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Breaking Change: macOS Now Uses ~/.config for XDG Paths

· 4 min read
Erik Osterman
Erik Osterman
Founder @ Cloud Posse

Atmos now follows CLI tool conventions on macOS, using ~/.config, ~/.cache, and ~/.local/share instead of ~/Library/Application Support. This ensures seamless integration with Geodesic and consistency with other DevOps tools.

What Changed​

Starting with this release, Atmos on macOS uses different default paths for XDG Base Directory Specification:

Before:

  • Config: ~/Library/Application Support/atmos/
  • Cache: ~/Library/Caches/atmos/
  • Data: ~/Library/Application Support/atmos/

After:

  • Config: ~/.config/atmos/
  • Cache: ~/.cache/atmos/
  • Data: ~/.local/share/atmos/

Note: This only affects macOS. Linux and Windows paths remain unchanged.

Why This Change?​

The Problem​

When we implemented XDG Base Directory Specification support, we used the github.com/adrg/xdg library which defaults to ~/Library/Application Support on macOS. This follows macOS conventions for GUI applications.

However, this created problems:

  1. Geodesic Incompatibility: Geodesic mounts ~/.config by default, not ~/Library/Application Support
  2. Ecosystem Inconsistency: Other CLI tools (gh, git, packer, stripe, op, kubectl, docker, terraform) all use ~/.config on macOS
  3. Platform Fragmentation: Different paths on Linux vs macOS made cross-platform workflows confusing

CLI Tools vs GUI Applications​

Research into the CLI tool ecosystem revealed a clear pattern:

CLI Tools (command-line only):

  • Use ~/.config, ~/.cache, ~/.local/share on all platforms including macOS
  • Examples: GitHub CLI (gh), HashiCorp Packer, Stripe CLI, 1Password CLI
  • Benefits: Consistent paths across Linux/macOS, works with containerized environments

GUI Applications (native Mac apps):

  • Use ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Caches
  • Provides better macOS system integration
  • Standard for applications in /Applications

Since Atmos is a CLI tool, it should follow CLI conventions, not GUI conventions.

Impact on Users​

Most Users Not Affected​

If you're upgrading from versions prior to v1.195.0, you're not affected because:

  • Old versions used ~/.aws/atmos/ (legacy path)
  • The ~/Library/Application Support path was never released in a stable version

macOS Users Running Unreleased Versions​

If you were using Atmos auth on macOS from the main branch between v1.195.0 and this release:

# Re-login to store credentials in new location
atmos auth login

Option 2: Keep existing location​

# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile
export ATMOS_XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$HOME/Library/Application Support"

Note: This keeps credentials in the old location but affects all Atmos XDG paths (config, cache, data), not just credentials. This may cause issues with Geodesic which expects credentials in ~/.config. We recommend Option 1 (re-login) instead.

Option 3: Move credentials​

if [ -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/atmos" ]; then
    mkdir -p ~/.config
    mv "$HOME/Library/Application Support/atmos" ~/.config/
fi

Benefits​

Seamless Geodesic Integration​

Geodesic automatically mounts these directories:

  • ~/.aws
  • ~/.config ← Atmos credentials now stored here
  • ~/.ssh
  • ~/.kube
  • ~/.terraform.d

Configuration needed for Geodesic users: Geodesic sets system-wide XDG environment variables (XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/etc/xdg_config_home) that need to be overridden. Add to your Geodesic Dockerfile:

# Override Geodesic's system XDG paths to use home directory
ENV ATMOS_XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$HOME/.config
ENV ATMOS_XDG_DATA_HOME=$HOME/.local/share
ENV ATMOS_XDG_CACHE_HOME=$HOME/.cache

This ensures Atmos credentials are stored in mounted directories (~/.config) rather than non-mounted system directories (/etc/xdg_config_home). See Configuring Geodesic for details.

Consistent Cross-Platform Paths​

# Linux
~/.config/atmos/aws/provider/credentials

# macOS (new)
~/.config/atmos/aws/provider/credentials

# Same path on both platforms!

Ecosystem Alignment​

Your ~/.config directory now contains configuration for all your CLI tools:

~/.config/
├── atmos/          # Atmos (now!)
├── gh/             # GitHub CLI
├── git/            # Git
├── packer/         # HashiCorp Packer
├── stripe/         # Stripe CLI
└── op/             # 1Password CLI

Technical Implementation​

We override the adrg/xdg library's macOS defaults using an init() function:

func init() {
    if runtime.GOOS == "darwin" {
        xdg.ConfigHome = filepath.Join(homeDir, ".config")
        xdg.DataHome = filepath.Join(homeDir, ".local", "share")
        xdg.CacheHome = filepath.Join(homeDir, ".cache")
    }
}

This ensures all code in Atmos (even code that directly imports github.com/adrg/xdg) gets CLI tool conventions on macOS.

Documentation Updates​

Migration Support​

If you encounter issues:

  1. Check your current credentials location:

    ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/atmos
    ls -la ~/.config/atmos

  2. Open an issue on GitHub if you need help

References​

This change aligns Atmos with CLI tool best practices and ensures seamless integration with containerized development environments. macOS users now enjoy the same consistent experience as Linux users!