Mac System Configurator

Manage and apply Mac system settings with ease through a beautiful command-line interface.

Overview

This tool manages macOS system settings through configuration profiles. Create different profiles for different scenarios (Work, Home, Presentation, etc.) and switch between them effortlessly.

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💻 Command-Line Interface

A fully-featured terminal application with a beautiful Rich-powered UI.

Features

• ✅ Multiple configuration profiles
• ✅ JSON Schema-based settings validation
• ✅ Live system value comparison
• ✅ Rich terminal UI with tables and panels
• ✅ Generate AppleScript for startup execution
• ✅ Manage startup items, background apps, and system extensions
• ✅ Admin permission handling

Quick Start

# Install dependencies
pip3 install rich jsonschema

# Run the configurator
python3 python_app/mac_configurator.py

# Or create an alias for quick access
echo "alias cfg='python3 $(pwd)/python_app/mac_configurator.py'" >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
cfg

📖 Full CLI documentation →

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Available Settings

Comprehensive set of macOS settings:

🌐 Network

• WiFi enabled/disabled (requires admin)

🔊 Audio

• Input muted
• Output volume (0-100)

📱 Dock

• Auto-hide
• Position (left/bottom/right)

📁 Finder

• Show hidden files
• Show all file extensions

⚙️ System

• Screenshot save location

🚀 Startup Items

• Block/allow applications from launching at login

⏱️ Background Apps

• Control background app permissions

🔌 System Extensions

• Enable/disable system extensions
• Manage widgets, Safari extensions, Quick Look plugins, etc.

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Configuration

Configuration Directory

The app uses ~/MacConfigurator/ to store configuration profiles:

~/MacConfigurator/
├── Work_config.json
├── Home_config.json
├── Presentation_config.json
└── apply_Work_settings.scpt

Settings Schema

Settings are defined in shared/settings_schema.json using JSON Schema format for validation.

Configuration Format

Example Work_config.json:

{
  "settings": {
    "audio_output_volume": 50,
    "dock_position": "bottom",
    "dock_autohide": false,
    "wifi_enabled": true
  }
}

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Project Structure

mac_configurator/
├── python_app/              # Python CLI application
│   ├── mac_configurator.py  # Main CLI script
│   ├── README.md            # CLI documentation
│   └── screenshots/         # CLI interface examples
│
└── shared/                  # Shared resources
    └── settings_schema.json # Settings definitions

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Development

Adding New Settings

The schema-first approach:

1. Update shared/settings_schema.json

   {
     "your_setting_key": {
       "type": "boolean",
       "title": "Your Setting Name",
       "description": "What this setting does",
       "category": "CategoryName",
       "handler": "YourHandler",
       "requires_admin": false
     }
   }

2. Implement handler in Python

   • Add getter/setter methods
   • Register in handler map

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

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Requirements

• macOS
• Python 3.7+
• rich library
• jsonschema library

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License

View License

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Screenshots

The configurator features a beautiful, color-coded Rich terminal interface:

Main Menu

╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                   Mac System Configurator                      │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Config directory: ~/MacConfigurator

    Available
    Configurations

┌───┬─────────────┐
│ # │ Config Name │
├───┼─────────────┤
│ 1 │ Work        │
│ 2 │ Home        │
│ 3 │ Presentation│
└───┴─────────────┘

┌─────┬──────────────────────────────┐
│ [1] │ Edit Config (select number)  │
│     │ Create New Config            │
│     │ Delete a Config              │
│ [e] │ Exit                         │
└─────┴──────────────────────────────┘

Select option: ▌

Manage Settings - Category Selection

Manage Settings - Select Category

┌─────┬────────────────┐
│ [1] │ 🌐 Network     │
│ [2] │ 🔊 Audio       │
│ [3] │ 📱 Dock        │
│ [4] │ 📁 Finder      │
│ [5] │ ⚙️  System     │
└─────┴────────────────┘

Press Enter to return to main menu

Select category (): ▌

Categories are color-coded for easy identification.

Finder Settings View

Finder Settings

┌────────┬──────────────────────┬────────────┬─────────┬────────┐
│ Option │ Setting              │ Configured │ Current │ Status │
├────────┼──────────────────────┼────────────┼─────────┼────────┤
│ [1]    │ Show Hidden Files    │ False      │ False   │   ✓    │
│ [2]    │ Show All Extensions  │ True       │ True    │   ✓    │
└────────┴──────────────────────┴────────────┴─────────┴────────┘

Press Enter to return to category menu

Select setting to edit (): ▌

Settings display shows:

• Configured (Yellow) = Your configured values
• Current (Magenta) = Current actual system values
• ✓ = Matched (settings in sync)
• ⚠ = Mismatched (configured value differs from system)
• ○ = Not configured (using system defaults)
• 🔒 = Requires admin privileges

AppleScript Generation

┌───────────────────────┐
│ AppleScript Generated │
└───────────────────────┘

✓ Script saved to: ~/MacConfigurator/apply_Work_settings.scpt

To run manually:
  osascript ~/MacConfigurator/apply_Work_settings.scpt

To add to startup:
  1. Open System Settings > General > Login Items
  2. Click '+' under 'Open at Login'
  3. Select: ~/MacConfigurator/apply_Work_settings.scpt

Press Enter to continue...▌

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Roadmap

Completed ✅

• Core settings management
• Multiple profiles
• AppleScript generation
• Startup items management
• System extensions management

Future Enhancements

• Additional system settings
• Configuration import/export
• Settings templates
• Automated testing framework

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Made with ❤️ for macOS