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Migrating from the legacy script-based Detect rollout? Run Legacy macOS Detect Cleanup before rolling out the .pkg so the old runlayer-scan artifacts don’t conflict with com.runlayer.aiwatch.

Overview

A signed, notarized aiwatch binary installs once per device via .pkg. Tenant config — the host and a single organization API key — is pushed via an MDM Configuration Profile; everything else (mode, Sessions, optional discovery, scan tuning) is managed in Runlayer settings and fetched by the device.

Capabilities

All behaviors ship in the same .pkg and a single deployment profile that combines the tenant config, PPPC / Full Disk Access, and Login Items payloads. The tenant-config payload supplies just the host and organization API key. Devices refresh behavior — Monitor / Protect / Enforce mode, Collect session data, optional discovery, and Advanced scan settings — from Settings → AI Watch → Manage settings during the hourly hook reconcile; no profile edit or re-push. AI Watch 0.29.6 or newer can also install or remove the managed Chrome and Firefox extensions from the Browser extension tab there. If you need multiple tenant configurations (different host or key), deploy one copy of the profile per group (the PPPC and Login Items payloads it carries are identical across copies; only the tenant-config values differ). Project and client-config detection is always enabled after AI Watch is installed. Before the first successful settings sync, the endpoint starts in Monitor with Sessions and optional runtime discovery disabled, so no hooks are installed. One organization API key authenticates AI Watch scans, hooks, session events, and managed updates; no enrollment keys are required.
  • Running-process and container discovery are disabled until the synced settings enable them.
  • Monitor is the default mode.
  • Sessions and hooks fail closed before settings sync. A successful settings sync or an explicit legacy MDM Sessions=true / Protect / Enforce setting enables them.
  • Sessions coverage follows the client surface. Installing the full hook set does not make a client emit events it does not support. Cursor’s classic IDE and Agents Window load the endpoint hook config, while Cursor CLI emits a subset. Cursor Cloud Agents require the separate repository/team hook collector; it is monitor-only and does not inherit endpoint configuration.
Hooks are installed whenever Mode is Protect/Enforce, Sessions is enabled, or Track MCP tool usage without content is enabled; otherwise AI Watch removes stale Runlayer hooks while preserving third-party hooks.
Legacy fleets only: on AI Watch builds that predate settings sync, push the native keys manually and pair them — Monitor with Enforcement=false, Protect and Enforce with Enforcement=true. A valid Mode value overrides the legacy Enforcement boolean.
On macOS and Windows, admins can change Mode, Sessions, process/container discovery, project depth, and project timeout from Settings → AI Watch → Manage settings. Devices fetch the complete settings snapshot during the privileged hook reconcile, typically within an hour, without an MDM policy update. On macOS with AI Watch 0.29.6 or newer, the same settings page can install or remove the managed Chrome and Firefox extensions and configure their mode and Sessions behavior without an MDM profile update. The tenant host, organization API key, and CPU/memory limits remain MDM-owned. Advanced scan tuning (optional). Detect scans walk each user’s home directory to a bounded depth within a per-scan time budget, and keep CPU and memory use within configurable caps. The defaults fit most fleets — override them only if scans miss deeply-nested project configs (raise depth), run out of time on very large home directories (raise timeout), or you want a smaller footprint on constrained hosts (lower the CPU / memory caps). All are integers. Project depth and timeout are delivered by the Runlayer settings sync on macOS and Windows; native MDM values remain a legacy fallback. CPU and memory caps remain MDM-owned (<integer> on macOS, matching AIWATCH_* MSI properties on Windows). Omit them to keep the defaults. Values outside the range are clamped; non-integer or non-positive values are ignored. The CPU / memory caps are best-effort: the scan is throttled to stay within the configured CPU budget and aborts if it exceeds the memory ceiling.

Prerequisites

  • Devices running macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer. The packaged binary does not load on macOS 13 or older; for those devices, use the manual CLI path instead.
  • Devices enrolled via UAMDM (User-Approved MDM) or DEP/ADE. TCC payloads are ignored on manually-enrolled MDM.
  • A single organization API key with the Shadow AI Scan role. Don’t create one by hand — the setup wizard in Settings → MDM configuration mints it when you create the configuration and pre-fills it into the downloaded profile. Only a wizard-minted key links devices to the configuration card. The same key authenticates scanning, enforcement, sessions, and managed updates.
  • Your Runlayer tenant host URL (e.g. https://your-instance.runlayer.com).
The macOS package supports Apple Silicon (arm64). For Intel Macs or other architectures, use the manual CLI path or contact your Runlayer account team.

