macOS launchd Automation Agent Skill

Configures, manages, and troubleshoots reliable scheduled background tasks on macOS using native launchd LaunchAgents.

Context cost
1.5k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
2 files · 6.1 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
not declarednone named by its author
Last change
—no release on file
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

在 macOS 上把一个本地命令/脚本做成可靠的定时任务(launchd LaunchAgent)。适用于用户要「每天定时跑某脚本/命令」「装个 cron 但在 mac 上」「定时任务没触发/没生效怎么排查」「一天要触发多次/多个时间点」「定时任务失败要弹通知」的场景。Turn a local command into a reliable macOS scheduled job via launchd LaunchAgent — plist authoring, multiple calendar triggers, load/reload with bootout+bootstrap, plutil validation, failure notifications, log redirection. 区别于跨机部署/容器 cron:本 skill 专管单台 mac 上给个人工具/脚本挂本地定时。

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

productivity

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md5.2 kB · preview
--- name: launchd-automation ---
6# macOS 本地定时任务(launchd)
7
8在 mac 上让一个命令按时自动跑,正确工具是 **launchd LaunchAgent**(不是 crontab——mac 上 cron 已废弃且不走登录环境)。本 skill 给一套能一次做对的完整工序:写 plist、多时间点触发、正确加载/重载、校验、失败可感知、日志留存。
9
10## 红线
11
12- LaunchAgent 只写用户自己的 ~/Library/LaunchAgents/,**不写任何 skill 目录或 shell 配置**。
13- plist 里的命令必须**自带完整环境**:launchd 不加载 .zshrc,PATH 要在命令里显式 export,否则 npm/node/自装二进制全部 command not found(最常见的"手动能跑、定时不跑"根因)。
14
15## plist 模板(每日单次触发)
16
17放到 ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.<you>.<job>.plist:
18
19```xml
20<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
21<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
22<plist version="1.0">
23<dict>
24 <key>Label</key><string>com.you.job</string>
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md296 words
Files2
Licencenot declared
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈110
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
1,415
on trigger
The instruction body and 1 supporting file, read only when the skill fires.
0.76%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 8% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

1.5k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Middling. Fine to keep on in a project where you use it weekly, worth unloading in one where you never do.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

2 files, 6.1 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md5.2 kB
  • README.md0.9 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 2 files you can review in full before installing.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# macOS launchd Automation · 1.5k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/macos-launchd-automation/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/macos-launchd-automation" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/macos-launchd-automation ] || { mv .claude/skills/macos-launchd-automation "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/macos-launchd-automation" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/macos-launchd-automation"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add letern1ty/macos-launchd-automation

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/macos-launchd-automation/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/macos-launchd-automation/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/macos-launchd-automation" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/macos-launchd-automation ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/macos-launchd-automation "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/macos-launchd-automation" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/macos-launchd-automation" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/macos-launchd-automation/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where. It appears as launchd-automation in Gemini CLI, Codex, Copilot and Grok (its own name); Claude Code lists it by the folder name, macos-launchd-automation.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Versionnot versioned
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referenceletern1ty/macos-launchd-automation

Versions

Its author publishes no version number, so there is nothing here to pin to: what you install is the folder as it stands today. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

Pinning

Nothing to pin to: this skill carries no version number of its own. What you install is what the folder holds on the day you install it.

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