Getting Applescripts to run on other MacOS Catalina Macs

I have developed Applescripts on Mojave and exported them as apps for Mac users in my department. These ran as expected. I can run them fine on Catalina on my Mac, but cannot make them available to other Catalina users, despite code signing them. Do I need to go through the notarisation process, use XCode, or some other method to make them available as apps to other Mac users in my department? (They do not need to be made available through the app store.)

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Do I need to go through the notarisation process … to make them available as apps to other Mac users in my department?

From the perspective of the trusted execution system an AppleScript app (applet) is just like any other app. When a user downloads and runs the app, Gatekeeper kicks in. If you’re distributing the app widely, passing Gatekeeper requires that you sign the app with a Developer ID signing identity and then notarise it. See Creating Distribution-Signed Code for Mac for that story.

If, however, you’re only distributing the app to a small number of folks then you don’t necessarily need to do this. There are various options to bypass Gatekeeper:

  • Download the app in a way that doesn’t quarantine it.

  • Manually unquarantine the app by removing the extended attribute.

  • Bypass Gatekeeper at the user level. For more on this, see the Safely open apps on your Mac article from Apple Support.

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