Lingon

Lingon X 9

Run whatever you want, whenever you want

Lingon can start an app, run a script or a command whenever you want. You can schedule it to run at a specific time, regularly or when something special happens.

It can also make sure that an app or a script automatically restarts if it crashes.

Lingon is very easy to use yet extremely powerful. It is a fully featured launchd editor and has also many advanced features like running jobs as root and see the log for each job.

It can also monitor all jobs in the background and show a notification when something changes.

Download Lingon X 9 ↓

Free to download and try out.

Lingon X 9 is the best ever Lingon with many new features and improvements:

• Easier to use with a refined user interface
• Smart folders to organize the jobs the way you want to
• A power feature to wake or sleep the Mac
• Better and more flexible way to schedule jobs
• A new Go feature to quickly go to anything
• Themes to change fonts and colors for text
• Faster and uses less memory and energy
• Translated to Ukrainian and Hindi
• List jobs disabled by the system
• Optimized for macOS 13 Ventura
• Many, many other improvements and bug fixes

Screenshots

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Two major versions

There are two major versions of Lingon available: Lingon X and Lingon 3.
Lingon X is not available in Mac App Store because of its rules limiting what an app can do.

Lingon X versions

How can I get a license for an earlier version?

You can only buy a license for the latest version but if you need a license for an earlier version you can get it by following these two steps:

1. First buy a license for the latest version from the store (you can of course keep this license for when you upgrade your macOS)
2. Then send a mail to us with the order ID and the version that you want the license for. We will then generate a license for you and send it to you.

Earlier versions do not include all features listed on this site.

Lingon 3

Buy Lingon 3 for $5.99 in Mac App Store →

Lingon 3 requires macOS 10.9 Mavericks or later.

You can do many things with Lingon X. Here are a few examples:

Create a new job

1. Choose New from the File menu
2. Give the job a unique name
3. Decide if you want to run the job only when you are logged in, for every user that is logged in or as “root” to run at directly when the mac boots up and with all privileges
4. Choose if you want to run a command, a script, an app or a shortcut under Run and specify what you want run
5. Choose when you want the job to run and if you want it to restart automatically after a crash
6. Click Save to load the job

Edit an existing job

1. Select the job from the list
2. Make the changes you want and choose Save to save and reload the job

Delete an existing job

1. Select the job from the list
2. Choose Delete from the File menu

Here is some information about the General settings. For more advanced settings, choose Advanced at the top and then either hover over a control to see the tooltip or choose “man launchd.plist” from the Help menu to see what they do.

Name

You need to give your job a unique name which no other job on the computer uses or it will not run properly. If you don’t give it a name Lingon will give it an automatic name.

Enabled

If this is turned off, it will stop the job and the job will not run until it is turned on again.

For

If you choose your own name it will only run when you are logged in. If you choose to run it for “Everyone” then it will run when any user is logged in. And if you choose to run it as “root” then it will load directly when you Mac boots up and run as the privileged “root” user. Please note that you may need to authenticate as an administrator when saving using the last two settings.

Run

Write a command, a script or choose an app or a shortcut. The easiest way to get everything right is to use the action button and Choose... to select what you want to run. If you write a script please use the whole paths to any commands in the script.

When

Here you can choose when your job should run

• At startup and when saving: starts the job when you save it and when you login or start the computer
• Launch again if it crashes: keeps the job running all the time and restarts it if it crashes. Use SuccessfulExit under Advanced to change if it should restart automatically if you manually quit it.
• Schedule: here you set when it should run or if you want to want it to run repeatedly and with what interval, press the plus button to add more items

I recently bought a license for Lingon X 8, can I upgrade for free to Lingon X 9?

If you bought a license on or after 1 August 2022 you can get a free upgrade. Contact us with proof of purchase and we’ll send you a new license. If you bought Lingon X 8 before that date you need to buy a Lingon X 9 license.

Is it optimized for Apple silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)?

Yes.

Why doesn’t my job run? My command/script runs in Terminal so why does it not work in Lingon X?

macOS nowadays requires extra permissions for many things to allow them to run and Terminal might already has those permission. So one needs to add the required permissions for your thing to allow it to run. The easiest way to do that is to create an app and run it instead. You can do that by choosing “Build an App” from Run in Command and Script and also from Edit Script. After you have built your app, double click on it in Finder once and the system will ask you for the required permissions and then you can make sure that the app is chosen in Run.

