launchd experimental

mise can declare macOS user LaunchAgents in [bootstrap.macos.launchd.agents] and apply them with mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents apply:

[bootstrap.macos.launchd.agents.my-sync]
program = "~/.local/bin/my-sync"
args = ["--watch"]
run_at_load = true
start_interval = 300
environment = { PATH = "/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/bin:/bin" }
working_directory = "~"
stdout_path = "~/Library/Logs/my-sync.log"
stderr_path = "~/Library/Logs/my-sync.err.log"

Each agent is written to ~/Library/LaunchAgents/dev.mise.<name>.plist and loaded with launchctl bootstrap gui/$UID ~/Library/LaunchAgents/dev.mise.<name>.plist. Agent names may contain letters, numbers, ., _, and -. mise owns only the plist files it creates with the dev.mise. label prefix.

Supported keys

TOML key	launchd key
program	ProgramArguments[0]
args	ProgramArguments[1..]
run_at_load	RunAtLoad
keep_alive	KeepAlive
start_interval	StartInterval
environment	EnvironmentVariables
working_directory	WorkingDirectory
stdout_path	StandardOutPath
stderr_path	StandardErrorPath
kickstart	run launchctl kickstart

program, working_directory, stdout_path, and stderr_path expand bare ~ and ~/ to the current user's home directory before writing the plist. args are passed through exactly as written.

Semantics

• Declarative and additive — agent names merge across the config hierarchy (global → project). A more local config replaces the full declaration for the same agent name.
• macOS-only — on other platforms the section is inert: mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents status lists entries as skipped and mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents apply ignores them.
• Manual application only — mise never writes or loads LaunchAgents implicitly; only mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents apply and mise bootstrap do.
• User agents only — mise writes to ~/Library/LaunchAgents. System daemons in /Library/LaunchDaemons are not supported.

Commands

mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents status            # shows LaunchAgent state
mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents status --json     # machine-readable
mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents status --missing  # exit 1 if any agent is missing, changed, or unloaded

mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents apply           # write and load missing/changed agents
mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents apply --dry-run # print the commands without running them
mise bootstrap macos launchd-agents apply --yes     # skip the confirmation prompt

status reports each agent as loaded, unloaded, differs, or missing. apply rewrites changed plists, unloads the old job if present, loads the new job, enables it, and runs kickstart only when kickstart = true.