macOS Automation Skill

Control macOS apps, windows, and system features via osascript through the Bash tool. All commands run AppleScript one-liners.

Permissions: Window management and UI scripting require Accessibility permission for Terminal/iTerm2 (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility). App control, volume, notifications, Spotify, browsers, Calendar, Reminders, and Finder work without it.

Window Management

Requires Accessibility permission

Get screen size

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to get bounds of window of desktop'
# Returns: 0, 0, 1920, 1080 (x1, y1, x2, y2)

Get window bounds

bash

# Frontmost app's front window
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell (first process whose frontmost is true) to get {position, size} of window 1'

# Specific app
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to get bounds of front window'

Move / resize

bash

# Set bounds: {x1, y1, x2, y2}
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to set bounds of front window to {0, 25, 960, 1080}'

# Using System Events (works for any app)
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari" to set position of window 1 to {100, 100}'
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari" to set size of window 1 to {800, 600}'

Tile left / right half

bash

# Left half (1920x1080 screen, 25px menu bar)
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to set bounds of front window to {0, 25, 960, 1080}'

# Right half
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to set bounds of front window to {960, 25, 1920, 1080}'

Dynamic tiling (auto-detect screen size)

bash

osascript -e '
tell application "Finder" to set screenBounds to bounds of window of desktop
set W to item 3 of screenBounds
set H to item 4 of screenBounds
tell application "Safari" to set bounds of front window to {0, 25, W / 2, H}
tell application "Google Chrome" to set bounds of front window to {W / 2, 25, W, H}
'

Minimize / restore

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to set miniaturized of window 1 to true'
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to set miniaturized of window 1 to false'

List all windows

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get {name, position, size} of every window of every process whose visible is true'

Focus a window by title

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to activate' -e 'tell application "Safari" to set index of window "Page Title" to 1'

App Management

Launch / activate (bring to front)

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to activate'

Quit

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to quit'

# Only if running
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to if it is running then quit'

Hide

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to set visible of process "Safari" to false'

List running GUI apps

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every process whose background only is false'

Check if app is running

bash

osascript -e 'application "Safari" is running'
# Returns: true / false

Get frontmost app

bash

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of first process whose frontmost is true'

System Controls

Volume

bash

# Get volume (0-100)
osascript -e 'output volume of (get volume settings)'

# Set volume
osascript -e 'set volume output volume 50'

# Mute / unmute
osascript -e 'set volume output muted true'
osascript -e 'set volume output muted false'

# Check mute status
osascript -e 'output muted of (get volume settings)'

Dark mode

bash

# Get status
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell appearance preferences to get dark mode'

# Toggle
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell appearance preferences to set dark mode to not dark mode'

# Set explicitly
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell appearance preferences to set dark mode to true'

Notifications

bash

# Simple
osascript -e 'display notification "Done!" with title "Agent" sound name "Glass"'

# With subtitle
osascript -e 'display notification "Build succeeded" with title "CI" subtitle "main branch" sound name "Purr"'

Dialog / alert (blocks until dismissed)

bash

# Alert
osascript -e 'display alert "Heads up" message "Deployment starting in 5 minutes"'

# Input dialog
osascript -e 'display dialog "Enter name:" default answer ""'
# Returns: button returned:OK, text returned:...

Spotify

Spotify must be running. These do NOT require Accessibility permission.

bash

# Play / pause / next / prev
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to playpause'
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to next track'
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to previous track'

# Current track info
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to get {name of current track, artist of current track, album of current track}'

# Player state: playing / paused / stopped
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to player state'

# Volume (0-100)
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to sound volume'
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to set sound volume to 60'

# Shuffle / repeat toggle
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to set shuffling to not shuffling'
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to set repeating to not repeating'

# Seek to position (seconds)
osascript -e 'tell application "Spotify" to set player position to 30'

Browser Control

Safari

bash

# Current tab URL / title
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to return URL of front document'
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to return name of front document'

# Open URL
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to open location "https://example.com"'

# List all tab URLs in front window
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to get URL of every tab of front window'

# Close current tab
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to close current tab of front window'

# Execute JavaScript
osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to do JavaScript "document.title" in front document'

Google Chrome

bash

# Current tab URL / title
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to return URL of active tab of front window'
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to return title of active tab of front window'

