Files and configuration

Everything Eskele writes lives in one directory:

~/Library/Application Support/Eskele/
  settings.json      edge, displays, toggles
  layout.json        pinned items (bookmark + bundle ID)
  badges.json        the commands behind any badge the Dock does not carry
  progress.json      commands that put a progress bar on a cell
  Icons/             images that replace a cell's icon, named after the cell
  dock-backup.json   your Dock preferences as they were before Eskele touched them

Plus the diagnostics, written on demand:

  diagnose.txt           --diagnose
  diagnose-windows.txt   --diagnose-windows
  diagnose-badges.txt    --diagnose-badges
  diagnose-progress.txt  --diagnose-progress

settings.json

Every toggle, edge, scale and choice. It is hand-editable, though Settings is easier and it is rewritten whenever you change something there.

One value cannot be edited past its check: turning off both the menu bar icon and the Apps Menu would leave no way back into Settings, so whichever one is left is locked on. Editing the file past that just puts the icon back on the next launch.

Exporting, importing and restoring defaults

Settings ▸ General ▸ Transfer and Reset does the three things you would otherwise do to this file by hand:

• Export Settings… saves a copy — the same bytes as settings.json — anywhere you choose.
• Import Settings… reads one back, from this Mac or another. A file with a bad value loses just that value, and a file that is not settings at all — layout.json, say — is refused rather than read as a set of defaults.
• Restore Defaults… asks first, then puts every setting back to how a new installation has it.

Importing and restoring defaults both leave the System Dock choices as they are on this Mac, and neither touches the other files here: pinned items and their names, custom icons, badge and progress sources. A reset keeps your Custom design under its tile, so the layout you had is one click away.

layout.json

The pinned items, in order, each as a security-scoped bookmark plus a bundle identifier. The bookmark is what lets a pinned file survive being moved.

This file’s order is read as an instruction only under Order ▸ As Arranged. Under the other two it is a tie-break, so equal items never swap places between rebuilds. See Order.

badges.json and progress.json

Both are created on first run, empty, with worked examples inside them. They mirror each other key for key. See Badges and Progress.

Commands in both run through /bin/sh as you, with a 10-second timeout, no more often than interval seconds. Nothing runs until you put something in the file.

Icons/

Images that replace a cell’s icon, named after the cell — com.apple.Safari.png, trash.png, apps-menu.png. The folder is watched, so a change shows up straight away. See Appearance.

dock-backup.json

Your com.apple.dock preferences as they were before Eskele touched them. Written before anything is changed and read back when Eskele quits — including after a crash, on the next launch. See Hiding the system Dock.