Jamf's in-house package creator tool. Builds pkgs and dmgs made for deployment with the Jamf Pro Suite, but pkgs built with Composer can be used with any management framework.

Cost: USD $99.95, otherwise included with the Jamf Pro Suite if a Jamf customer.

Link: https://www.jamf.com/products/jamf-composer/

Payload-Free Package Creator

An Automator application that quickly builds payload-free pkgs for deployment.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/rtrouton/Payload-Free-Package-Creator

munki-pkg

munki-pkg is a simple tool for building packages. While it was developed for use with munki, it can be used to make pkgs that are deployable with any management framework.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/munki/munki-pkg

AutoPkg

Automated third party package download and creation for deployment.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/autopkg/autopkg

AutoPkgr

GUI for AutoPkg, with click-to-add functionality of additional components.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/lindegroup/autopkgr

Suspicious Package

An application for inspecting the contents of macOS packages.

Cost: Free

Link: https://www.mothersruin.com/software/SuspiciousPackage/

Apparency

An application for inspecting application bundles, including code signing requirements, notarization, and included frameworks.

Cost: Free

Link: https://www.mothersruin.com/software/Apparency/

AutoDMG

Create deployable system images from macOS installers.*

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/MagerValp/AutoDMG

Nudge

Nudge strongly encourages running macOS updates and can be customized with profiles or local json files.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/macadmins/nudge

Low Profile

A Mac utility to help inspect Apple Configuration Profile payloads.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/ninxsoft/LowProfile

Onboarding Experience

Splash Buddy

A customizable onboarding app designed to work with Jamf Pro and DEP.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/Shufflepuck/SplashBuddy

Octory

Octory is a highly customizable and elegant macOS application to onboard, support and watch over your users on their Mac.

Cost: Free, with Pro pricing/options available

Link:

ADEPT

A setup/splash screen for DEP and user-initiated Jamf Pro enrollments. Detailed documentation highlights how to work with the application in Xcode to customize it for your organization's needs.

Cost: Free to use, paid installation/customization services available.

Link: https://git.tramscloud.co.uk/projects/XCOD/repos/adept/browse

DEP Notify

A lightweight notification app designed to let users know what's happening during DEP enrollment.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://gitlab.com/Mactroll/DEPNotify

Command-line tools

MIST - macOS Installer Super Tool

A Mac command-line tool that automatically downloads macOS Installers/firmware.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/ninxsoft/Mist

Helper Menus

SupportApp

The Support app is a macOS menu bar app built for organizations to help users and helpdesks to see basic diagnostic information at a glance and easily customizable with a configuration profile.

Cost: Free

Link: https://github.com/root3nl/SupportApp

NoMAD

The functionality you want from a Mac bound to Active Directory without having to actually bind to AD. (Make sure you check out this NoMAD updater as well.)

Cost: Free, Jamf Connect (pro version) pricing information can be found here

Link: https://nomad.menu/products/#nomad

Hello-IT

A handy menubar application to get users in touch with IT and quickly get information and resources on their Mac.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/ygini/Hello-IT

moss

A helper app for Hello IT to make building mobileconfig files easier.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/PaperFixie/moss

MacDNA

Customizable menubar that checks for hardware status, management framework status, and other handy information.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/jhbush/Arek/tree/master/Development/MacDNA%20Menulet

Pareto Security

Automatically audit your Mac for basic security hygiene.

Price: N/A

Link: https://paretosecurity.app/

Text Editing

Atom

An free, open source, hackable text editor.

Cost: Free

Link: https://atom.io/

Sublime Text

A high performance, cross-platform text editor.

Cost: USD $80 to buy, free to evaluate.

Link: https://www.sublimetext.com/

Xcode

Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) containing a suite of software development tools developed by Apple for developing software used by Apple hardware.

Cost: Free with an Apple ID.

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xcode/id497799835?mt=12

BBEdit

Clean and simple HTML & text editor, made by Bare Bones Software.

