launchd, LaunchServices, RunningBoard, TCC, CFPrefsd, and other macOS services that manage and control your apps.
launchd
Current apps may need to install helper files in the main Library folder for Background Items. Ventura’s new scheme keeps everything in the app bundle.
Login Items can cause many unwanted notifications when you log in. Here’s how to gain control over them, including use of an undocumented command tool.
While macOS uses DAS-CTS to schedule hundreds of background activities, third-parties normally use launchd. Comes with a full diagram explaining DAS-CTS.
How macOS schedules tasks like making automatic Time Machine backups, from property list to transactions between DAS and CTS.
The story of how Mac OS X went from cron, to launchd, and ended up with Duet Activity Scheduler, to schedule background activities like backups.
Four popular and straightforward ways to set your Mac to run an app or other software when it starts up. Includes AppleScript code.
How to set your Mac to run scripts, apps and other software automatically, and at regular intervals, using launchd and a property list.
Prior to 10.4, Mac OS X used cron, then scheduling became part of the job of launchd. Later Apple added a new subsystem, Duet Activity Scheduler, which continues to evolve.
What does it take for an app to have ‘activities’ managed for efficiency by CTS? Not a lot – but in return, the management is a black box.
The Eclectic Light Company 