---
title: "aadhar.sh/dotfiles"
description: "The macOS defaults i changed on my own Mac, read back off the machine. Tick the ones you want and copy the defaults write script that sets them."
path: "/dotfiles"
section: "dotfiles"
kind: "utility"
updated: "2026-09-21"
source: "https://aadhar.sh/dotfiles"
---

> Site index: https://aadhar.sh/llms.txt
> This is the Markdown twin of a page on aadhar.sh. The HTML at the source
> URL below is the original, and is hand-written and unminified on purpose.

# macOS, the way i have it

Every setting below is one i changed on my own Mac, read back off the machine with `defaults read` rather than from memory. Tick the ones you want, copy the script, paste it into Terminal, and restart what it tells you to. Nothing runs from this page.

Advanced settings:

Generated script:

paste into Terminal, then do what the last lines say

## The whole set, unedited

The same lines with everything ticked live at [/dotfiles/macos.sh](https://aadhar.sh/dotfiles/macos.sh). Read it before you run it; it is short.

```
curl -fsSL https://aadhar.sh/dotfiles/macos.sh -o macos.sh
less macos.sh
bash macos.sh
```

## How this list was made

`defaults read <domain>` prints only the keys something has written, so a key that is missing is proof that setting is still at factory, and a key that is present means it was touched at some point. i read the dozen domains that dotfiles conventionally cover, kept the keys whose value differs from what a fresh account gets, and dropped the ones i could not vouch for. Where i know the factory value it sits at the right of the row.

- **What is deliberately missing**
  My text replacements (personal), the Dock's app list (bookmark blobs, `dockutil` territory), the Control Center menu bar layout (an opaque blob), and the Terminal profile (archived colours, exportable as a `.terminal` file instead). Also the keyboard shortcuts i turned off under Accessibility, because i could not confirm which of those ship off already.
- **Why some rows want a logout**
  Key repeat, the press-and-hold switch, tracking speed and the sound settings are read once at login by the processes that own them, and no `killall` reaches those. The Dock, Finder, the screenshot service and the clock each restart in place.
- **Measured on**
  macOS 26 (Darwin 27.2), 2026-09-21. Three rows are macOS 26 keys and say so, the window rows are Sonoma and Sequoia keys, and everything else predates Ventura.

Made in the same spirit as [mathiasbynens/dotfiles](https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles/blob/main/.macos), which is where most of the world learned these keys. The difference is the checklist: his is a script you edit, this is a list you tick.

Source: https://aadhar.sh/dotfiles