macOS Launch Agent for GitHub Actions Runner - Automatically runs ./run.sh in background at bootup with auto-restart and logging

com.github.actions-runner.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>Label</key>
    <string>com.github.actions-runner</string>

    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/bin/bash</string>
        <string>/Users/kyle/actions-runner/run.sh</string>
    </array>

    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
    <string>/Users/kyle/actions-runner</string>

    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>

    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>

    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/actions-runner.log</string>

    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/actions-runner.error.log</string>

    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>PATH</key>
        <string>/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin</string>
        <key>HOME</key>
        <string>/Users/kyle</string>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

install-launch-agent.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Colors for output
RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
NC='\033[0m' # No Color

echo "Setting up GitHub Actions Runner Launch Agent..."

# Check if run.sh exists
if [ ! -f "./run.sh" ]; then
    echo -e "${RED}Error: run.sh not found in current directory${NC}"
    exit 1
fi

# Make run.sh executable
chmod +x ./run.sh

# Copy plist to LaunchAgents directory
PLIST_NAME="com.github.actions-runner.plist"
LAUNCH_AGENTS_DIR="$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents"

# Create LaunchAgents directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p "$LAUNCH_AGENTS_DIR"

# Copy the plist file
cp "$PLIST_NAME" "$LAUNCH_AGENTS_DIR/"

# Load the launch agent
launchctl load "$LAUNCH_AGENTS_DIR/$PLIST_NAME" 2>/dev/null

# Start the service
launchctl start com.github.actions-runner

echo -e "${GREEN}Launch agent installed successfully!${NC}"
echo ""
echo "The GitHub Actions runner will now:"
echo "  • Start automatically at boot"
echo "  • Restart if it crashes"
echo "  • Log output to /tmp/actions-runner.log"
echo "  • Log errors to /tmp/actions-runner.error.log"
echo ""
echo "Useful commands:"
echo "  View status:  launchctl list | grep com.github.actions-runner"
echo "  Stop:         launchctl stop com.github.actions-runner"
echo "  Unload:       launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$PLIST_NAME"
echo "  View logs:    tail -f /tmp/actions-runner.log"