launchd <Badge type="warning" text="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_calendar_interval = { hour = 2, minute = 0 }
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

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. start_calendar_interval accepts minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day (1-31), weekday (0-7), and month (1-12), and writes the corresponding launchd calendar keys. For multiple independent calendar schedules, use an array of inline tables:

start_calendar_interval = [{ hour = 3 }, { hour = 12, weekday = 1 }]

start_interval and start_calendar_interval are independent launchd triggers. If both are set, launchd can start the agent from either schedule.

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.