Biting the Apple

Unlocking macOS with Python

This presentation:
https://rhettbull.github.io/biting-the-apple/

Source:
https://github.com/RhetTbull/biting-the-apple

About Me

• Hobbyist programmer
• First code in Tandy BASIC on a TRS-80 Model III
• Reformed Perl hacker
• Pythonista since 2018
• github.com/RhetTbull

Installing Python on macOS

• Homebrew: Homebrew Python is Not For You

• Conda

• Python.org

• uv: uv python install 3.13

Just use uv or python.org

Automating Mac Apps

Many Mac apps are scriptable using AppleScript

tell application "Notes"
	activate

	set noteTitle to "Hello World"
	set noteBody to "This is my note."

	tell account "iCloud"
		set newNote to make new note at folder "Notes" with properties
		          {name:noteTitle, body:noteBody}
	end tell
end tell

Isn't This Talk Supposed To Be About Python?

pip install py-applescript

import applescript

def create_note(title: str, body: str) -> str:
    """Create a new note in Notes.app"""
    script = """
    on createNote(noteTitle, noteBody)
        tell application "Notes"
            activate

            tell account "iCloud"
                set newNote to make new note at folder "Notes" with properties {name:noteTitle, body:noteBody}
                return id of newNote
            end tell
        end tell
    end createNote
    """
    ascript = applescript.AppleScript(script)
    return str(ascript.call("createNote", title, body))

note_id = create_note("Hello World", "This is my note.")
print(f"New note created with id {note_id}")

There's a Package For That!

pip install macnotesapp

import macnotesapp

new_note = macnotesapp.NotesApp().make_note("Hello World", "This is my note.")
print(f"New note created with ID {new_note}")

pip install photoscript

import photoscript

for photo in photoscript.PhotosLibrary().selection:
    photo.keywords += ["Travel"]

PyXA: Python for Automation

pip install mac-pyxa (Doesn't work yet with Python 3.13)

import datetime
import PyXA

reminders_app = PyXA.Application("Reminders")
reminders_app.new_reminder(
    name="Finish HSV.py talk", due_date=datetime.datetime(2025, 2, 10)
)

Beyond Scripting: Accessing the Power of Native APIs

Apple provides useful APIs in Objective-C and Swift that enable features like extracting text from images, speech synthesis, accessing the Mac's camera, etc.

Can we use these from Python?

Yes! Python to Objective-C Bridge

PyObjC

Appears to have at least tacit blessing from Apple. Stable, offers support for most macOS APIs. Does not support iOS.

Rubicon

Part of the BeeWare project. Supported by Anaconda. Supports both macOS and iOS.

Creating a Standalone App

• PyInstaller: Good for command line tools
• Py2App: Standalone Mac apps (like py2exe but for macOS)
• PyApp: Self-bootstrapping apps with self-update, very fast, written in Rust
• Briefcase: From BeeWare, similar to Py2App
• AppleCrate: Create installers for your app