Deploying Terminal profile settings using macOS configuration profiles

A number of Mac admins have their Terminal appearance settings configured just the way they like them, but it can be a bit of manual work to export and import them. After having to manually configure and export these settings more than a few times, I wanted to see if it was possible to export these settings in a way to make it easy to convert into a configuration profile.

With a little work and research, I was able to write a script which handled exporting the Terminal profile I wanted into a properly formatted plist file. For more details, please see below the jump.

The script I wrote is named Export_Mac_Terminal_Profiles and it is a .command file, which means it can be run by double-clicking on it. To use it, please use the following procedure:

1. Identify the name of the Terminal profile you want to export.
2. Double-click on the Export_Mac_Terminal_Profiles.command script.
3. Enter the name of the Terminal profile you want to export.
4. Decide if you want the exported Terminal profile to be set up as a default profile. By specifying it as a default profile, the exported Terminal profile will be configured as both a startup profile and as a default profile.

In this example, I’ve configured a custom Terminal profile named Documentation in my account’s Terminal settings and want to export it for use with a configuration profile.

To export it, I followed the procedure described above and entered the following when prompted:

Name: Documentation
Default profile: 1 (which configures the exported profile to be set as both a startup profile and as a default profile.)

When the script finished running, it opened a Finder window showing me a com.apple.Terminal.plist file.

This plist file contained all of the settings needed to create a configuration profile which did the following:

1. Install the Documentation Terminal profile
2. Configure the Documentation Terminal profile as both a startup profile and as a default profile.

	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
	<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"&gt;
	<plist version="1.0">
	<dict>
	<key>Default Window Settings</key>
	<string>Documentation</string>
	<key>Startup Window Settings</key>
	<string>Documentation</string>
	<key>Window Settings</key>
	<dict>
	<key>Documentation</key>
	<dict>
	<key>Font</key>
	<data>
	YnBsaXN0MDDUAQIDBAUGBwpYJHZlcnNpb25ZJGFyY2hpdmVyVCR0
	b3BYJG9iamVjdHMSAAGGoF8QD05TS2V5ZWRBcmNoaXZlctEICVRy
	b290gAGkCwwVFlUkbnVsbNQNDg8QERITFFZOU1NpemVYTlNmRmxh
	Z3NWTlNOYW1lViRjbGFzcyNAMgAAAAAAABAQgAKAA1ZNb25hY2/S
	FxgZGlokY2xhc3NuYW1lWCRjbGFzc2VzVk5TRm9udKIZG1hOU09i
	amVjdAgRGiQpMjdJTFFTWF5nbnd+hY6QkpSboKu0u74AAAAAAAAB
	AQAAAAAAAAAcAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAxw==
	</data>
	<key>FontAntialias</key>
	<true/>
	<key>FontWidthSpacing</key>
	<real>1.004032258064516</real>
	<key>Linewrap</key>
	<true/>
	<key>ProfileCurrentVersion</key>
	<real>2.0699999999999998</real>
	<key>name</key>
	<string>Documentation</string>
	<key>type</key>
	<string>Window Settings</string>
	</dict>
	</dict>
	</dict>
	</plist>

view raw

com.apple.Terminal.plist

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From there, I used Tim Sutton‘s mcxToProfile tool to create a configuration profile from the exported com.apple.Terminal.plist file.

Once I had the configuration profile, I verified that I was able to install it and that the Documentation Terminal profile was now installed and set as the default profile.

However, one side effect I noticed was that installing a Terminal profile using a configuration profile resulted in all other Terminal profiles vanishing from the Terminal preferences.

To restore copies of the OS-provided Terminal profiles, click on the Profiles window’s cog wheel and select Restore Default Profiles.

This will restore the OS-installed Terminal profiles in their default configuration. This restore process will not affect the Terminal profile installed by the configuration profile.

The Export_Mac_Terminal_Profiles script is available below and also on GitHub at the following address:

https://github.com/rtrouton/rtrouton_scripts/tree/master/rtrouton_scripts/Export_Mac_Terminal_Profiles

