handle macOS TCC Automation (AppleEvents) permission prompts and reset authorization state when scripting cross-app control via osascript
domain: developer.apple.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
The first osascript run that sends an Apple Event to another app (e.g., `tell application "Finder"`) triggers a one-time TCC Automation permission dialog for the sending app.
If the script runs non-interactively with no user present to click Allow, the Apple Event is denied instead of prompting.
Reset a stuck or denied grant with `tccutil reset AppleEvents <bundle-id-of-sending-app>` to force the dialog to reappear on the next run.
Reset all Automation grants system-wide during testing with `tccutil reset AppleEvents` (no bundle id), which re-prompts every app pairing.
Pre-grant permission ahead of unattended runs by triggering the target script once interactively so a user can click Allow before it's scheduled via launchd/cron.
Known gotchas
tccutil requires the exact bundle identifier of the sending process, not the target app; resetting the wrong bundle id has no effect.
Automation permissions are pairwise (sender to target); resetting one pairing doesn't clear other app pairings for the same sender.
Scripts invoked from launchd/cron without an active GUI session never get the permission dialog, so the Apple Event fails until granted interactively at least once.
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