Run Python Script at OS X Startup - macos

Question

I am very new to python as well as MAC OSX. For my academic project I need to download a bunch of tweets from twitter using twitter streaming API. I need to download atleast 5000000 tweets. So I have written a python script and placed it in start-up. "System Preference -> Users and Groups -> Login items" and added my script there. But I see that the script is not executed when I login to the system ! Please help me resolve this issue.

Answer 1

Adapt the following accordingly, name it something like myscript_launcher.plist, and put it in either one of three locations: /System/Library/LaunchAgents, /System/Library/LaunchDaemons, /Users/<username>/Library/LaunchAgents.
<?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">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>my.python.script.name</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/path/to/python</string>
<string>/path/to/python/script.py</string>
</array>
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/var/log/python_script.error</string>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>
Also, let's assume you put the plist file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents. You can start and stop it with the launchctl. To start, use launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/myscript_launcher.plist. To stop it, do the same but use the unload argument

Answer 2

You need to create a shell file that launches your python code. Tell the shell script to start at log in.
example
#!/bin/bash
python username/Desktop/startupscripts/file.py
save the file with the .sh extension.
add the .sh file to
"System Preference -> Users and Groups -> Login items", the .sh script will call the python file.
This is what you should have in the shell file. I'm assume this is the path to the file, if it isn't modify it.
#!/bin/bash
python /Users/username/moviebuzz-api/flask/bin/streaming_movies.py
nothing else.

Answer 3

Here's the full solution I am using on Mojave:
Plist: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/play.with.mpv.plist
<?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">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Disabled</key>
<false/>
<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
<dict>
<key>PATH</key>
<string>/Users/e/Library/Python/3.7/bin:/usr/local/bin</string>
</dict>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>Label</key>
<string>play.with.mpv</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/local/bin/python3</string>
<string>/Users/e/Library/Python/3.7/bin/play-with-mpv</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/tmp/play.with.mpv.stderr</string>
<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/tmp/play.with.mpv.stdout</string>
</dict>
</plist>
Mind the PATH to python3 - find it with which python3 and the play-with-mpv python script!
Load plist:
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/play.with.mpv.plist
If your video is dropping frames as hell, create mpv config in ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf and put there this:
video-sync=display-resample
if that do doesn't help, try this instead
opengl-early-flush=no

Answer 4

But I see that the script is not executed when I login to the system !
The problem is, .py files are usually opened by some text editor by default. In order to execute the script as Login Items, you need to make the script to be opened by Terminal.app (or anything execute the script) by default.
After that, you cat set the script as Login Items in the way you posted.
How to set Terminal.app as default:
Put a #! line on the top of the script:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
print("hello world")
Add execute permission to the script:
chmod u+x script.py
Change the file extension .py to .command (to associate the file with Terminal.app):
mv script.py script.command
At this point, you should be able to run the script by double clicking on Finder.
If you can not, try the following:
Right click on the script file on Finder.
Select Get Info
Click the dropdown of Open with: option.
Select Terminal.app
By the way, the above applies to not only python, but other scripts such as bash.
For example of bash, change !# like so:
#!/usr/bin/env bash