macOS Spotlight and Launch Services fixer

spotlight-fixer

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -u

readonly SCRIPT_NAME="spotlight-fixer"
readonly LSREGISTER="/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister"

usage() {
    cat <<'EOF'
Usage:
  spotlight-fixer                 Rebuild the application registration database
  spotlight-fixer --doctor        Check Spotlight and application-search health
  spotlight-fixer --rebuild-index Re-register apps and erase/rebuild the Spotlight index
  spotlight-fixer --help          Show this help

The full Spotlight rebuild is intentionally opt-in because it can take time and
temporarily increase CPU and disk usage.
EOF
}

pass() { printf 'PASS: %s\n' "$1"; }
warn() { printf 'WARN: %s\n' "$1"; }
fail() { printf 'FAIL: %s\n' "$1"; }

doctor() {
    local status app_count launch_services
    printf '%s\n' "Spotlight doctor"
    printf '%s\n' "==============="

    if [[ "$(uname -s)" != "Darwin" ]]; then
        fail "This script requires macOS."
        return 1
    fi

    if [[ -x "$LSREGISTER" ]]; then
        pass "Launch Services utility is available."
    else
        fail "Launch Services utility not found at $LSREGISTER"
    fi

    status="$(mdutil -s / 2>&1 || true)"
    if grep -q 'Indexing enabled' <<<"$status"; then
        pass "Spotlight indexing is enabled for /."
    else
        fail "Spotlight indexing is not reported as enabled for /."
        printf '%s\n' "$status"
    fi

    app_count="$(mdfind -onlyin /Applications 'kMDItemContentType == "com.apple.application-bundle"' 2>/dev/null | sed '/^$/d' | wc -l | tr -d ' ')"
    if [[ "$app_count" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && (( app_count > 0 )); then
        pass "Spotlight can see $app_count application bundle(s) in /Applications."
    else
        fail "Spotlight returned no application bundles from /Applications."
    fi

    launch_services="$("$LSREGISTER" -dump 2>/dev/null | grep -c '^path:.*\.app' || true)"
    if [[ "$launch_services" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && (( launch_services > 0 )); then
        pass "Launch Services contains $launch_services application registration(s)."
    else
        warn "Could not count Launch Services application registrations."
    fi

    if defaults read com.apple.Spotlight DisabledUTTypes 2>/dev/null | grep -q 'com.apple.application-bundle'; then
        fail "Application bundles appear in Spotlight's disabled type list."
    else
        pass "Application bundles are not listed as a disabled Spotlight type."
    fi

    warn "macOS does not expose the Spotlight Privacy UI as a reliable command-line setting."
    warn "The indexing and /Applications query above are the practical privacy-exclusion checks."
    printf '%s\n' "Check System Settings > Siri & Spotlight > Search Results: Applications enabled."
    printf '%s\n' "Check System Settings > Siri & Spotlight > Spotlight Privacy: no /Applications exclusion."
}

fix_launch_services() {
    if [[ ! -x "$LSREGISTER" ]]; then
        printf 'ERROR: Launch Services utility not found: %s\n' "$LSREGISTER" >&2
        return 1
    fi

    printf '%s\n' "Re-registering applications with Launch Services..."
    "$LSREGISTER" -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
    killall Dock 2>/dev/null || true
    killall Finder 2>/dev/null || true
    printf '%s\n' "Application registration rebuilt."
}

rebuild_index() {
    printf '%s\n' "Erasing and rebuilding the Spotlight index for /..."
    sudo mdutil -E /
    printf '%s\n' "Spotlight rebuild requested. Indexing will continue in the background."
}

doctor_requested=0
rebuild_requested=0

for arg in "$@"; do
    case "$arg" in
        --doctor) doctor_requested=1 ;;
        --rebuild-index) rebuild_requested=1 ;;
        --help|-h) usage; exit 0 ;;
        *) printf 'ERROR: unknown option: %s\n\n' "$arg" >&2; usage >&2; exit 2 ;;
    esac
done

if (( doctor_requested )); then
    doctor
    exit $?
fi

fix_launch_services
if (( rebuild_requested )); then
    rebuild_index
fi
# End of script
#