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macctl and Summon on a real Mac: results (2026-10-18)

Plan: plans/2026-10-18-readme-plugin-home-mac-test.md, section 3. Mac: macOS 26.6.2 (25G83), Swift 6.4, Xcode selected. Branch test/macctl-on-mac.

0. Backup

defaults export of com.apple.dock, com.apple.finder, NSGlobalDomain, com.apple.screencapture and both trackpad domains, plus dark mode (Dark) and the wallpaper path, saved to ~/macctl-backup-20261018-093639/.

1. Build

• macctl: release build and swift test, 82 tests pass. Installed to ~/.local/bin/macctl.
• Summon: release build, swift test 39 tests pass, scripts/bundle.sh + scripts/install.sh install ~/Applications/Summon.app and 9 themes.

2. Smoke test: pass

• doctor: Automation of System Events granted, snapshots folder writable.
• list --json: 19 settings (the plan said 18; desktop.wallpaper was added since), every field present.
• describe and get exit 0 for all 19 ids.
• Exit codes: unknown_setting 1, invalid_value 1, usage error 64, snapshot_not_found 1.

3. Every setting: 19 of 19 pass

Per setting: get, --dry-run (1 change, nothing written), set, read back with defaults read / System Events, undo, read back again. All 19 wrote the right native value and undo restored it. A key that was unset before is deleted again on undo, as designed.

Not done: the human look at the screen per setting, the logout for keyboard settings, and the ⌘⇧4 check for the screenshot folder. verifiedOn stays empty until Rohi does that look.

Bug found and fixed (865dff3): the previous wallpaper pointed at a file that no longer existed (an image from a removed Raycast extension). undo failed with invalid_value, and because it always picks the newest snapshot, every later undo failed too, so a full-profile undo would have been stuck. Undo now skips a value that can no longer be written, says so in notes, and still records the undo. set and apply warn up front: "Undo cannot restore the current desktop.wallpaper (no such file)."

4. End to end: pass

• diff profiles/default.json: 6 changes. apply --dry-run, then apply: 6 changes, logout note for the two keyboard settings.
• diff again: empty. Second apply: 0 changes, no snapshot.
• undo: 6 changes restored, then no_snapshots.
• Compared with the backup: every key matches except com.apple.dock tilesize, which came back as the integer 52 instead of the real 52.0 the Dock had written (macctl writes -int). Harmless; reset to the original with defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -float 52.

5. Themes and wallpapers: pass

• summon theme set summon-dawn: light mode and the Dawn wallpaper through macctl, Ghostty, borders and Claude Code theme files written. summon undo-session restored dark mode and the previous wallpaper.
• summon theme set summon-night and undo-session: same, pass.
• Known gap: ~/.config is not a git repo, so undo-session leaves the generated theme files and summon theme current still says the last theme set.

6. Dogfood: pass, with skill fixes

Seven plain-language asks to a fresh headless Claude Code session in this repo, one resumed session.

Ask	What the agent did
hide my Dock	macctl set dock.autohide true, reported the snapshot. No --dry-run first; confirmed with defaults read; told the user macctl undo dock.autohide (wrong: undo takes a snapshot id).
show file extensions	Read the current value, said it was already on, changed nothing.
set my wallpaper to Tokyo Night	Did not find Summon's installed tokyo-night theme; downloaded an Omarchy image from GitHub with curl, then macctl set desktop.wallpaper. Warned up front that undo could not restore the old picture.
turn on dark mode	Already on, changed nothing.
make my key repeat as fast as possible	macctl apply of a two-setting profile (1 and 10, the catalog minimums), no diff first; mentioned the logout.
turn on night shift	Said plainly macctl has no such setting and did not run a raw command.
undo that wallpaper change	macctl undo <snapshot id>; reported honestly that the old file is gone, and corrected its earlier undo hint.

Never bypassed macctl for a write, always reported snapshot ids, mentioned the logout. Misses fixed in the MacSetup skill: always --dry-run first, confirm with macctl get, undo takes a snapshot id, and use summon theme for theme wallpapers instead of downloading.

The old wallpaper path came back between tests: a Raycast extension sets Loupe.heic and later deletes the file, so macctl snapshots a path that soon disappears. Undo's skip-with-note handles it.

7. README demos

tools/record-demos.sh recorded every transcript empty: the redact step took its Python source from a heredoc on stdin, so the piped output never reached it. Fixed (099f520), recorded real output (9557704); the home folder now shows as ~. No GIF: vhs is not installed.

Other notes

• summon checkpoint ids are UTC while macctl snapshot ids are local time.
• summon path before install.sh prints ~/.local/bin (the binary's folder), which has no themes.