dooti 0.1.1

Manages default file and URL scheme handlers on macOS 12.0+

Set default handlers for files and URL schemes on MacOS 12.0+.

Why?

Most existing tools use LSSetDefaultRoleHandlerForContentType and LSSetDefaultHandlerForURLScheme, which are deprecated and apparently only available up to macOS 12.0. dooti uses a different API and should work on Monterey (12.0) and above.

Limitations

• This tool was built out of necessity for myself and is not battle-tested.

• The designated handler has to be installed before running the command for this to work at all.

• Setting some URL scheme handlers (especially for http) might cause a prompt.

• Setting some file extension handlers might be restricted (especially html seems to fail silently).

Installation

I recommend installing with pipx, although pip will work fine as well:

pipx install dooti

Quickstart

dooti currently supports three commands:

ext

specify handlers for file extensions (will be automapped to associated UTI)

scheme

specify handlers for URL schemes

uti

specify handlers for specific UTI

Positional arguments are always the target file extension(s) / URL scheme(s) / UTI(s). This allows you to inspect the current handlers for the specific target(s):

$ dooti ext html xml
html: /Applications/Firefox.app
xml: /Applications/Sublime Text.app
$ dooti scheme http https ftp
ftp: /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app
http: /Applications/Firefox.app
https: /Applications/Firefox.app
$ dooti uti public.html
public.html: /Applications/Firefox.app

Changing the default handler can be requested by specifying -x <handler ref>/--handler <handler_ref>. The following formats for <handler_ref> are supported:

• name of application:

  dooti ext csv py -x "Sublime Text"

• absolute filesystem path:

  dooti scheme http -x "/Applications/Firefox.app"

• bundle ID

  dooti uti public.python-script -x com.sublimetext.4

Similar tools

• duti

• openwith

• defaultbrowser

• SwiftDefaultApps

Todo

• support dotfiles