CLI Apps Quit

`ed apps quit`

Plans or applies a request to quit one running app, or every unprotected app. Finder, Edith, and Edith's menu bar helper are always protected.

ed apps quit <app> [--force] [--yes] [--json]
ed apps quit --all [--force] [--yes] [--json]

Without --yes, both forms are previews. They resolve the exact targets, print the plan, change nothing, and do not require Edith to be running.

Arguments

Name	Type / values	Default	What it does
`<app>`	running app name or bundle id	none	Select an exact name, exact bundle id, or unambiguous name prefix. Required unless `--all` is used. Running names and bundle ids complete dynamically.

Options

Name	Type / values	Default	What it does
`--all`	flag	off	Select every app except Finder and both Edith processes. Cannot be combined with an app name.
`--force`	flag	off	Plan or request `forceTerminate` instead of a normal quit. This can prevent an app from saving.
`--yes`	flag	off	Apply the exact plan. Required for named targets and `--all`.
`--json`	flag	off	Emit one JSON document on stdout.
`--help`, `-h`	flag	off	Print help and exit 0.
`--version`	flag	off	Print the CLI version and exit 0.

Naming neither a target nor --all exits 1. Combining both also exits 1:

$ ed apps quit
error: say which app to quit
hint: pass a name, or --all

$ ed apps quit --all Safari
error: --all quits everything, so it takes no app name

Resolution tries a case-insensitive exact name, a case-insensitive exact bundle id, then an unambiguous name prefix. Missing and ambiguous targets exit 3. Protected named targets exit 1 before any request is sent.

Preview and apply

A named preview is one line on stdout:

$ ed apps quit Spotify
would quit Spotify; pass --yes to apply

An all-app preview includes the exact names captured by the plan:

$ ed apps quit --all
would quit 3 apps: Music, Safari, Spotify; pass --yes to apply

Previews work while Edith is closed. Applying needs the menu bar helper because confirmed execution stays in Edith's app-owned operation path:

$ ed apps quit Spotify --yes
Edith accepted quit for 1 of 1 apps

If the helper is closed, only the confirmed form exits 4:

error: quitting apps needs the Edith menu bar app to be running
hint: start Edith, then retry

`--json` shape

Preview and apply use the same stable object. applied says whether execution was requested. acknowledged says whether Edith answered. requested is the exact target count and changed is how many termination requests macOS accepted. Neither count proves that every app has already closed.

{
  "acknowledged": false,
  "applied": false,
  "changed": 0,
  "force": false,
  "operation": "apps.quit",
  "requested": 1,
  "targets": [
    {
      "active": false,
      "bundleID": "com.spotify.client",
      "name": "Spotify",
      "pid": 18719
    }
  ]
}

With --yes, the same plan becomes:

{
  "acknowledged": true,
  "applied": true,
  "changed": 1,
  "force": false,
  "operation": "apps.quit",
  "requested": 1,
  "targets": [
    {
      "active": false,
      "bundleID": "com.spotify.client",
      "name": "Spotify",
      "pid": 18719
    }
  ]
}

Behaviour notes

The CLI and System page use the same EdithKit operation center for discovery, resolution, protected-app filtering, exact target planning, and execution. The System page's confirmation dialogs supply the confirmation that --yes supplies on the command line.

Confirmed CLI execution sends the exact planned PIDs, force mode and a unique request id. The helper validates protected bundle ids again, calls terminate() or forceTerminate(), and replies with the matching request id and accepted count. A missing reply exits 4 instead of claiming success.

An app with unsaved changes may show a save dialog and remain open after macOS accepts the termination request. Check the list again when a script needs to know whether the target closed:

ed apps quit Spotify --yes
sleep 2
ed apps ls --json | jq -r '.[].name'

--force skips normal termination and can lose unsaved work. It still requires --yes.

Examples

ed apps quit Spotify
ed apps quit Spotify --yes
ed apps quit com.spotify.client --force --yes
ed apps quit --all --json
ed apps quit --all --yes --json