Artifacts

Automatic updates are always on. The updater installs the version selected by your Client Updates policy; pin a version there to control what devices run.
Deploy the Configuration Profile before the .pkg. The profile must land in /Library/Managed Preferences/ and TCC before the bundled LaunchAgent’s first scan tick — otherwise aiwatch logs host not configured and TCC denies project-config reads until the next MDM sync.
Migrating from the split profiles? Earlier releases shipped three separate profiles (com.runlayer.aiwatch.config.mobileconfig, com.runlayer.aiwatch.pppc.mobileconfig, com.runlayer.aiwatch.loginitems.mobileconfig). The merged profile uses a new profile identifier, so it does not supersede them automatically — unscope/remove the three legacy profiles when you scope the merged one to avoid duplicate payloads.

Deployment

1

Get the deployment profile

Download com.runlayer.aiwatch.mobileconfig pre-filled from the setup wizard (Settings → MDM configuration) — it already carries your tenant host and org API key, plus the PPPC / Full Disk Access and Login Items payloads.If you hand-edit the template instead, open it in a text editor and replace the two tenant placeholders:
2

Upload the Configuration Profile

  1. Management → macOS → Profiles → Custom Profile.
  2. Upload com.runlayer.aiwatch.mobileconfig from step 1.
  3. Assign to your target device groups.
The bundled PPPC + Login Items payloads are pre-pinned to Developer ID team AF2M8HC7A2 — no edits required.
3

Upload the .pkg as a Custom Package

  1. Management → macOS → Applications → Add a New App → Custom Apps.
  2. Upload aiwatch-<version>-macos-arm64.pkg.
  3. Assign to the same device groups.
After deployment, change Mode, Sessions, optional process/container discovery, project depth, or project timeout from Settings → AI Watch → Manage settings; connected devices refresh them during the hourly hook reconcile. On AI Watch 0.29.6 or newer, open the Browser extension tab and turn on Install browser extension to install managed Chrome and Firefox without changing or re-deploying the profile. To rotate the API key or change resource limits or identity overrides, edit and re-deploy com.runlayer.aiwatch.mobileconfig. No .pkg reinstall. Keep each Apple PayloadVersion at 1.

Verification

On a test Mac after installation and configuration:
In the Runlayer dashboard, navigate to Shadow AI → Devices and confirm the test Mac appears.

Common post-deploy issues

On a manual test-device install, this one-time macOS 13+ notification is expected because no MDM Login Items profile pre-approves the scan LaunchAgent.On a managed deployment, confirm com.runlayer.aiwatch.mobileconfig (which carries the Login Items payload) is scoped to the same device group as the .pkg, then force an MDM sync and check:
Expect the Runlayer item to show enabled allowed visible.
Verify you are deploying the official signed and notarized release artifact:
Expected: a Developer ID Installer signature for Anysource Inc. and source=Notarized Developer ID.
For a manual install, confirm /usr/local/lib/runlayer/aiwatch/aiwatch is enabled under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. For MDM, the PPPC profile pins Full Disk Access to identifier com.runlayer.aiwatch and Developer ID team AF2M8HC7A2.Confirm the installed binary matches:
Expected: Authority=Developer ID Application: Anysource Inc. (AF2M8HC7A2) and Identifier=com.runlayer.aiwatch. Custom or ad-hoc signed builds will not satisfy the PPPC CodeRequirement.

Customize scan schedule (optional)

The bundled LaunchAgent ships with a 15-minute StartInterval. Most tenants don’t need to change it, and the interval is an operational tuning knob, not a security control — Detect coverage comes from the scan itself, not its cadence. On a managed fleet, push the script below via your MDM’s recurring-script mechanism (Jamf Policy, Kandji Custom Script, SimpleMDM Script, etc.). On a manual test Mac, run it directly with administrator access:
The next .pkg upgrade resets StartInterval to the bundled default — the override script must run on a recurring schedule, or be re-applied after each upgrade.

Upgrade

The root com.runlayer.aiwatch.update LaunchDaemon checks hourly and installs the signed + notarized .pkg at the version selected by your Runlayer tenant. An MDM Custom App push or another manual installer run remains a fallback, but the next hourly tick will restore the selected version. To hold a manually pushed version, pin it in Client Updates first. Upgrades replace the previous /usr/local/lib/runlayer/aiwatch/ install cleanly, so obsolete modules and version metadata cannot survive an upgrade or rollback. The separate Runlayer CLI installation is preserved. Mid-scan upgrades are safe — a running scan finishes on the old version, and the next LaunchAgent tick picks up the new one. MDM Configuration Profiles are unchanged across version upgrades. Preferences written manually under com.runlayer.aiwatch also remain in place.
If you’ve overridden StartInterval via Custom Script, the upgrade resets it to the bundled default. Re-apply the override script on a recurring schedule.

Uninstall

For full package and hook cleanup guidance, see Remove AI Watch.

Troubleshooting

For deployment diagnostics and common macOS package issues, see Troubleshooting.