Running at startup: when to use a Login Item or a LaunchAgent/LaunchDaemon — by Howard Oakley (Eclectic Light Company)

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Compares Login Items with LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons: global ones in /Library load before any user logs in, per-user ones after login, and daemons have no window server access. The author favours launchd for background services and Login Items for apps with a UI.

Read the full article on eclecticlight.co

Source: Running at startup: when to use a Login Item or a LaunchAgent/LaunchDaemon by Howard Oakley (Eclectic Light Company). Licence: Link only (©).

Source reviewed: 2026-11-02
Link checked: 2026-11-02
Tested hands-on: Not by Oddbyte.Me

launchdlaunchdaemonlogin itemsmacos

More in Scheduling (Task Scheduler, launchd, cron)

Jack of all tasks: launchd, and how to run periodic tasks — by Howard Oakley (Eclectic Light Company)

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Older but useful explanation of launchd replacing cron on the Mac, the five folders where launch plists live, and the difference that agents can interact with the user session while daemons cannot. Suggests checking for legacy crontabs and mentions the Lingon X editor.

LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons: Closing the vulnerability — by Howard Oakley (Eclectic Light Company)

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Security-focused look at the LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons folders: where they are, which are SIP-protected under /System/Library and which are not, and why malware uses them to persist. Useful for knowing which launch folders to audit.

Run bash (.sh) via launchd using a plist in /Library/LaunchAgents — by VikingOSX and etresoft on Apple Community

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VikingOSX shows a working LaunchAgent for a shell script: plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents with 644 permissions, Label, RunAtLoad, StartInterval and full paths only. The original poster got theirs working after moving the script out of ~/Documents, and etresoft points to privacy permissions instead, noting shell scripts silently fail without Full Disk Access.