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30 words + 34 lines of code
Published 11 May 2025
Last updated 30 June 2025

Table of contents

launchd cheatsheet

$ launchctl unload path/to/plist
$ launchctl load path/to/plist
$ launchctl start com.my.job.name
$ launchctl list | grep <myjobname>

launchd will send a SIGTERM signal to the process, e.g. when launchctl unload is called.

Sample job file

Place in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.iafisher.kg.jobserver.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.iafisher.kg.jobserver</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/Users/iafisher/.kg/bin/kg2</string>
            <string>jobs</string>
            <string>daemon</string>
            <string>start</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
        <key>KeepAlive</key>
        <true/>
        <key>StandardOutPath</key>
        <string>/Users/iafisher/.kg/apps/jobserver/stdout</string>
        <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
        <string>/Users/iafisher/.kg/apps/jobserver/stderr</string>
        <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
        <string>/Users/iafisher/.kg/apps/jobserver</string>
        <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
        <dict>
            <key>PYTHONPATH</key>
            <string>:</string>
        </dict>
    </dict>
</plist>

See also