# Open URL
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to open location "https://example.com"'

# List all tab URLs in front window
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to get URL of every tab of front window'

# Close current tab
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to close active tab of front window'

# Execute JavaScript
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to execute active tab of front window javascript "document.title"'

Calendar

bash

# Get today's events from a calendar
osascript -e '
tell application "Calendar"
    set startDate to (current date)
    set time of startDate to 0
    set endDate to startDate + (1 * days)
    set evts to every event of calendar "Home" whose start date >= startDate and start date < endDate
    set output to {}
    repeat with e in evts
        set end of output to (summary of e) & " @ " & (start date of e as text)
    end repeat
    return output
end tell'

# Create event
osascript -e '
tell application "Calendar"
    tell calendar "Work"
        set startDate to date "Monday, January 15, 2026 at 2:00:00 PM"
        set endDate to startDate + (1 * hours)
        make new event at end with properties {summary:"Meeting", start date:startDate, end date:endDate}
    end tell
end tell'

# List calendar names
osascript -e 'tell application "Calendar" to get name of every calendar'

Reminders

bash

# Create reminder
osascript -e 'tell application "Reminders" to tell list "Reminders" to make new reminder with properties {name:"Buy groceries"}'

# Create with due date (tomorrow)
osascript -e 'tell application "Reminders" to tell list "Reminders" to make new reminder with properties {name:"Call dentist", due date:(current date) + (1 * days)}'

# List incomplete reminders
osascript -e 'tell application "Reminders" to get name of every reminder of list "Reminders" whose completed is false'

# Complete a reminder
osascript -e 'tell application "Reminders" to set completed of (first reminder of list "Reminders" whose name is "Buy groceries") to true'

# List reminder lists
osascript -e 'tell application "Reminders" to get name of every list'

Finder

bash

# Open folder
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to open (POSIX file "/Users/ishan/Documents")'

# Reveal file (select in Finder)
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to reveal (POSIX file "/Users/ishan/file.txt")' -e 'tell application "Finder" to activate'

# Get current Finder selection (POSIX paths)
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder"
    set sel to selection
    set paths to {}
    repeat with f in sel
        set end of paths to POSIX path of (f as alias)
    end repeat
    return paths
end tell'

# Get frontmost Finder window path
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to return POSIX path of (target of window 1 as alias)'

# Close all Finder windows
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to close every window'

Clipboard

Prefer pbcopy/pbpaste (faster, no permissions needed):

bash

# Read
pbpaste

# Write
echo "text" | pbcopy

# Via osascript (alternative)
osascript -e 'the clipboard as text'
osascript -e 'set the clipboard to "Hello"'

UI Scripting (System Events)

Requires Accessibility permission. Use as a last resort when apps lack native AppleScript support.

bash

# Click a menu item
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari" to click menu item "New Tab" of menu "File" of menu bar 1'

# Press keyboard shortcut
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "s" using command down'
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "n" using {command down, shift down}'

# Press special keys (Enter=36, Escape=53, Tab=48, Space=49)
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to key code 36'

# Fill text field
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari" to set value of text field 1 of window 1 to "hello"'

# List UI elements (for discovery)
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari" to get every UI element of window 1'

Workspace Presets

Combine commands for common layouts. Example — coding workspace on a 1920x1080 screen:

bash

# VS Code left 60%, browser right 40%
osascript -e '
tell application "Finder" to set sb to bounds of window of desktop
set W to item 3 of sb
set H to item 4 of sb
tell application "Code" to activate
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Code" to set position of window 1 to {0, 25}
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Code" to set size of window 1 to {W * 0.6, H - 25}
tell application "Safari" to activate
tell application "Safari" to set bounds of front window to {W * 0.6, 25, W, H}
'

Tips

•Quoting: Double-escape single quotes in bash: osascript -e 'tell app "Finder" to ...'
•Multi-line: Use multiple -e flags or a heredoc: osascript <<'EOF' ... EOF
•Errors: If an app isn't running, tell application "X" to activate will launch it first
•Performance: Batch commands in one osascript call with multiple tell blocks instead of calling osascript repeatedly
•Discovery: To find what an app supports: osascript -e 'tell application "AppName" to get properties' or check its scripting dictionary in Script Editor