Dooti overview

Manage default handlers for files and URI schemes on MacOS 12.0+.

Features

• Manage handlers by specifying file extension, UTI or URI scheme.
• Specify handlers by name, bundle ID or absolute path.
• Check your associations into a dotfiles repository and ensure an idempotent state by simply running dooti apply.

Installation

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

pipx install dooti

Quickstart

dooti currently supports three specific subcommands (ext, scheme, uti) and a broad one (apply).

Lookup handlers

Simply pass a list of one specific type to the appropriate command. Example:

$ dooti ext html xml
html: /Applications/Firefox.app
xml: /Applications/Sublime Text.app

$ dooti --format json scheme http https ftp | jq
{
  "http": "/Applications/Firefox.app",
  "https": "/Applications/Firefox.app",
  "ftp": "/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app"
}

$ dooti uti public.html
public.html: /Applications/Firefox.app

Set handlers

Changing the default handler can be requested by adding -x <handler_ref> to the lookup command. The handler reference can be a name, bundle ID or absolute filesystem path. Example:

$ dooti ext csv xml -x "Sublime Text"
The following extensions are set to be changed:
csv: /Applications/Numbers.app -> /Applications/Sublime Text.app
xml: /Applications/Firefox.app -> /Applications/Sublime Text.app

$ dooti scheme ftp -x /Applications/Firefox.app
The following scheme is set to be changed:
ftp: /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app -> /Applications/Firefox.app

$ dooti -tf json uti public.c-source -x com.sublimetext.4
{"changes": {"utis": {"public.c-source": {"from": "/Applications/Notes.app", "to": "/Applications/Sublime Text.app"}}}, "errors": []}

Ensure state

dooti can ingest and apply a YAML configuration like this:

ext:
  jpeg: Preview

scheme:
  http: Firefox
  mailto: Mail

uti:
  public.c‑source: Sublime Text

app:
  Sublime Text:
    ext:
      - py
      - rst
      - yml
      - yaml
    uti:
      - public.fortran‑source

  Brave Browser:
    scheme:
      - ipfs

By default, it looks at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/dooti/config.yaml (and others, see docs/usage.rst).

Limitations

• The designated handler has to be installed before running the command.
• Setting some URI scheme handlers (especially for http) might cause a prompt.
• Setting some file extension handlers might be restricted (especially html seems to fail silently).

Why?

Most existing tools use LSSetDefaultRoleHandlerForContentType and LSSetDefaultHandlerForURLScheme, which are deprecated in macOS 12.0. dooti uses a more recent API and should work on Monterey (12.0) and above.

Similar tools

• duti
• openwith
• defaultbrowser
• SwiftDefaultApps