PocketPrefs

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PocketPrefs is a configuration management tool for macOS applications. It enables users to easily back up, restore, and manage application configurations and data, simplifying setup when migrating to a new device or reinstalling macOS.

💡 Besides app settings, you can back up any file via custom paths.

Features

• Backup and restore macOS application configurations and specified data
• Add and manage custom application configuration paths
• Import and export custom application configuration lists
• Incremental backup mode support

📦 Configuration Sharing

Here's my custom configs JSON (importable): discussion

Data Security ⚠️

PocketPrefs uses the following strategy to protect existing configurations when restoring files:

Design Principles

• Data integrity: Before restoring configuration files, PocketPrefs first renames any existing configuration in the target directory to [original_name].pocketprefs_backup to preserve the original state.

Operation Details

When performing a restore operation, PocketPrefs intelligently handles existing files or directories at the target path:

1. Existing configuration backup: If a file or directory with the same name already exists at the target path (for example, ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json or ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/), PocketPrefs renames it to [original_name].pocketprefs_backup.

   • Example: settings.json becomes settings.json.pocketprefs_backup.
   • Example: User/ directory becomes User.pocketprefs_backup/.

2. New configuration restoration: The file or directory from the backup is then restored to the original target path.

Important Note:

• .pocketprefs_backup files or directories only preserve the configuration state from the most recent restore operation. Each new restore operation will overwrite this backup.

System Requirements

• macOS 14+

Building

• Xcode 16+
• Swift 6