Cost: USD $49.99 (direct download or via Mac App Store)

Link: https://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/

MacDown

An open source markdown editor for macOS.

Cost: Free

Link: https://macdown.uranusjr.com/

Visual Studio Code

Microsoft's source code editor in a lightweight, open source, cross-platform application.

Cost: Free

Link: https://code.visualstudio.com/

Productivity

Slack

Team chat and productivity client. Anyone can create a free team with ten integrations. (Join the MacAdmins Slack!)

Cost: Free teams with limited capabilities, additonal pricing can be found here

Link: https://slack.com/downloads/osx

Trello

Use Trello's boards, lists, and cards to organize and prioritize your projects. Free, browser-based and mobile app interface.

Cost: Free, with paid features available.

Link: https://trello.com/

Google Keep

Virtual sticky notes, lists, photos, and audio.

Cost: Included with Gmail accounts.

Link: https://www.google.com/keep/

LastPass

LastPass stores your passwords and makes it easy to auto-fill and quickly sign into webapps without retyping your credentials. It also helps generate new passwords and warns you when use the same password for different services.

Cost: Free, with paid features available.

Link: https://www.lastpass.com/

Taskade

Create simple and minimal checklists, notes and outlines. Taskade is collaborative and syncs in real-time across all devices. Free, browser-based and mobile app interface.

Cost: Free, with paid features available.

Link: https://taskade.com/

Power Ups

AppCleaner

A small application which allows you to thoroughly uninstall unwanted apps.

Cost: Free

Link: https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

Amphetamine

A caffeine replacement that prevents your Mac from sleeping on demand.

Cost: Free in the Mac App Store

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/amphetamine/id937984704?mt=12

vfuse

A handy script that converts a never-booted DMG into a VMware Fusion VM.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/chilcote/vfuse

Spruce

Works with your Jamf server to identify objects not currently being used, out of date, or are generally "crufty".

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/sheagcraig/Spruce

Recategorizer

Quickly recategorize policies and packages in Jamf Pro, and even more unused categories.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/sheagcraig/Recategorizer

Yo

Custom user notifications with Swift.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/sheagcraig/yo

Jamf Migrator

A tool to migrate data granularly between Jamf Pro servers.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/jamfprofessionalservices/JamfMigrator

Giphy Capture

Easily capture GIFs from your Mac, great for documentation.

Cost: Free from the Mac App Store.

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/giphy-capture-the-gif-maker/id668208984?mt=12

Wallcat

Rotates through beautiful new desktop wallpapers

Cost: USD $1.99 in the Mac App Store.

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wallcat/id1000397973?mt=12

Stronghold

Easily configure macOS security settings from the terminal.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/alichtman/stronghold

Rectangle

Move and resize windows in macOS using keyboard shortcuts or snap areas

Cost: Free

Link: https://rectangleapp.com/

Icons.app

Icons.app is an application for macOS which enables you to create graphics files in PNG format, for use with management tools like Jamf Software's Jamf Pro or the open source Munki software installation tool.

Cost: N/A

Link: https://github.com/SAP/macOS-icon-generator

License

To the extent possible under law, Emily Kausalik has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.

readme.md

Awesome Mac Admin Tools

Contents

Deployment

Packages.app

Composer

Payload-Free Package Creator

munki-pkg

AutoPkg

AutoPkgr

Suspicious Package

Apparency

AutoDMG

Nudge

Low Profile

Onboarding Experience

Splash Buddy

Octory

ADEPT

DEP Notify

Command-line tools

MIST - macOS Installer Super Tool

Helper Menus

SupportApp

NoMAD

Hello-IT

moss

MacDNA

Pareto Security

Text Editing

Atom

Sublime Text

Xcode

BBEdit

MacDown

Visual Studio Code

Productivity

Slack

Trello

Google Keep

LastPass

Taskade

Power Ups

AppCleaner

Amphetamine

vfuse

Spruce

Recategorizer

Yo

Jamf Migrator

Giphy Capture

Wallcat

Stronghold

Rectangle

Icons.app

License