You can also check to see that the whole paths to any commands are included and if you run a script that references or outputs files, that you include the whole path. And for any script that you run make sure that the script is an executable or is run with a command such as “/bin/sh”. And if your job uses relative paths you can set the WorkingDirectory under Paths so that all files can be found.

If the system has disabled the job for some reason (check it in Disabled from the Tools menu) you can try to simple change the name slightly (for instance add a number).

You can also check that all paths under Path for instance for StandardErrorPath are writable for the user that runs the job, otherwise the system might not run the job.

As a another possible solution you can try to run a command in a shell like this in “Run” (you can do this automatically from the action menu button next to the text field):

/bin/sh -c "your command here"

I can’t update Lingon X, what is wrong?

Because of security measures in macOS you have to move the app at least once before you can update it. So if for instance you downloaded the app to the Downloads folder on your Mac, quit the app and then just move it to the /Applications folder and then you can update it.

Is there a demo version?

For Lingon X you can download the app and you’ll have all the functionality except that you can’t save or delete a job until you buy a license. Lingon 3 does not have a demo version.

How does the Power feature work?

With Power from the Tools menu you can schedule your Mac to for instance wake or sleep at any time. At the moment you can only schedule one kind at the time. And it only works if your Mac is connected to a power source.

How does Smart Folders work?

You can create a new smart folder by choosing New Smart Folder from the File menu. With that smart folder you can organize your jobs the way you want by adding and changing various rules in that user interface and that folder will always display all jobs that matches those rules. You can use things like enabled status, all launchd.plist keys, tags and other things to create those rules. And in the bottom part of that view you can see a preview of all the jobs that will match your rules. You can edit the rules of by choosing Smart Folders from the Tools menu.

Where can I find the status of a job?

The status of a job can now be found in Info (from the File menu) for that job. If it is running it also shows the PID. The value is automatically updated every few seconds.

What is Disabled in the Tools menu?

The system can for a number of reasons disable a job and then it won’t run whatever settings Lingon X uses. The disabled jobs are usually shown in some special system files and you can see the disabled jobs in them by showing Disabled from the Tools menu. Unfortunately there isn’t an easy way to change this in the system so the easiest solution is to rename the job in Lingon X.

How does the Log feature work?

When you use the Log feature for an applicable job, Lingon X tries to filter the system logs for that job and show it to you. It can take a while to process the logs and make sure that you use a unique name for your job to make sure that it can find the appropriate log items. You can also change the time span that it should look for (longer time spans may not show all results for that period) and filter and sort the result. When running Lingon X as a non-administrator user it may not show all results.

How does the Lingon’s own agent work and why do I get a notification?

Lingon X includes an agent that can run in the background and restarts automatically after a restart. It monitors the folders where jobs are saved and shows a notification (not when Lingon X is the current app) when a job is added, modified or deleted. See Preferences > Notifications how you can turn off the agent completely or for individual jobs.

What is the com.peterborgapps.LingonX4Agent process?

com.peterborgapps.LingonX4Agent is the process name for the Lingon X Agent that runs in the background to show notifications when Lingon X is not running. It can be turned on and off in Preferences > Notifications.

What is launchd?

Lingon lets you run things automatically by modifying configuration files for the system process called launchd. This means that you can also edit or remove jobs created by other apps in Lingon. And the system handles running the jobs in the background so you don’t need to have Lingon open after you have saved your job.

How can I stop a job?

The easiest way to stop a job is to turn off Enabled. If you want to permanently delete the job you can do it with Delete in the File menu.

Can I run a job as “root”?

Yes, in Lingon X you can change “For” to “root”. In Lingon 3 there is no way to run it directly as root to comply with Mac App Store rules.

Will the job continue to run if I close Lingon?

Yes. The jobs are run by the system so you can close Lingon when you have saved a job after configuring it.

How can I quit an application?

There isn’t any built-in support for quitting a normal application. But you can do it with an AppleScript command, for instance to quit Mail write this command in Run:

/usr/bin/osascript -e 'tell application "Mail" to quit'

How can I buy a license?

You can buy the Lingon X version from our web store. You can buy Lingon 3 from the Mac App Store.

How do I register the license?

Choose License... from the Lingon X menu and input the exact values you received in the confirmation mail.

Is VAT included in the EU prices?

