What is MCPAppleScript copilot-instructions.md?

A set of project instructions for building and testing MCP-AppleScript, a tool that lets software control macOS applications through AppleScript. It describes the TypeScript project structure, commands, data flow, and test options.

Use it when modifying MCP-AppleScript to install dependencies, build or package it, run unit and integration tests, lint and format code, or understand its adapters, policies, and AppleScript execution flow.

It gives a coding assistant the repository’s expected build, test, formatting, and packaging commands instead of leaving those conventions implicit. It also documents the path from an MCP request to a macOS application action.

How frouaix/MCPAppleScript configures GitHub Copilot

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to frouaix/MCPAppleScript. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/frouaix/MCPAppleScript/main/.github/copilot-instructions.md

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/frouaix/MCPAppleScript

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/frouaix/mcpapplescript/copilot-instructions/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/frouaix/mcpapplescript/copilot-instructions)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/frouaix/mcpapplescript/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/frouaix/mcpapplescript/copilot-instructions/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/frouaix/mcpapplescript/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/frouaix/mcpapplescript/copilot-instructions.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 1,108 This file is loaded in full into every session.

When invoked 1,108 The same file — it is already loaded in full.

Security scan A 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.01108	$0.01108
Opus 5.5	$0.00443	$0.00443
Sonnet 5.5	$0.00222	$0.00222
Haiku 4.5	$0.00111	$0.00111

Measured 2mo ago against content hash 4fb8e9f0d364, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

MCPAppleScript copilot-instructions.md scanned grade A with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2mo ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Runs shell commandslowCapability

Expected in a hook, worth knowing in a rule or an instructions file.

The executor uses `child_process.execFile('osascript', ['-e', script])` — no shell involved. Error classification maps osascript stderr patterns to error codes:

.github/copilot-instructions.md · 93 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 93 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

MCP-AppleScript — Copilot Instructions

Build & Test Commands

pnpm install                    # Install all dependencies
pnpm build                      # Build TypeScript
pnpm test:unit                  # ~150 TypeScript unit tests
pnpm test:integration           # Integration tests (requires macOS + TCC permissions)
pnpm lint                       # ESLint
pnpm format                     # Prettier

# Single test file
cd packages/mcp-server && npx tsx --test test/unit/policy.test.ts

# Standalone binary
pnpm build:sea                  # Node.js SEA binary
pnpm build:dmg                  # Package as .dmg

Architecture

Single-process TypeScript architecture using osascript for AppleScript execution:

MCP Client → TypeScript MCP Server → osascript → macOS Apps (via Apple Events)
               (protocol, policy,     (CLI tool)
                adapters, templates)

Transports: stdio (default) or Streamable HTTP (--http flag).

Data flow for a tool call: MCP request → Zod validation → policy check → mode gate → ResourceAdapter maps to {templateId, parameters} → TypeScript template builder generates AppleScript → executed via osascript → JSON result returned.

ResourceAdapter Pattern

The core abstraction. Each of the 10 Apple apps has a TypeScript adapter (packages/mcp-server/src/adapters/) and a TypeScript template module (packages/mcp-server/src/templates/{app}.ts).

The adapter maps generic CRUD operations (list, get, search, create, update, delete, action) to {templateId, parameters} pairs. The template dispatcher routes by template ID prefix (e.g. notes.create_note → notes.build()).

Apps that don't support an operation throw UnsupportedOperationError.

Three Operation Modes

Modes are cumulative and configurable via config.modes. Tool-to-mode mapping can be overridden to promote/restrict tools.

readonly (default): ping, get_mode, set_mode, app.list_containers, app.list, app.get, app.search
create: + app.create, app.action, applescript.run_template
full: + app.update, app.delete, applescript.run_script (all require user confirmation via MCP elicitation or confirmation token)

Read the full file on GitHub · 93 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

2mo ago First seen · 93 lines · 1,108 tokens per session scan A 4fb8e9f0d364

Subscribe to this mod's changes

MCPAppleScript copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository frouaix/MCPAppleScript (1 stars, last pushed 6mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 1,108 tokens to every session, about $0.0044 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 1 finding (runs shell commands). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

MCPAppleScript copilot-instructions.md next to 6 instructions from other repositories
Mod	Type	Stars	Last push	Licence	Scan	Tokens	Works with
MCPAppleScript copilot-instructions.mdfrouaix/MCPAppleScript	Instructions file	1	6mo ago	MIT	A	1,108	GitHub Copilot
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vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode	Instructions file	195k	yesterday	MIT	A	5,516	GitHub Copilot
vscode copilot-instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode	Instructions file	195k	yesterday	MIT	A	3,093	GitHub Copilot
deepseek-harness AGENTS.mddeepseek-ai/deepseek-harness	Instructions file	274k	2d ago	MIT	A	4,313	Codex, OpenCode

MCPAppleScript: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot