yabai --start-service could not be installed

[josephmr]

Issue

When trying to install fresh I run into the following when trying to use the new launchd service:

❯ yabai --start-service
yabai: service file '/Users/joseph/Library/LaunchAgents/com.koekeishiya.yabai.plist' is not installed! attempting installation..
yabai: service file '/Users/joseph/Library/LaunchAgents/com.koekeishiya.yabai.plist' could not be installed! abort..

System Info

❯ sw_vers
ProductName:		macOS
ProductVersion:		13.2.1
BuildVersion:		22D68

❯ yabai --version      
yabai-v5.0.4

❯ csrutil status
System Integrity Protection status: unknown (Custom Configuration).

Configuration:
	Apple Internal: disabled
	Kext Signing: enabled
	Filesystem Protections: disabled
	Debugging Restrictions: disabled
	DTrace Restrictions: enabled
	NVRAM Protections: disabled
	BaseSystem Verification: enabled
	Boot-arg Restrictions: disabled
	Kernel Integrity Protections: enabled
	Authenticated Root Requirement: enabled

This is an unsupported configuration, likely to break in the future and leave your machine in an unknown state.

[josephmr]

Resolved by manually creating the LaunchAgents directory

[koekeishiya]

Fixed in #1728

[zer0yu]

ISSUE

❯ yabai --start-service
yabai: service file '/Users/zero/Library/LaunchAgents/com.koekeishiya.yabai.plist' is not installed! attempting installation..

But

❯ brew services restart yabai

Error: Formula `yabai` has not implemented #plist, #service or installed a locatable service file

And my file '/Users/zero/Library/LaunchAgents/com.koekeishiya.yabai.plist' does exist, and its contents are as follows.

<?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.koekeishiya.yabai</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/yabai</string>
    </array>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>PATH</key>
        <string>/Users/zero/.nvm/versions/node/v12.22.12/bin:/Users/zero/go/bin:/usr/local/opt/libiconv/bin:/Users/zero/.jenv/shims:/Users/zero/.jenv/bin:/usr/local/Cellar/htpdate/1.3.4/sbin/:/usr/local/opt/[email protected]/sbin:/usr/local/opt/[email protected]/bin:/usr/local/opt/bison/bin:/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin:/usr/local/opt/openssl@3/bin:/Users/zero/anaconda3/bin:/Users/zero/anaconda3/condabin:/usr/local/bin:/System/Cryptexes/App/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Public:/Library/TeX/texbin:/usr/local/go/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/local/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/appleinternal/bin:/Applications/Fortify/Fortify_SCA_and_Apps_22.1.0/bin:/usr/local/bin</string>
    </dict>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <dict>
        <key>SuccessfulExit</key>
 	     <false/>
 	     <key>Crashed</key>
 	     <true/>
    </dict>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/yabai_zero.out.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/yabai_zero.err.log</string>
    <key>ProcessType</key>
    <string>Interactive</string>
    <key>Nice</key>
    <integer>-20</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

System Info

❯ sw_vers
ProductName:            macOS
ProductVersion:         13.4
BuildVersion:           22F66

❯ yabai --version
yabai-v5.0.6

[createchange]

ISSUE

❯ yabai --start-service
yabai: service file '/Users/zero/Library/LaunchAgents/com.koekeishiya.yabai.plist' is not installed! attempting installation..

But

❯ brew services restart yabai

Error: Formula `yabai` has not implemented #plist, #service or installed a locatable service file

And my file '/Users/zero/Library/LaunchAgents/com.koekeishiya.yabai.plist' does exist, and its contents are as follows.

<?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.koekeishiya.yabai</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/yabai</string>
    </array>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>PATH</key>
        <string>/Users/zero/.nvm/versions/node/v12.22.12/bin:/Users/zero/go/bin:/usr/local/opt/libiconv/bin:/Users/zero/.jenv/shims:/Users/zero/.jenv/bin:/usr/local/Cellar/htpdate/1.3.4/sbin/:/usr/local/opt/[email protected]/sbin:/usr/local/opt/[email protected]/bin:/usr/local/opt/bison/bin:/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin:/usr/local/opt/openssl@3/bin:/Users/zero/anaconda3/bin:/Users/zero/anaconda3/condabin:/usr/local/bin:/System/Cryptexes/App/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Public:/Library/TeX/texbin:/usr/local/go/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/local/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/appleinternal/bin:/Applications/Fortify/Fortify_SCA_and_Apps_22.1.0/bin:/usr/local/bin</string>
    </dict>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <dict>
        <key>SuccessfulExit</key>
 	     <false/>
 	     <key>Crashed</key>
 	     <true/>
    </dict>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/yabai_zero.out.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/yabai_zero.err.log</string>
    <key>ProcessType</key>
    <string>Interactive</string>
    <key>Nice</key>
    <integer>-20</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

System Info

❯ sw_vers
ProductName:            macOS
ProductVersion:         13.4
BuildVersion:           22F66

❯ yabai --version
yabai-v5.0.6

My personal laptop had no issues, but my work laptop had the same problem as you. I checked /Users/me/Library/LaunchAgents on both, and discovered my work computer had a file for that path, rather than a directory. I removed the file, created a directory, and then it worked.

[ncasdpo]

Solution for me was to run chmod 700 /Users/<username>/Library/LaunchAgents/com.koekeishiya.yabai.plist

Then I could run yabai --start-service