PLATYPUS(1) General Commands Manual PLATYPUS(1)
NAME
platypus – create a macOS application bundle from a command line script.
SYNOPSIS
platypus [OPTIONS] scriptPath [destinationPath]
DESCRIPTION
platypus is the command line counterpart to the Platypus Mac application.
It creates a macOS application bundle from a command line script. See
https://sveinbjorn.org/platypus for details.
platypus defaults to creating application bundles, but can also create
Platypus profiles that are loadable by both the command line program and
the Platypus application.
If the scriptPath parameter is '-', script text is read from standard
input.
The following option flags are supported (parsed in the order in which
they are passed):
-O, --generate-profile
Create a profile document instead of creating an application bundle.
When this option is enabled, the "destinationPath" paramater (i.e.
the final argument to the program) should have a .platypus suffix.
If the string '-' is provided as destination path, the profile
property list XML will be dumped to STDOUT.
-P, --load-profile profilePath
Loads all settings from a Platypus profile document. It is still
necessary to specify a destination path for the application.
Subsequent arguments can override profile settings.
-a, --name appName
Specifies the name of the application. This is can be different
from the name of the .app bundle itself, and is displayed in the
application's menus, "About" window and Info.plist property list.
-o, --interface-type interfaceType
Specifies the application's interface type, which should be one of
the following:
'None' The application does not display any user interface except
for Dock icon & menu.
'Progress Bar' The application displays a progress bar while
running.
'Text Window' The application displays a window with a text field
with all script output.
'Web View' The application displays a window with a web view which
renders script output as HTML.
'Status Menu' The application displays a status menu item in the
menubar which runs the script and displays its output when clicked.
'Droplet' The application displays a droplet window for dropping
files on for processing by the script.
The default interface type is 'Text Window'.
-i, --app-icon iconPath
Specifies a file to use as the icon for the application bundle. The
file must be an Apple .icns file. If not specified, the default
Platypus app icon will be used. If specified, but left empty (''),
no application icon will be set for the app.
-Q, --document-icon iconPath
Specifies a file to use as icon for the application's documents.
Must be an Apple .icns file.
-p, --interpreter interpreterPath
Sets script interpreter (e.g. /usr/bin/python or /bin/sh). If the
interpreter is not specified, the command line tool will try to
guess the correct interpreter. If this fails, the default shell
interpreter /bin/sh is used.
-V, --app-version version
Sets the application bundle's version. This is displayed in the
Info.plist property list and About window.
-u, --author authorName
Sets the name of the application author (e.g. "Apple Computer" or
"John Smith"). If not specified, this defaults to the current
user's full user name.
-f, --bundled-file filePath
Specifies a file to be bundled with the application. The file will
be copied over to the Resources folder of the application bundle,
which is the same folder in which the script runs. Any number of
files can be bundled in this way.
-I, --bundle-identifier bundleIdentifier
Sets the application's bundle identifier. An application identifier
is a reverse DNS name (e.g. com.apple.iTunes) that uniquely
identifies the application. If this option is left empty, it will
default to an identifier of the format "org.username.appname" (e.g.
org.sveinbjorn.Platypus).
-A, --admin-privileges
This flag makes the application request administrator privileges via
Apple's Security Framework (i.e. prompt for a password) and then
executes the script with those privileges. For details on the nature
of these privileges, see the Apple documentation for the
AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges() in Security.framework. This is
not strictly equivalent to running as root.
-D, --droppable
Makes the application droppable, i.e. capable of receiving dragged
and dropped files as arguments to the script. The application
bundle's property list is modified so that it can receive dropped
files in the Dock and Finder. These files are then passed on to the
script as arguments.
-F, --text-droppable
Makes the application text droppable, i.e. makes it accept dragged
text snippets, which are then passed to script via STDIN.
-N, --service
Makes the app register as a Dynamic Service accessible from the
Services application submenu.
-B, --background
This option causes the application to run in the background so its
icon will not appear in the Dock. This is done by registering the
application with LaunchServices as a user interface element
(LSUIElement).
-R, --quit-after-execution
This option makes the application quit once the script has been
executed.
-X, --suffixes suffixes
Only relevant if the application accepts dropped files. This flag
specifies the file suffixes (e.g. .txt, .wav) that the application
can open. This should be a |-separated string (e.g. "txt|wav|jpg").
-T, --uniform-type-identifiers utis
Only relevant if the application accepts dropped files. This flag
specifies the Uniform Type Identifiers (UTIs) that the application
can open. This should be a |-separated string (e.g.
"public.item|public.folder"). Suffixes are ignored if this flag is
used.
-U, --uri-schemes schemes
Set application as handler for URI schemes. These can be either
standard URI schemes such as http or custom URI schemes of your
choice. See documentation for details. Multiple items should be a
|-separated string (e.g. "ftp|myscheme|someotherscheme").
-Z, --file-prompt
Show an Open File dialog when the application launches.
-G, --interpreter-args arguments
Arguments for the script interpreter. These should be specified as
a |-separated string (e.g. '-w|-s|-l').
-C, --script-args arguments
Arguments for the script. These should be specified as a
|-separated string (e.g. '-w|-s|-l').
-b, --text-background-color hexColor
Set background color of text (e.g. #ffffff).
-g, --text-foreground-color hexColor
Set foreground color of text (e.g. #000000).
-n, --text-font fontName
Set font and font size for text view (e.g. 'Monaco 10').
-K, --status-item-kind kind
For Status Menu interface type only. Set display kind for Status
Menu interface type. This can be "Text" or "Icon".
-Y, --status-item-title title
For Status Menu interface type only. Set the display title for the
status item in Status Menu interface type.
-L, --status-item-icon imagePath
For Status Menu interface type only. Set the icon image for the
status item in Status Menu interface type. Must be an image file in
one of the formats supported by the Cocoa APIs (e.g. PNG, JPEG, TIFF
etc.)
-c, --status-item-sysfont
For Status Menu interface type only. Makes menu use system font
instead of user-defined styling.
-d, --symlink
A symlink to the original script is created inside the application
bundle instead of copying the script over. Symlinks are also created
to any bundled files.
-l, --optimize-nib
Strip the bundled application nib file to reduce its size. Makes the
nib uneditable. Only works if Apple's Xcode is installed.
-y, --overwrite
Overwrite any pre-existing files or folders in destination path.
-v, --version
Print the version of this program
-h, --help
Print help and usage string
Exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
FILES
/opt/local/bin/platypus program binary
/opt/local/share/platypus/ScriptExec executable binary
/opt/local/share/platypus/MainMenu.nib nib file for app
/opt/local/share/platypus/PlatypusDefault.icns default icon
EXAMPLES
platypus -P myProfile.platypus ~/Desktop/MyApplication.app
platypus -o 'Text Window' script.pl PerlScript.app
platypus -a 'My App' -p /usr/bin/python myPythonScript.py
platypus -D -a MyDroplet -o 'Droplet' ~/droplet.sh
AUTHORS
Sveinbjorn Thordarson <sveinbjorn@sveinbjorn.org>
Darwin January 18, 2022 Darwin