Service Management

Overview

Use Service Management to install and observe the permission settings of three supplemental helper executables that macOS supports. You can use all three of these to provide additional functionality related to your app, from inside your app’s bundle:

LoginItems

An app that launchd starts when the user logs in. A LoginItem is an app that continues running until the user logs out or manually quits. Its primary purpose is to enable the system to launch helper executables automatically

LaunchAgents

Processes that run on behalf of the currently logged-in user. launchd, a system-level process, manages Agents. Agents can communicate with other processes in the same user session and with system-wide daemons in the system context.

LaunchDaemons

A stand-alone background process that launchd manages on behalf of the user and which runs as root and may run before any users have logged on to the system. A daemon doesn’t interact with a user process directly; it can only respond to requests made by user processes in the form of a low-level request, such as a system request, for example XPC, low-level Interprocess Communications system.

Topics

Essentials

• Updating helper executables from earlier versions of macOS
• Updating your app package installer to use the new Service Management API

Management

• SMAppService
• SMJobBless(_:_:_:_:)
• Authorization Constants
• Property List Keys

Enablement

• SMLoginItemSetEnabled(_:_:)

Status

• SMAppService.Status

Errors

• Service Management Errors

Deprecated

• Deprecated Symbols

Variables

• SMAppServiceErrorDomain