sindresorhus / app-exists

Check if an app exists on macOS

app-exists

Check if an app exists on macOS

Install

$ npm install app-exists

Usage

import appExists from 'app-exists';

console.log(await appExists('com.sindresorhus.Gifski'));
//=> true

console.log(await appExists('Gifski'));
//=> true

console.log(await appExists('com.sindresorhus.UnicornCakeFun'));
//=> false

API

appExists(bundleIdOrName)

Returns a Promise<Boolean> of whether the app exists on the user's system.

bundleIdOrName

The bundle ID or name of the app.

Prefer specifying bundle ID whenever possible as it's more unique.

Related

• file-icon - Get the icon of a file or app as a PNG image
• bundle-name - Get bundle name from a bundle identifier
• bundle-id - Get bundle identifier from a bundle name

app-exists's Issues

Possible refactor to use mdfind

Hi Sindre,

I've been using a small function to find installed apps in my Electron-based app, Browserosaurus. I thought I'd try replacing my function with your package but using AppleScript to "tell Finder" causes my app to display a Finder access permission dialog. Would you be up for a refactor of your package to avoid this? Here's what I'm using:

import { execFile } from 'child_process'
import { promisify } from 'util'

const execFileP = promisify(execFile)

async function appExists(nameOrBundleId: string): Promise<boolean> {
  const isBundleId = nameOrBundleId.includes('.')

  const query = isBundleId
    ? `kMDItemContentType == 'com.apple.application-bundle' && kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier == '${nameOrBundleId}'`
    : `kMDItemKind == 'Application' && kMDItemFSName == '${nameOrBundleId}.app'c`

  const { stdout: appPath } = await execFileP('mdfind', [query])

  return Boolean(appPath)
}

Let me know if you'd like a PR.

app-exists doesn't detect Applications in the User's local directory

Issue occurs as part of PR #4, and discovered whilst investigating will-stone/browserosaurus#399
The error is specifically on line 10 of index.js, as node does not expand tildes (nodejs/node#684).
From my limited understanding of node, and testing locally, process.env.HOME has a function equivalent to the tilde, so this should be an easy fix.
Pull request incoming.

Multiple App Opened When the App Installed by Other User

Hi, I'm facing an issue when there are multiple user in one mac where every user has their own set of applications.

This might be related to how MacOS works (because Spotlight is facing similar issue), where we can use application installed in another user account.

To fix this, I think this PR (#7) could help. cmiiw

Regards,