Automating Removal of macOS Quarantine Attribute from VS Code Debug Binaries
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I'm developing on macOS and using Visual Studio Code (VS Code) for debugging applications. When I run or debug my code, VS Code often creates temporary executable binaries in my project's debug output directory.
macOS automatically applies the
com.apple.quarantine
extended attribute to these newly created binaries, likely because they are being generated by an application that might have been downloaded. This results in the usual macOS security prompt ("is an app downloaded from the internet...") the first time I try to run or debug them after a fresh build.
I am aware that I can manually remove this attribute using the terminal command:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/my/debug/binary
As seen in this existing Stack Exchange answer: [https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/436677/434175](https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/436677/434175)
However, I'm looking for a way to **automate this process within VS Code** or whitelisting in some apple settings so that I don't have to manually run this command every time a new debug binary is created within these project directories.
**My questions are:**
* Does VS Code have any built-in settings or features that can automatically handle the removal of the com.apple.quarantine
attribute for temporary debug binaries it generates on macOS?
* Are there any specific VS Code tasks or build configurations that I can set up to run a command (like the xattr
command) automatically after the build process for debug targets?
* Are there any relevant VS Code extensions that might provide this functionality?
* Are there any other recommended approaches within the VS Code ecosystem to streamline the debugging experience on macOS and avoid these quarantine prompts for locally built binaries?
I'm hoping to find a solution that integrates well with the macOS VS Code workflow and avoids the need for manual intervention each time I build and debug.
Asked by Tiger Kaovilai
(11 rep)
Apr 9, 2025, 08:30 PM