macOS - Programmatically add an application persistent to the Dock - MacOS X Software

RE: macOS - Programmatically add an application persistent to the Dock

Hans — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 09:24:02 +0000

Thank you for posting an alternative - it is much appreciated! 👍

As much as I do appreciate suggestions that work - this one may not be useful for those who want to use this to install their self-developed application. Most regular users will not have HomeBrew installed, and as a developer I can and will not expect this from a user either.

On that note: as a developer I do not even have HomeBrew installed, just to avoid that I overlook certain HomeBrew dependencies.

macOS - Programmatically add an application persistent to the Dock

Hans — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 12:36:52 +0000

A friend was looking for a way to programmatically add an application to the Dock.
Couldn't find a proper API for it (probably does exist, suggestions are welcome), but the following shell script did the trick (using Xcode as an example):

#!/bin/bash
myapp="//Applications//Xcode.app"

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add "tile-datafile-data_CFURLString$myapp_CFURLStringType0"

osascript -e 'tell application "Dock" to quit'
osascript -e 'tell application "Dock" to activate’

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