The best way to get started with App Auto-Patch is to test it locally via command line. This allows you to try different options and view the log as the workflow is running and enable debug-mode to prevent any app updates from occuring

Testing App Auto-Patch Locally

1. Download the main version of AAP from the releases page
2. Give the downloaded AAP script file the appropriate execute permissions: sudo chmod a+x ~/Downloads/App-Auto-Patch-via-Dialog.zsh
3. APP must run with root permissions, and the debug mode is enabled with the --debug-mode option: sudo ~/Downloads/App-Auto-Patch-via-Dialog.zsh --debug-mode
4. The AAP script automatically installs itself and necessary components anytime it's ran from outside the working folder /Library/Management/AppAutoPatch/
5. After AAP installs itself, it automatically starts the workflow in debug mode and the dialog for analyzing applications should appear.
6. Once installed, you can use AAP like any other built-in command line tool. To test a workflow again or try other options, simply start with sudo appautopatch followed by any other options in the Terminal.

Getting Started Tips

• When AAP runs it maintains a settings file similar to a regular application. For example, you only need to use the --debug-mode option once. After that, every time you run sudo appautopatch it remains in debug-mode until you disable it via the --debug-mode-off option
• If you need to test deferral options or dialog changes, you can use the --workflow-disable-app-discovery trigger in addition to the --debug-mode trigger to skip a lengthy discovery phase and test the rest of the workflow.
• You can list all possibly AAP options by using the appautopatch --usage option. You can also open your default browser to this wiki by using the appautopatch --help
• If you want to disable AAP without uninstalling it use sudo appautopatch --workflow-disable-relaunch --reset-defaults in the Terminal.
• If you want to uninstall AAP you can do so by running sudo appautopatch --uninstall.