marcos Crispino

Used by

• Swish