How do I configure custom URL handlers on OS X?

Question

I've been reading a lot online about custom URL handlers / custom protocol handlers such as:

I get that you can tell the system that a particular program is able to handle a certain scheme / protocol with the Info.plist file:

<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>CFBundleURLName</key>
        <string>Local File</string>
        <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
        <array>
            <string>local</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</array>
<key>NSUIElement</key>
<true/>

But if there are multiple applications that are capable of opening the same URL handler, such as mailto: how do you specify which one you want the system to use?

There were some references to utilities like the More Internet preference pane which no longer seems to be available from the author's site. I did find it online by Googling but it seems a bit shaky - like it was written for an older OSX - perhaps Tiger.

I haven't been able to find information on how to set the URL handler for protocols and custom protocols. I'm assuming there is a plist file somewhere that I can edit - or maybe there is a newer, better utility that works well with Mountain Lion?

slhck · Accepted Answer · 2023-04-14T07:20:38.463

82

The file you seek is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure.plist.

It holds an array called LSHandlers, and the Dictionary children that define an LSHandlerURLScheme can be modified accordingly with the LSHandlerRole. You need to [convert this binary file][1] to edit it.

Rather than manually editing this file, you can use SwiftDefaultApps. Note that this app is a successor to RCDefaultApp, which has been unmaintained, but it also appears to have some bugs.

edited Apr 14 '23 at 07:20

answered Feb 07 '13 at 20:58

slhck

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4 minutes 19 seconds? Seriously? – Daniel Beck Feb 07 '13 at 21:00
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Thanks for the fast and detailed answer. Looks good! Question though - I think that I tried RCDefaultApp before and had some issue with it. Has it been working seamlessly for you? – cwd Feb 07 '13 at 21:06
@cwd I honestly have to say I don't use it often. More for screenshots for Super User than anything else :) Whenever I need to change file associations I do it through the *Get Info…* dialog in Finder. I never needed to change protocol and MIME handlers. But it seemed stable enough for me. – slhck Feb 07 '13 at 21:09
This seems to be to open a real "app". What if I want to do some custom processing, using a terminal command, etc? – nute Aug 25 '15 at 07:57
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@nute Just from the top of my head, not sure. Perhaps an app created with Automator that wraps a shell script? – slhck Aug 25 '15 at 11:17
How can I receive input in the automator? Like, the content of the URL? – nute Aug 25 '15 at 11:30
I found my answer using AppleScript (https://support.shotgunsoftware.com/entries/127152-Launching-External-Applications-using-Custom-Protocols-under-OSX) – nute Aug 25 '15 at 12:42
Just a note, if you have multiple apps/app-versions handling the same protocol (e.g. IntelliJ EAP, IntelliJ), you can choose the specific one to use in the the `Apps` tab in `RCDefaultApp`. It is still working for me in macOS 10.11. – vaughan Jun 14 '16 at 03:24
May need to revise the answer since the image 1st image is missing and the 2nd image code has been reassigned to a completely irrelevant image – MrU Jul 29 '16 at 02:22
@MrU Not sure what you're talking about – the post shows like this for me: http://imgur.com/a/4o7fZ – slhck Jul 29 '16 at 07:49
@slhck Wierd... I'm recieving a 404 image, and an image related to the Akinator.... – Looking in the post's details here are the links that I'm getting. 404 – http://i.stack.imgur.com/HVCo2.png | Akinator – http://i.stack.imgur.com/S9xqn.png – MrU Jul 30 '16 at 07:57
@MrU I suppose your ISP or another entity is messing with your Internet access? – slhck Jul 31 '16 at 09:20
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The preference pane [SwiftDefaultApps](https://github.com/Lord-Kamina/SwiftDefaultApps) worked successfully for me on macOS 10.15.7 Catalina. I opened the preference pane, selected "URI schemes", scrolled down to the "tel" protocol handler, and changed it from Skype.app to FaceTime.app (Apple's native solution). And from then on selecting a telephone number in Safari and then right-clicking to open a context menu shows "Call XXX using iPhone" which then uses the native call handling instead of Skype again. – porg Dec 01 '20 at 12:16
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^ Anyone interested, I created a full HowTo with screenshots at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252116843 – porg Dec 01 '20 at 12:59
I'm getting `SwiftDefaultApps ERROR -10810: An unknown error has occurred.`. Any suggestions? Thanks – ssppjj Apr 13 '23 at 19:25
It's frustrating how Apple makes such a simple task so hard and cumbersome. – ssppjj Apr 13 '23 at 19:25
@ssppjj No idea. Please file an issue in the repository! (The project seems a bit unmaintained …) – slhck Apr 14 '23 at 09:43

score 22 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 24 '18 at 09:27

22

Update Jul 2017: RCDefaultApp and lstool no longer work on macOS 10.12 or later. We'll have to find a new solution.

Edit Mar 2018
I found SwiftDefaultApps but can't test as I'm not on High Sierra yet.

Furthering the previous answer, if you would like to do this on the command line you can use the lstool command, which is the core of RCDefaultApp, found under RCDefaultApp.prefPane/Contents/Resources/lstool.

