macOS defaults¶

dotty ships a curated set of macOS defaults groups. They are applied as the last step of dotty init — either picked interactively from the wizard's checklist or named up front with --macos-defaults=<group,group> — and each group is individually selectable, so you only take the opinions you want. Your selections are stored in the profile's answers and offered as defaults the next time you run init.

There is currently no standalone re-apply command: to apply a group after the fact, re-run dotty init (stored answers make this quick) or run the defaults write commands below by hand.

Groups that change Finder, the Dock, or the menu bar restart the affected service (killall Finder, and so on) once after all writes; everything else takes effect immediately or at next login.

keyboard¶

Key repeat instead of the accent popup.

Domain	Key	Value
`NSGlobalDomain`	`ApplePressAndHoldEnabled`	`false`

Holding a key repeats it (the terminal-friendly behaviour) instead of opening the accented-character popup.

Always visible, except in full screen. Restarts SystemUIServer.

Domain	Key	Value
`NSGlobalDomain`	`_HIHideMenuBar`	`false`
`NSGlobalDomain`	`AppleMenuBarVisibleInFullscreen`	`false`
`com.apple.controlcenter`	`AutoHideMenuBarOption`	`2`

trackpad¶

Three-finger drag, and drag windows from anywhere with a gesture.

Domain	Key	Value
`com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad`	`TrackpadThreeFingerDrag`	`true`
`NSGlobalDomain`	`NSWindowShouldDragOnGesture`	`true`

finder¶

Clean desktop, path/status bars, no extension-change warnings. Restarts Finder.

Domain	Key	Value
`com.apple.TimeMachine`	`DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup`	`true`
`com.apple.finder`	`ShowExternalHardDrivesOnDesktop`	`false`
`com.apple.finder`	`ShowHardDrivesOnDesktop`	`false`
`com.apple.finder`	`ShowRemovableMediaOnDesktop`	`false`
`com.apple.finder`	`ShowMountedServersOnDesktop`	`false`
`com.apple.finder`	`CreateDesktop`	`false`
`com.apple.desktopservices`	`DSDontWriteNetworkStores`	`true`
`com.apple.finder`	`ShowPathbar`	`true`
`com.apple.finder`	`ShowStatusBar`	`true`
`com.apple.finder`	`FXEnableExtensionChangeWarning`	`false`

CreateDesktop false hides desktop icons entirely; files in ~/Desktop are untouched. DSDontWriteNetworkStores stops Finder littering network shares with .DS_Store files.

screenshots¶

Domain	Key	Value
`com.apple.screencapture`	`type`	`png`

software-update¶

Check for updates daily.

Domain	Key	Value
`com.apple.SoftwareUpdate`	`ScheduleFrequency`	`1`

spaces¶

Per-display Spaces that never rearrange themselves. Restarts Dock.

Domain	Key	Value
`com.apple.spaces`	`spans-displays`	`false`
`com.apple.dock`	`mru-spaces`	`false`

dock¶

Sizing and minimize-to-application. Restarts Dock.

Domain	Key	Value
`com.apple.dock`	`autohide`	`false`
`com.apple.dock`	`largesize`	`96`
`com.apple.dock`	`minimize-to-application`	`true`
`com.apple.dock`	`tilesize`	`48`

animations¶

Domain	Key	Value
`NSGlobalDomain`	`NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled`	`false`

gpg-keychain¶

Let GPG tools cache PINs in the macOS keychain (pairs with the pinentry-mac bridge described in Signing keys & first commit).

Domain	Key	Value
`org.gpgtools.common`	`UseKeychain`	`yes`
`org.gpgtools.common`	`DisableKeychain`	`no`

Smartcard enforcement (PIV)¶

Separate from the groups above, dotty init --piv (or the matching wizard question) enforces smart-card login system-wide. This one runs through sudo and prompts for your password on the terminal:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.smartcard enforceSmartCard -bool true
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.smartcard allowUnmappedUsers -int 1

Lockout risk

Once enforceSmartCard is set, macOS refuses password-only logins. Make sure a smart card (e.g. your YubiKey's PIV applet) is enrolled and working before enabling this, and keep a recovery path — a second enrolled key, or a way to boot into recovery and delete the preference:

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.smartcard enforceSmartCard

Wallpaper¶

When the wizard offers a wallpaper, it lists images from ~/.local/share/wallpapers (.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .heic, .tiff). dotty distributes no wallpapers — populate that directory from your own private repo. The selected image is applied to every desktop via osascript (System Events).

Undoing a group¶

Every write above is a plain user default (except PIV). To revert one, delete the key and restart the affected service:

defaults delete com.apple.dock tilesize
killall Dock

Deleting a key restores the macOS built-in default, not any value you had set before dotty ran.