Yes. And if you are registered as a company in EU and has a valid VAT ID you can buy it without VAT.

Why are some jobs gray?

Jobs that aren’t enabled and will not run are shown in a secondary color.

How can I revert to an old version of a job?

Select a job and then choose Revert To in the File menu and then choose the date of the version that you want to revert to. This feature is path based so if you delete a job you can create a new file with the same name in the same folder and then choose an older version of the job. To delete all old revisions you can delete this file:

~home folder~/Library/Application Support/Lingon X/Revisions.plist

How can I run a job after startup at the login window?

Choose LoginWindow at the LimitLoadToSessionType under Limits and then it will run when the login window appears and there is then no need to run the job as a root daemon.

What happens if my Mac is asleep?

If your Mac is at sleep when a job is scheduled to run, it will run directly once your Mac has been turned on again. And if it would have run multiple times during the time it was asleep it will coalesce them so it will only run once.

How does Info work?

For launchd jobs Info shows the path to the file and the parts are clickable to open the folder in Finder. For jobs that are editable you can edit the plist directly if you want. And you can also choose to see the system’s own internal information about the job. For other kind of jobs it will show as much information about the job as possible.

Is the PATH variable set?

launchd doesn’t by default have the same PATH environment variable as for instance Terminal. Lingon X tries to help the user by writing the PATH environment variable to the EnvironmentVariables in the job. Lingon X only writes the PATH if it hasn’t already been set. The PATH that Lingon X writes is combined from /etc/paths, the files in /etc/paths.d, the default PATH used to launch all apps and then /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/sbin are also added. You can turn off this behaviour in Preferences.

How does Notes work?

Lingon X makes it possible for you to save a note for each job, even system jobs that can’t be edited. Select a job and then under Notes in the Advanced tab, click in the text field and the text you write is saved automatically. The notes are saved in the home folder so they are accessible only for that user. To delete all notes, delete this file:

~home folder~/Library/Application Support/Lingon X/Notes.plist

How does Tags work?

Lingon X makes it possible for you to tag jobs with a word and organize them to only show those jobs by clicking on the word under Tags in the sidebar. You do this in Tags in the Advanced tab. The tags are saved automatically and they are delimited by a space, comma or a semicolon. To delete all tags, delete this file:

~home folder~/Library/Application Support/Lingon X/Tags.plist

How can I run a job directly when the Mac boots?

Create a new job and choose to run it for “root” and then the job will start directly when the Mac boots and no user needs to have logged in.

What does the different view modes show?

• Grid - Lingon X tries to find and display the icon for what should run. If the job is disabled, its color will change and a disabled icon will show instead of the normal icon. If the job cannot be edited it will also show an extra icon.
• Tree - The jobs are listed hierarchically and also shows how many jobs each kind contains so that one can get an overview. To show all the jobs for a particular kind, one needs to expand that item.
• List - Lists all jobs and one can sort all the jobs with each column. One can also hide columns from the View menu or by ctrl-clicking on the table header.
• Timeline - It shows when the jobs that has a defined date will run (if a job has a repeat interval set it is shown at the top with its interval). The timeline shows dates up to one month from the current time.

What Login Items are shown?

Lingon X shows the login items that are shown in System Preferences/Settings and these can be deleted but otherwise not modified.

Lingon X also tries to show apps from any application that include its own login items. These jobs cannot be deleted or turned off from Lingon X. You need to open its app to change that setting, if you select the login item in Lingon X you can choose Reveal in Finder from the File menu to open the app and change the setting.

How can I delete a key from a launchd plist?

You can delete a key by holding the Option key when unchecking a boolean value or when the key type is for instance a string, you do it by emptying the value completely.

How do I set a custom icon to a job?

Select the job and drag the image to icon field in the editing part of the window or click on the icon in the editing part and paste a copied image from the pasteboard. You can delete a custom icon by selecting it and press Delete/Backspace on the keyboard.

What does a “•” mean after a title in the settings part?

It means that section has a setting changed from the default and one can see the setting by clicking on the expand button.

Is Lingon similar to cron?

Lingon (and launchd) works in a similar way to cron but it is more powerful and the scheduling is a bit different. There is no direct conversion available from a cron job to a Lingon job but one can most often set up the Lingon job to run at the same time as a cron job. You can see all the cron jobs for the current user by selecting “cron” under “Groups” in the sidebar.

