Macos Widget Reinstall

macOS Widget Reinstall

Use the macOS widget editor to replace a stale widget. The rendered widget is the acceptance surface: a successful build or host-app update does not prove that WidgetKit is displaying current data.

Workflow

1. Capture the current widget and record what is stale or missing.
2. Open Notification Center from the system bar. If Computer Use cannot access the system-bar control, ask the user to open it; do not guess coordinates.
3. Click Edit Widgets. Once the editor is visible, target com.apple.notificationcenterui with Computer Use.
4. Remove old instances: right-click each matching widget and select Remove Widget. If a desktop widget is not exposed through accessibility, have the user open its context menu, then select the visible removal action.
5. In the gallery, search for the widget or host-app name, choose the intended size, and drag it to the desktop or Notification Center.
6. Exit editing and capture the rendered widget. Compare it with the expected current data; a gallery preview alone is not proof of a live update.

Deterministic extension registration

Prefer the repository's canonical installer when it owns this sequence. If none exists, stop the host and wait for exit; unregister installed, source, and DerivedData copies; poll pluginkit until no registration remains; then install and register only the canonical /Applications extension. Poll until exactly one canonical path remains, compare built and installed widget binaries and signatures, then launch the host.

pluginkit -r and -a settle asynchronously. Registering before removal finishes can remove the new registration later; unregistering a byte-identical source copy after canonical registration can also unregister the canonical identity. Canonical registration must therefore be last.

When to reinstall (vs reload)

Reinstall after shared-schema or widget-UI changes when the desktop instance still shows the previous layout or fields. WidgetCenter.reloadTimelines, killing WidgetKit Extension / chronod, or bumping the build number may help but are not reliable acceptance by themselves — remove and re-add, then capture the live desktop widget.

Cache boundary

If a re-added widget still shows sample or old content, report widget_cache_not_refreshed. Verify the host and widget share the same data source, then investigate extension registration and timeline refresh separately. Check for duplicate pluginkit registrations and non-canonical install paths; a marketing or build-number bump alone is not proof the system loaded the corrected extension. Do not claim a cache-clearing fix without visible proof.

Before treating two gallery entries as duplicate local apps, distinguish the native Mac extension from a Continuity iPhone widget provider. Confirm each provider's bundle identifier and source in WidgetKit/Chrono metadata; one canonical Mac provider plus one identified remote iOS provider is not stale registration. Remove or disable a remote provider only when the user explicitly wants iPhone widgets hidden.

If a full-screen capture is black or inaccessible, enumerate WindowServer windows, select the exact Notification Center window for the widget, and capture that window by ID. Re-resolve the ID each time; the rendered widget remains the acceptance surface.