Wi-Fi CLI MacOS

Wi-Fi CLI MacOS

2018 – PresentSee live
Steve on X

WiFi CLI is wifi, a command line tool for everything you'd otherwise click through macOS's settings for: listing and joining networks, forgetting them, looking up saved passwords, changing DNS, IP, router and MAC address, showing a QR code to share a network, and running a speed test.

I first published it in 2018. It's on npm and my Homebrew tap, and has 21 stars on GitHub.

Wi-Fi CLI MacOS

Rebuilt in Swift when Apple pulled the rug

It was built on airport, a command line tool Apple shipped for years, until they removed it. Newer macOS also won't reveal network names to any app without location permission, which a command line tool can't ask for. So I rewrote it around a small Swift helper using CoreWLAN, CoreLocation and CoreBluetooth, which the installer compiles into a hidden app, signs with the right entitlements and grants location access in the background, so wifi works like it always did.

What it does

  • Lists networks with their band, security and signal, and finds Personal Hotspots over Bluetooth

  • Searchable, interactive prompts to connect and forget

  • Saved passwords from the Keychain, and QR codes to share them

  • DNS presets like wifi dns cloudflare, and MAC spoofing

  • Experimental Linux support