The Mac Agent Service Launcher is a background utility designed to manage the lifecycle of the discovery agent on macOS devices. It ensures that the agent service remains active, handles automatic updates, and facilitates the secure transmission of hardware and software inventory data to your service desk. 

Note: Available only for new signups after the 31 March, 2026 release. If you signed up earlier, refer to the existing ITAM documentation.

Install and launch the Mac Agent service launcher

To set up the service launcher manually, follow these steps:

1. Go to Admin > Asset Management > Discovery Hub > Remote Collectors and agents > External tools > MacOS Service Wrapper for the Discovery Agent.

2. Download the MacOS - ARM or MacOS - Intel based on your requirement.

3. Download the .plist file from the service launcher configuration page.

4. Place the agent executable and the associated configuration file in the /opt/device42/ directory.

5. Modify the .plist file as required based on your setup and required options. For example, you can change the StartInterval to configure how often the agent will run, or configure other options to pass as ProgramArguments.

6. Move the .plist file to the /Library/LaunchDaemons/ directory.

7. Open the Terminal application.

8. Run the following command to load the service: 
   sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/<plist_file_name>.

The service launcher is now installed and will start automatically.

Make changes to the .plist file

If you make changes to the .plist file, you need to unload and then load it again by running the commands below:
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/<plist file name>
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/<plist file name>

To make sure that the file is correctly loaded, run:
sudo launchctl list | grep device42

Install using MDM

To deploy in bulk using MDM, follow these steps:

1. Package the Launch Agent using Composer and deploy it via the JSS, Casper Remote, or ARD.

Include the following as a post-flight script to set some permissions and load the agent. Right-click Scripts, click Shell Script, and then post flight. #!/bin/bash chown root. "/Library/LaunchDaemons/NAMEOF.plist" chmod 644 "/Library/LaunchDaemons/NAMEOF.plist" launchctl load "/Library/LaunchDaemons/NAMEOF.plist"

Notes:

• By default, logs are stored under /var/log or as otherwise configured in the .plist file.

• The agent_local.log file is in the default /opt/device42 working directory.