	#!/bin/bash
	exported_theme_file=$(mktemp)
	exported_temp_directory=$(mktemp -d -t terminal-theme-XXXXXXXXXX)
	import_plist_file="$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Terminal.plist"
	export_plist_file="$exported_temp_directory/com.apple.Terminal.plist"
	IFS= read -r -p "Enter name of the Terminal profile to export from your Terminal settings: " terminal_profile_name
	echo "Do you want to set the exported Terminal profile as being a default Terminal profile?"
	select yn in "Yes" "No"; do
	case $yn in
	Yes) /usr/bin/defaults write "$export_plist_file" "Default Window Settings" -string "${terminal_profile_name}"; /usr/bin/defaults write "$export_plist_file" "Startup Window Settings" -string "${terminal_profile_name}"; echo "Exported Terminal profile is set as a default Terminal profile."; break;;
	No ) echo "Exported Terminal profile will not be set as a default Terminal profile."; break;;
	esac
	done
	/usr/bin/plutil -extract Window\ Settings."${terminal_profile_name}" xml1 -o – "$import_plist_file" > "$exported_theme_file"
	import_theme=$(<"$exported_theme_file")
	/usr/bin/defaults write "$export_plist_file" "Window Settings" -dict
	/usr/bin/plutil -replace Window\ Settings."${terminal_profile_name}" -xml "$import_theme" "$export_plist_file"
	/usr/bin/plutil -convert xml1 "$export_plist_file"
	echo "Exported com.apple.Terminal.plist is available at the following location: $export_plist_file"
	open "$exported_temp_directory"

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Export_Mac_Terminal_Profiles.command

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The example configuration profile for the Documentation Terminal profile is also available below.

	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
	<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"&gt;
	<plist version="1.0">
	<dict>
	<key>PayloadContent</key>
	<array>
	<dict>
	<key>PayloadContent</key>
	<dict>
	<key>com.apple.Terminal</key>
	<dict>
	<key>Forced</key>
	<array>
	<dict>
	<key>mcx_preference_settings</key>
	<dict>
	<key>Default Window Settings</key>
	<string>Documentation</string>
	<key>Startup Window Settings</key>
	<string>Documentation</string>
	<key>Window Settings</key>
	<dict>
	<key>Documentation</key>
	<dict>
	<key>Font</key>
	<data>
	YnBsaXN0MDDU
	AQIDBAUGBwpY
	JHZlcnNpb25Z
	JGFyY2hpdmVy
	VCR0b3BYJG9i
	amVjdHMSAAGG
	oF8QD05TS2V5
	ZWRBcmNoaXZl
	ctEICVRyb290
	gAGkCwwVFlUk
	bnVsbNQNDg8Q
	ERITFFZOU1Np
	emVYTlNmRmxh
	Z3NWTlNOYW1l
	ViRjbGFzcyNA
	MgAAAAAAABAQ
	gAKAA1ZNb25h
	Y2/SFxgZGlok
	Y2xhc3NuYW1l
	WCRjbGFzc2Vz
	Vk5TRm9udKIZ
	G1hOU09iamVj
	dAgRGiQpMjdJ
	TFFTWF5nbnd+
	hY6QkpSboKu0
	u74AAAAAAAAB
	AQAAAAAAAAAc
	AAAAAAAAAAAA
	AAAAAAAAxw==
	</data>
	<key>FontAntialias</key>
	<true/>
	<key>FontWidthSpacing</key>
	<real>1.004032258064516</real>
	<key>Linewrap</key>
	<true/>
	<key>ProfileCurrentVersion</key>
	<real>2.0699999999999998</real>
	<key>name</key>
	<string>Documentation</string>
	<key>type</key>
	<string>Window Settings</string>
	</dict>
	</dict>
	</dict>
	</dict>
	</array>
	</dict>
	</dict>
	<key>PayloadEnabled</key>
	<true/>
	<key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
	<string>MCXToProfile.2548385c-4378-49c0-84ed-c454fcf9e50b.alacarte.customsettings.c8a7ea9d-8e7d-4f29-87f0-8604fc377761</string>
	<key>PayloadType</key>
	<string>com.apple.ManagedClient.preferences</string>
	<key>PayloadUUID</key>
	<string>c8a7ea9d-8e7d-4f29-87f0-8604fc377761</string>
	<key>PayloadVersion</key>
	<integer>1</integer>
	</dict>
	</array>
	<key>PayloadDescription</key>
	<string>This profile installs the Documentation Terminal profile and sets it as the default Terminal profile.</string>
	<key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
	<string>Sets Documentation Terminal profile</string>
	<key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
	<string>com.company.terminal.profile.settings.Documentation</string>
	<key>PayloadOrganization</key>
	<string>Company Name</string>
	<key>PayloadRemovalDisallowed</key>
	<true/>
	<key>PayloadScope</key>
	<string>System</string>
	<key>PayloadType</key>
	<string>Configuration</string>
	<key>PayloadUUID</key>
	<string>2548385c-4378-49c0-84ed-c454fcf9e50b</string>
	<key>PayloadVersion</key>
	<integer>1</integer>
	</dict>
	</plist>

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Documentation Terminal Settings.mobileconfig

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