What does the Background Items show in Ventura and later?

In Ventura and later you can see more information about background items from the system by choosing Background Items from the Tools menu. These are items that are shown in System Settings > General > Login Items. You can e.g. search items to find an identifier you are looking for. Unfortunately it is not possible to change these in any way.

You can see some more information about this here: https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/depdca572563/web

You can also reset the items by using the Reset button if you are e.g. troubleshooting something and please try to restart your Mac after that, and the system will regenerate the list.

Do I need to prepare anything to upgrade to version 9?

No. All jobs will keep working with the new version as well so you can just replace the old app and use the new.

How do I move all jobs to another Mac?

If you use Migrate Assistant to move your contents to the new Mac all Lingon jobs will be moved automatically. If you don’t use Migrate Assistant you can move all .plist files in these three folders to the new Mac manually:

• ~home folder~/Library/LaunchAgents
• /Library/LaunchAgents
• /Library/LaunchDaemons

And make sure that the permissions and owner and group for each file is the same on the new Mac as on the old.

Preferences (Lingon X)

General

• Appearance: keep the system default or override the system setting in Lingon X for light or dark mode
• Automatic: Help - tries to help automatically, for instance by changing “php” to “/usr/bin/php” in Run, it also tries to automatically select the appropriate Run section, like for instance Script for a job that runs a script
• Automatic: PATH - includes your value from the system for the environment variable PATH that otherwise isn’t included which can cause some jobs to not run
• Revisions - how many old versions of the job is saved internally so that you can revert to an old version from the File menu, set it to 0 if you don’t want any saved

Notifications

Agent: Run - turn on or off the Lingon X Agent that runs all the time in the background to monitor the job folders for any changes even when Lingon X is not running. How the notification is presented is decided by the setting for Lingon X Agent in System Preferences/Settings > Notifications.

Under “All” you can turn on or off showing a notification for individual jobs. For instance, if you have one special job that you do not want to be shown a notification for. The list is based on the job’s name. If a job is disabled (gray) it because it is has been excluded by a prefix under “Exclude”.

Under “Exclude” you can with a prefix exclude many jobs. For instance, if you do not want to be shown a notification whenever one of Apple’s jobs is changed you can add “com.apple” to the list

Themes

Here you decide first which theme the light or dark appearance should use. And below that you can select one of the themes and then edit its fonts and colors.

Advanced

• Internal helper tools: Show - decides whether or not to show the tools that Lingon X uses for the user to authenticate as an administrator
• Internal helper tools: Uninstall - this uninstalls the internal helper tools that Lingon X uses for the user to authenticate as an administrator (this is normally done automatically when one quits Lingon X).

Release notes

9.6

• Updated for macOS 15 Sequoia
• Faster
• Some internal changes and improvements
• Some small bug fixes and improvements

9.5

• Fixed a problem with Settings/Preferences
• Fixed a possible problem with showing jobs
• Some internal changes and improvements
• Some small bug fixes and improvements

9.4

• Added BundleProgram and SpawnConstraint settings
• Updated for macOS 14 Sonoma
• Some small bug fixes and improvements

9.3

• See more information from the Tools menu about background items in System Settings in Ventura
• It is also possible to reset those background items
• Some small bug fixes and improvements

9.2

• Made it easier and better to perform actions as the root user in Ventura
• Many small bug fixes and improvements

9.1

• Added button to open the selected shortcut in the Shortcuts app
• Added button in Preferences - Advanced to manually uninstall internal helpers (this is normally done automatically)
• Some small bug fixes and improvements

By using the licensed or demo version of Lingon X you agree to the following:

• Lingon X is licensed to you, not sold
• A standard license allows you to use Lingon X on all computers that you personally own and control
• An upgrade license can only be used if you have a previous Lingon app from Mac App Store or a license for Lingon X
• A site license can be used on an unlimited amount of computers within a single organization on the same physical site, for instance a school or an office building
• Do not share your license information with external parties
• If you get a refund within 14 days you cannot use it anymore
• Comply with all applicable laws
• Be kind and considerate to others
• The copyright of Lingon X is owned by Peter Borg Apps AB and is protected by copyright laws
• Lingon X is provided “as is” and Peter Borg Apps AB expressly disclaims any warranty for it
• In no event shall Peter Borg Apps AB be liable for any damages rising out of use of Lingon X