macOS Defaults experimental

mise can declare macOS user defaults (preferences) in the [system.defaults] section of mise.toml and apply them with mise system install:

[system.defaults.NSGlobalDomain]
KeyRepeat = 2
InitialKeyRepeat = 15
ApplePressAndHoldEnabled = false

[system.defaults."com.apple.dock"]
autohide = true
tilesize = 48
orientation = "left"

[system.defaults."com.apple.finder"]
ShowPathbar = true
AppleShowAllFiles = true

Each [system.defaults."<domain>"] table holds the keys for one preferences domain — quote domains containing dots. Values map to the matching defaults write type:

TOML value	written as	example
boolean	-bool true/false	autohide = true
integer	-int <n>	tilesize = 48
float	-float <n>	scale = 1.5
string	-string <s>	orientation = "left"

Other plist shapes (arrays, dicts, dates, data) are not supported; entries using them parse fine but are skipped with a warning, so configs written for newer mise versions still work.

Semantics

[system.defaults] follows the same rules as [system.packages]:

• Declarative and additive — (domain, key) pairs merge across the config hierarchy (global → project) as a union; a more local config overrides the value of a pair the global config declared but cannot remove it. mise never deletes a default.
• OS-filtered — on anything other than macOS the section is inert: mise system status and mise doctor list the entries as skipped (so nothing is silently invisible) and mise system install ignores them, so a shared config authored for both Linux and macOS just works.
• Manual application only — mise never writes defaults implicitly; only mise system install does, after the usual confirmation prompt.
• Strictly typed — an existing value only counts as in sync when both the value and the plist type match: an integer 1 does not satisfy a configured true. mise system install converges it to the typed value.

User defaults are per-user, so unlike system packages no sudo is ever involved. Host-scoped preferences (defaults -currentHost) and sudo defaults system domains are not supported.

Commands

mise system status            # shows defaults drift next to package status
mise system status --missing  # exit 1 if anything is unset or differs

mise system install           # writes unset/differing defaults (prompts first)
mise system install --dry-run # print the `defaults write` commands instead
mise system install --yes     # skip the confirmation prompt

mise system status reports each entry as set (matches), differs (a value exists but doesn't match — the current value is shown), or unset. mise doctor summarizes the same drift.

Note that explicit package arguments and --manager scope mise system install to packages only — defaults are applied by the bare converge-everything form.

App restarts

Some applications only pick up changed defaults after a relaunch — mise prints a reminder after writing. The usual suspects:

killall Dock
killall Finder
killall SystemUIServer

mise deliberately does not kill applications itself.

Finding keys

To discover a setting's domain and key, change it in System Settings and diff the output of defaults read before and after, or read a domain directly:

defaults read com.apple.dock
defaults read-type com.apple.dock tilesize