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Macos Signing Entitlements

DevOps & Security
macos-signing-entitlements

Macos Signing Entitlements is an Agent Skill for devops & security published in the robinebers/openusage repository on GitHub: a SKILL.md instruction file an AI agent can load to do this task.

Inspect macOS signing, entitlements, and Gatekeeper issues. Use when diagnosing code signing, sandbox, hardened runtime, or trust failures.

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QUICK START

How to use this skill

Bring this guide into your coding agent with a prompt tailored to the tool you use.

  1. Open your project in Codex.
  2. Copy and paste the prompt below.
  3. Review files and risks before approving any action.
Prompt to paste
Inspect the Agent Skill at https://github.com/robinebers/openusage/blob/HEAD/.agents/skills/macos-signing-entitlements/SKILL.md and all supporting files. Report provenance, permissions, scripts, dependencies, and security risks. Propose an exact installation into .agents/skills/macos-signing-entitlements, but wait for my approval before writing files or running scripts.

Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use.

Signing & Entitlements

Quick Start

Use this skill when the failure smells like codesigning rather than compilation: launch refusal, missing entitlement, invalid signature, sandbox mismatch, hardened runtime confusion, or trust-policy rejection.

Workflow

  1. Inspect the bundle or binary.

    • Locate the .app or executable.
    • Identify the main binary inside Contents/MacOS/.

  2. Read signing details.

    • Use codesign -dvvv --entitlements :- <path>.
    • Use spctl -a -vv <path> when Gatekeeper behavior matters.
    • Use plutil -p for entitlements or Info.plist inspection.

  3. Classify the failure.

    • Unsigned or ad hoc signed
    • Wrong identity
    • Entitlement mismatch
    • Hardened runtime issue
    • App Sandbox issue
    • Nested code signing issue
    • Distribution/notarization prerequisite issue

  4. Explain the minimum fix path.

    • Say exactly what is wrong.
    • Show the shortest set of validation or repair commands.
    • Distinguish local development problems from distribution problems.

Useful Commands

  • codesign -dvvv --entitlements :- <app-or-binary>
  • spctl -a -vv <app-or-binary>
  • security find-identity -p codesigning -v
  • plutil -p <path-to-entitlements-or-plist>

Guardrails

  • Never invent missing entitlements.
  • Do not conflate notarization with local debug signing.
  • If the real issue is a build setting or provisioning profile, say so directly.

Output Expectations

Provide:

  • what artifact was inspected
  • what signing state it is in
  • the exact failure class
  • the minimum fix or validation sequence