Field Report: CDS File Sync (app) on macOS
Hey,
So yesterday I was poking around with CDS File Sync (app) from [OrchardKit] and ran into a classic macOS hiccup. I wanted to get a few directories synced between my M1 MacBook Pro running macOS 13.5 and an external SSD. Simple task, right? Well, apparently, the app had other plans.
The first attempt was straightforward: download, drag into Applications, double-click. Instantly, macOS popped up that familiar “can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer” warning. My first instinct was to try right-click → Open, but even then, I got bounced back with Gatekeeper refusing to launch. Tried fiddling with System Preferences → Security & Privacy → “Allow Anyway” — nada. The app would crash immediately on launch, no logs, nothing.
After some digging, I realized this was more of a notarization and permissions problem than a real bug in the app. The app wasn’t notarized properly for the latest macOS 13.5, and being on M1 added the usual quirks. My next step was to check Apple’s Gatekeeper documentation to see how to bypass this safely. It confirmed that using xattr -cr and spctl --master-disable in Terminal could allow unsigned apps to run — not ideal, but a valid workaround.
So I did a controlled approach:
- Open Terminal, ran:
bash
xattr -cr /Applications/CDS\ File\ Sync.app
2. Verified the quarantine attribute was cleared.
3. Then tried a simple right-click → Open again.
This time, the app launched. But hold on, syncing still failed. No errors in logs, just spinning wheels. At first, I thought it was the app, but then I checked OrchardKit’s official docs — and I found a tiny but critical note: the app needs Full Disk Access for any external drives. I had completely overlooked that.
So I went to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → added CDS File Sync, restarted the app, and boom: it recognized my SSD, started indexing, and syncing went through flawlessly. I even bookmarked this page because it was helpful for clarifying all the macOS permissions quirks.
A few micro-details worth mentioning: the indexing was a bit slow on my M1 when the SSD had a huge number of small files, and the app temporarily spiked CPU usage — nothing critical, just normal for syncing apps. After a minute, everything settled.
In hindsight, here’s what I’d do straight away next time:
- Check notarization / Gatekeeper warnings first.
- Clear quarantine attributes via
xattrif needed. - Give Full Disk Access upfront.
- Restart the app after permissions changes.
For reference, the App Store link can help if you want a sandboxed version, and for developer details, OrchardKit’s documentation is solid. Also, Apple’s developer notes on notarization are worth keeping in mind if you’re managing any third-party apps on macOS.
So yeah, lesson learned: macOS is protective for a reason, but once you understand Gatekeeper, notarization, and the permissions landscape, running unsigned apps isn’t that painful. CDS File Sync is solid once it’s allowed through the security hoops.
Next time I’ll do this in one go instead of chasing Gatekeeper like a cat after a laser pointer.