🍎 defaults-rs

Open-source interface to a user's defaults on macOS

Key Features

• Read, write, delete, rename, import/export, and inspect preferences.
• Supports user/global/path domains.
• Supports all plist value types (API).
• Pretty-printing and better logging than the original defaults tool.
• Dynamically chooses between XML and binary PLIST data formats.
• Extremely small (<1.5k LOC).

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• Rust API Usage
• Why defaults-rs
• Contributing
• License

Installation

Using brew:

$ brew install hitblast/tap/drs

Using cargo:

$ cargo install defaults-rs

Using mise:

# NOTE: This will compile the binary for your system.
$ mise use -g cargo:defaults-rs

Usage

The CLI command is drs. It closely mimics the original defaults tool.

Read a key (domain or path)

$ drs read com.apple.dock tilesize
$ drs read ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist tilesize
$ drs read com.apple.dock.plist tilesize   # if file exists, treated as path; else as domain

Write a key

$ drs write com.apple.dock tilesize -i 48
$ drs write com.apple.dock tilesize --int 48
$ drs write ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist tilesize --int 48

Delete a key

$ drs delete com.apple.dock tilesize
$ drs delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist tilesize

Read the whole domain

$ drs read com.apple.dock
$ drs read ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist

List all entries in all domains containing word

$ drs find <word>

View / fuzzy-read domains

$ drs domains

# disable fuzzy-searching with the -n/--no-fuzzy flag
$ drs domains -n

Use the global domain

$ drs read -g com.apple.keyboard.fnState
$ drs write -g InitialKeyRepeat --int 25

Read the type of a key

$ drs read-type com.apple.dock tilesize

Rename a key

$ drs rename com.apple.dock oldKey newKey
$ drs rename ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist oldKey newKey

Import/export a domain

$ drs import com.apple.dock ./mysettings.plist
$ drs export com.apple.dock ./backup.plist

Rust API Usage

In order to use the Rust API for defaults-rs, run this command in your project directory:

$ cargo add defaults-rs --no-default-features

Please refer to the API reference for more information about all the available functions.

For examples, check out: examples/

Why defaults-rs

literally a personal take section, but here you go if you wanna listen to some yapping:

defaults-rs was initially made with the necessity of a thin wrapper around the CoreFoundation APIs which are responsible for storing a user's defaults. Now, it also serves as a backend for directly interfering with system preferences in the cutler project.

Contributing

New pull requests and issues are always welcome. Please read the contribution guidelines for more information about certain parts of the codebase and/or how to form a structured pull request.

License

This project has been licensed under the MIT License.