os-integrations

macOS integrations

A Mac app is a set of entry points around the system, not one window. This skill picks the API for each entry point and the permission it costs. Code for every row is in recipes.md.

Pick the API

Want	API	Permission
Global shortcut (key combo)	Carbon RegisterEventHotKey	None
Hold-to-show (hold Option, press Tab) or key remapping	CGEvent.tapCreate event tap	Accessibility
Watch keys without changing them (keystroke overlay)	Listen-only event tap	Input Monitoring (CGRequestListenEventAccess)
List other apps' windows	CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo	None (titles need Screen Recording)
Menu bar item	MenuBarExtra (SwiftUI) or NSStatusItem	None
Live status in the menu bar (a timer, a sync)	MenuBarExtra with a changing label. Live Activities on a Mac only mirror a paired iPhone	None
Desktop and Notification Center widgets	WidgetKit extension target (Xcode build, like App Intents)	None
Find the app's content in Spotlight	Core Spotlight CSSearchableIndex	None
Preview the app's own file type in Finder (Space)	Quick Look preview extension	None
Menu-bar-only app, no Dock icon	LSUIElement = YES in Info.plist	None
Spotlight-style panel that keeps the other app in front	NSPanel with .nonactivatingPanel	None
Move and resize other apps' windows	AXUIElement (kAXPositionAttribute, kAXSizeAttribute)	Accessibility
Paste into the front app	Write NSPasteboard, then post Command-V with CGEvent	Accessibility
Screenshot	ScreenCaptureKit SCScreenshotManager	Screen Recording
Window thumbnails	SCScreenshotManager with an SCContentFilter per window	Screen Recording
Screen recording to MP4	SCStream + SCRecordingOutput (AVAssetWriter when you edit frames)	Screen Recording, Microphone
Clipboard history	Poll NSPasteboard.general.changeCount	None
Text in images	Vision RecognizeTextRequest	None
Launch at login	SMAppService.mainApp.register()	User approves once
Links from scripts, Stream Deck, Raycast	CFBundleURLTypes + .onOpenURL	None
Shortcuts app and Spotlight actions	AppIntent (App Shortcuts are not supported on macOS). A result or confirmation view is a snippet	None
Agent or script reads and changes data	The app binary as a CLI, talking to the running app (agent-cli skill)	None
A CLI that writes plain files or its own SQLite tells the app to reload	Darwin notification (notify_post)	None
Keep the Mac awake	IOPMAssertionCreateWithName	None
System stats	host_statistics64, proc_pid_rusage, IOPSCopyPowerSourcesInfo	None
Audio devices	CoreAudio AudioObjectGetPropertyData	None
Toggle dark mode and other system settings	Apple Events to System Events	Automation
Notifications	UNUserNotificationCenter	User approves once
Dock menu	applicationDockMenu(_:) in the app delegate	None
Services and Share menu	NSServices in Info.plist, ShareLink	None

Prefer the row with no permission when two rows solve the same job.

Permissions

• Ask at the moment of use. Explain in one line what breaks without it. The exception: an app whose core job needs the permission (a window manager needs Accessibility) shows its permissions page on first launch.
• Show the state of every permission on one Settings page, with a button that opens the right pane: x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.security?Privacy_Accessibility (or Privacy_ScreenCapture, Privacy_AllFiles).
• The user grants it in System Settings, and nothing calls your app back. Check every 1 to 2 seconds while a permission is missing or a view that shows it is open. Otherwise check every 20 seconds, with a timer tolerance. Check once more right when such a view opens.
• Every NS...UsageDescription key (camera, microphone, Apple Events) must be in Info.plist before the first request, or the app crashes.

Menu bar items, widgets, and snippets

• A menu bar item shows a menu, unless the feature is too complex for one. Its icon is a template image (an SF Symbol works). People can turn it off in Settings, and nothing is reachable only through it: the Dock menu and the main window offer the same actions. MenuBarExtra already works with keyboard navigation; an NSStatusItem that opens a custom window must too (WWDC26-289).
• A widget shows one idea from the app's purpose, with content that changes through the day. Sizes small, medium, large, and extra large. On the desktop it renders vibrant and nearly gray, so it must read without color. Standard margins 16 pt. A click deep-links to the exact place; buttons and toggles in it run App Intents. Never a whole app squeezed into a widget.
• A snippet is the view an App Intent shows in Spotlight, Siri, or Shortcuts: a result (with Done) or a confirmation (Cancel plus a button that names the action, never "OK"). At most 400 pt tall, readable in light and dark, and clear without the spoken text.
• Badge the Dock icon only with a count of unread notifications.

Signing keeps grants

macOS stores Accessibility and Screen Recording grants per code signature and path. To keep them across rebuilds:

• Sign with one stable "Apple Development" certificate. Ad hoc signing asks again after every build.
• Install to the same path every time (/Applications/<App>.app or ~/Applications/<App>.app).
• No App Sandbox for apps that use Accessibility, event taps, or other apps' windows. The sandbox blocks them.
• After an install, refresh Launch Services so the Dock shows the new icon: lsregister -f -R -trusted /Applications/<App>.app (the tool lives in /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/).

If a grant looks on but the API fails, the signature changed. Remove the app from the list in System Settings, add it again, restart the app.

Make every feature reachable three ways

Each feature gets: a menu item with a shortcut, a URL (<app>://action/<name>), and an App Intent. The same action enum backs all three, so a new action shows up everywhere at once. App Intent enum titles must be literals, so they can drift from menu titles: add a self-test check that they match. The URL also lets test-mac-app drive the feature from a script.

Done when every entry point in the brief's "System hooks" works from a clean install, and Settings shows the state of every permission it needs.