Its usage is straightforward:

[~]$lstool --help
Usage:

lstool read [<lsscheme> [<type>]]
lstool [-n] write <lsscheme> <type> <app>
lstool [-n] setoption <lsscheme> <type> login|ignorecreator YES|NO
lstool [-n] register {<app>}
lstool [-n] unregister {<path> | <app>}
lstool apps

-n means do not make changes
<lsscheme> is one of: internet, media, url, extension, uti, mime, ostype
<app> is the path to an application or a name to be looked up

edited Mar 24 '18 at 09:27

Tetsujin

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answered Sep 12 '13 at 21:49

Quinn Comendant

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I found a possible replacement for RCDefaultApp at https://github.com/Lord-Kamina/SwiftDefaultApps although you will have to build it yourself with Xcode. – luckman212 Sep 01 '17 at 13:16
I'm using version 2.1 of RCDefaultApp and it works just fine for me on 10.12. At least is still lists all items. Or does only some specific operation not work any more? Please elaborate – SuperTempel Nov 28 '17 at 14:58
@SuperTempel The `lstool` command-line tool displays this error when you try to run it: `objc[1049]: Objective-C garbage collection is no longer supported.` (`lstool` is the internal program used by the RCDefaultApp preference pane. While the preference pane appears to work, I don't think it can do anything because `lstool` is broken.) – Quinn Comendant Dec 25 '17 at 09:59
SwiftDefaultApps [apparently doesn't work](https://github.com/Lord-Kamina/SwiftDefaultApps/issues/3) on Intel processors. No fix until at least April 2018. – Quinn Comendant Mar 26 '18 at 07:56
4

I am the developer of SwiftDefaultApps, SWDA was coded from the beginning with macOS Sierra and higher in mind (In fact, I began working on it after much frustration reading this question and similar ones). It was not working in 10.13 largely due to a bug in either Swift or macOS itself, but it appears to have been fixed with the update to 10.13.4/Swift 4.1. – Gregorio Litenstein Apr 15 '18 at 19:53
I tried running `lstool` in macOS 10.13, and I got: `objc[14334]: Objective-C garbage collection is no longer supported.`. – Alan Zhiliang Feng Jun 04 '18 at 21:00

score 20 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 19 '15 at 23:12

20

Listing current LaunchServices URL handler settings on Apple OS X 10.10 (Yosemite):

defaults read com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure

answered Aug 19 '15 at 23:12

VirtualJMills

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Yay for using the builtin tools that don't break or require you to go download something. – xdhmoore Jan 12 '18 at 01:18
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This doesn't list all defaults for every protocol though, only some. – Vadim Peretokin Sep 29 '19 at 07:05

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited May 14 '16 at 02:26

7

Open the file with XCode works quite easy.

Using the build in command plutil as described in the answer on https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5815759 to convert between format xml1 or binary1 works similar.

plutil -convert xml1 /file-i-wish

nano /file-i-wish & save file 

plutil -convert binary1 /file-i-wish

No need for 'alien' tools :-)

edited May 14 '16 at 02:26

techraf

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answered Oct 13 '14 at 11:23

Clemens Tolboom

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score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 09 '21 at 21:38

5

I actually wrote an application simplifying registration of custom URL protocols, if anyone is interested. It is called LinCastor (https://onflapp.github.io/blog/pages/LinCastor.html). Handlers can be defined as AppleScript or shell script (which can perl, python or what ever).

edited Oct 09 '21 at 21:38

keen

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answered Oct 24 '13 at 21:42

On Flapp

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Very nice idea, but I’m afraid I can’t get the supplied example script to work. More on your blog, awaiting moderation: https://getitdoneapps.wordpress.com/lincastor-browser/support/comment-page-1/#comment-9 – Flash Sheridan Feb 17 '17 at 21:15
That seemed to be some baffling line-break weirdness in the example file, diagnosed by running the script from the command line. (“/bin/sh: bad interpreter: Operation not permitted”) Saving a copy in BBEdit, and changing and recharging the line breaks to/from Windows, worked around the problem. – Flash Sheridan Feb 25 '17 at 18:58

score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Oct 10 '21 at 07:18

4

You can also use duti:

echo $'com.apple.mail mailto\ncom.googlecode.iterm2 x-man-page'>~/.duti;duti ~/.duti

edited Oct 10 '21 at 07:18

keen

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answered Oct 25 '13 at 07:56

Lri

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered May 12 '17 at 09:20

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Another way to list current LaunchServices URL handler settings with Xcode on Apple OS X 10.10+ (Yosemite):

open -a Xcode ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure.plist

answered May 12 '17 at 09:20

oikonomopo

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score -1 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 13 '16 at 02:42

-1

I just tried the old More Internet, under El Capitan.

It is funky and the only way it works is via using the up and down arrow keys to select the protocol, and a drag/drop of the APP icon into the window to make a change.

I switched the default from Safari to Chrome, and the change stuck, so it works still.

answered Jul 13 '16 at 02:42

Calgary Guru

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What is this? Your answer is unclear. – lacostenycoder Aug 25 '18 at 20:23

How do I configure custom URL handlers on OS X?

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