SettingsSentry - Never Lose Your macOS Settings Again
SettingsSentry - Never Lose Your macOS Settings Again
If you've ever reinstalled macOS or migrated to a new Mac, you know the pain: hours spent reconfiguring apps, losing custom settings, trying to remember how you had things set up.
I built SettingsSentry to solve this.
The Problem with Existing Tools
Mackup was the go-to solution for years, but it has issues:
- Symlink risks - Can overwrite settings unexpectedly
- macOS Sonoma compatibility - Breaks with recent macOS versions
- No versioning - One backup, no history
What SettingsSentry Does Different
SettingsSentry takes a simpler, safer approach:
- Copy, don't symlink - Your original files stay untouched
- Versioned backups - Timestamped directories (YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS)
- Dry-run mode - Preview before executing
- Encryption - AES-256-GCM for sensitive configs
- iCloud integration - Backups sync automatically
How It Works
Define what to back up in simple .cfg files:
[Settings]
name = VSCode
files = ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json
${HOME}/Library/Application Support/Code/User/keybindings.json
Then run:
# Backup
settingssentry backup
# Restore on new machine
settingssentry restore
# Preview first
settingssentry backup --dry-run
My Use Case
I run it automatically at reboot via cron. Every time my Mac restarts, my settings are backed up to iCloud. When I got a new MacBook, restoration took 5 minutes instead of 5 hours.
Key Features
| Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Versioned backups | Roll back to any point |
| Encryption | Safe for sensitive configs |
| Environment variables | ${HOME}, ${APP_NAME} expansion |
| Pre/post commands | Run scripts before/after operations |
| ZIP archives | Compressed, portable backups |
Get Started
git clone https://github.com/sstraus/SettingsSentry
cd SettingsSentry
./settingssentry backup
Check the GitHub repo for full documentation and example configs.