macOS System Settings Backup

This project contains a bash script that automatically backs up various system settings and application configurations on macOS. It's designed to run periodically, creating a snapshot of your system configuration that can be used for backup purposes or to replicate your setup on a new machine.

Features

• Backs up system preferences using defaults command
• Captures installed applications from /Applications
• Lists Homebrew packages and Mac App Store apps
• Saves extensions for Cursor, VSCode, and VSCodium
• Backs up settings for:
  • Alfred (preferences and workflows)
  • Boop (user scripts and preferences)
  • Hazel (rules and preferences)
  • iTerm2 (preferences)
  • Oh My Zsh (custom themes, plugins, and .zshrc)
  • PrusaSlicer (profiles and configurations)
• Captures user LaunchAgents
• Optional automatic Git backup of settings

Usage

1. Clone this repository to your local machine.
2. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x mac-settings.sh
   chmod +x git-backup.sh
   

3. Run the script manually:

   ./mac-settings.sh
   

Automatic Execution with Cron

To run the script automatically every 15 minutes:

1. Open your terminal and edit your crontab:

   crontab -e
   

2. Add the following line to run the script every 15 minutes:

   */15 * * * * /path/to/your/mac-settings.sh
   

   Replace /path/to/your/ with the actual path to the script on your system.

3. Save and exit the editor.

Note: Ensure that your terminal app has Full Disk Access in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy to allow cron to access all necessary files.

Output

The script creates a directory structure parallel to its own directory:

parent_directory/
├── mac-settings/
│   ├── README.md
│   ├── .gitignore
│   ├── LICENSE
│   ├── git-backup.sh
│   └── mac-settings.sh
└── mac-settings-backups/
    └── [hostname]/
        ├── [hostname]-mac-settings.sh
        ├── installed_apps.txt
        ├── brew_packages.txt
        ├── mas_apps.txt
        ├── cursor_extensions.txt
        ├── vscode_extensions.txt
        ├── vscodium_extensions.txt
        └── [Application directories]

Each run of the script updates the files in the mac-settings-backups/[hostname] directory, where [hostname] is replaced by the actual hostname of the machine running the script.

Customization

You can modify the mac-settings.sh script to add or remove applications and settings according to your needs. At the top of the script, you'll find user-configurable variables:

• BASE_OUTPUT_DIR: The directory where backups will be stored.
• APPS_TO_BACKUP: An array of application names to backup.
• BREW_BIN: The Homebrew binary name (useful for different Mac architectures).

Adjust these variables as needed for your specific setup.

Automatic Git Backup

The project includes an optional feature to automatically commit and push changes to a Git repository after each run of the main script. This allows you to keep a version-controlled backup of settings from multiple devices in a single repository.

The git-backup.sh script uses the same configuration variables as mac-settings.sh, ensuring consistency between the scripts.

To set up and use this feature:

1. Initialize a Git repository in the mac-settings-backups/ directory:

   cd ../mac-settings-backups
   git init
   git add .
   git commit -m "Initial commit"
   

2. Set up a remote repository (e.g., on GitHub) and add it to your local repository:

   git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/mac-settings-backups.git
   git push -u origin main
   

3. Configure your Git credentials for the repository.

4. Open mac-settings.sh and uncomment the following line at the end of the file:

   # ./git-backup.sh

5. Now, every time you run mac-settings.sh, it will automatically commit and push the changes to your Git repository, including backups from all devices.

To disable the automatic Git backup, simply comment out the line again:

# # ./git-backup.sh

Note: Be cautious about pushing sensitive information to a remote repository. Review the contents of your backups and consider using a private repository or implementing additional security measures if necessary.

Contributing

Contributions to improve the script or add support for additional applications are welcome. Please feel free to submit a pull request or open an issue for any bugs or feature requests.

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.