Just updated the Unity Version Control(formerly PlasticSCM) desktop app for macOS Tahoe(26.5) to 11.0.16.10181(link to release notes)
Upon updating and the app is relaunching for the first time, I get this prompt.
Is this normal? I am wary granting system level privileges to an unknown behavior. I assume this has to deal with the new unityvcstray agent mentioned in the release notes? Some new functionality with PlasticFS + Cloud Drive?
The dock icon of the app requesting permissions matches the icon of Unity VCS Tray.app under PlasticSCM.app/Contents/Applications. But when I relaunch that, it doesn’t prompt for the same permission again.
It is a different icon than the PlasticSCM one.
Would like to get some clarity from staff on the behavior with permissions, thanks! And whether or not any new permissions apply in some way to Windows as well.
Hi there, yes, the behavior is completely normal. The prompt you are seeing is a standard macOS security feature responding to the new unified desktop agent introduced in this update.
In version 11.0.16.10181, PlasticFS and Cloud Drive were unified into a single background desktop agent called unityvcstray (Unity VCS Tray). Since the new unityvcstray agent operates in the background to handle your virtual file systems, it requires this permission during its initial setup.
Once you select “Allow” or “Don’t Allow” on a macOS permission prompt, the operating system saves your preference. You can view or change that preference by going to your Mac’s System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation. Because your choice is remembered by the OS, relaunching the Unity VCS Tray.app manually will not trigger the prompt a second time.
whether or not any new permissions apply in some way to Windows as well.
You will not see an equivalent prompt on Windows. While the transition to the unified unityvcstray agent applies to the Windows app as well, Windows uses a different security model for background services and system tray apps. The necessary privileges to run background agents or virtual file system drivers (like the Dokan driver used for PlasticFS) are typically granted during the installer phase via a UAC (User Account Control) elevation, rather than through a runtime “Automation” prompt like on macOS.
Thanks for clearing that up! I’ll make sure to enable that permission in System Settings.
Since this sounds like a pretty essential setting for functionality, I assume the new background agent will fail to perform certain functions if not granted those permissions. Are there any plans for additional measures if one declines them and forgets to enable it later? Some sort of permissions check and prompt on launch perhaps? Maybe a permissions section in settings either in Plastic or Unity Hub down the road would be nice.
Example from Thaw menu bar app:
Might also be a good idea to document the new behavior under a help page to help others with troubleshooting. Just a few suggestions!
Thanks for the feedback! Let me clarify one point from the previous explanation.
The permission is requested because we run AppleScript code to register Unity VCS Tray to launch at startup on macOS (login item setup).
So the prompt is tied to startup registration behavior, not specifically to PlasticFS/Cloud Drive operations themselves.
If permission is denied, the main impact is that the tray/background app may not be automatically registered to start on login.
We also agree the prompt/wording is not clear enough right now, and we’ll work on improving the in-app messaging/documentation so it explains more explicitly why this permission is requested.
Thanks!
Thanks for clarifying! So as I understand it, since the permission is requested only to register the tray agent for login item setup and not for routine functionality, it is safe to disable the permission afterwards?
I also took a look under Login Items settings in System Settings and after launching the tray agent manually I do see it under my login items. My assumption is that adding it here manually to my login items list is the same behavior as the AppleScript code? Could be helpful to know for troubleshooting.
Hi there,
This will be fixed in the next UVCS / Plastic SCM release. Stay tuned!
Thanks and apologies for the inconvenience
Hi! Just tested some edge cases with the update(11.0.16.10255).
I see that under ~/Library/LaunchAgents we have a new com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray plist item. I went to System Settings->General->Login Items & Extensions and removed the Unity VCS Tray.app entry that was added from the previous behavior & disabled the System Events.app automation for PlasticSCM.app. Confirmed plist still remains at ~/Library/LaunchAgents and I restarted my Mac. On login, I did not see the tray launch into the menu bar and the plist is untouched in its folder.
I can confirm that /Applications/PlasticSCM.app/Contents/Applications/Unity VCS Tray.app still launches manually fine. I can also drag that app from Finder into the Login Items & Extensions panel from earlier and it adds it back like before the update and restarting the system does launch it on login.
In summary,
Before update: System Events.app automation adds Unity VCS Tray.app login item. Tray app launches on login.
After update: new LaunchAgent plist, old login item still there. Removing said login item and restarting system does not launch tray app on login. Testing by adding back tray app works.
Could the new plist be bugged somehow on my system? I have not tried a re-install of Plastic but wanted to raise this to you.
Hi there,
First of all, thanks for time on reporting this! We truly appreciate your feedback, and apologies for the inconvenience.
Having said that, we have been playing with this on macOS Tahoe 26.2, and we haven’t found any case where having the LaunchAgent file on the proper user’s Library/LaunchAgent folder does not cause the Tray app to be opened in that user’s next login 
Instead, we detected some other border cases we try to improve ASAP on any upcoming UVCS release. Honestly the change we did was not covering the case of an user manually removing the Unity VCS Tray.app login item through previously accepted System Events.app prompt, but it is now clear we should consider this case too.
In any case, I would recommend to do the following, now you have installed the 11.0.16.10255 version:
- Quit the
Unity VCS Tray app
- Remove the
$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray.plist file
- Remove the
Unity VCS Tray.app from Login Items & Extensions
- Manually start the Unity VCS Tray app (
open /Applications/PlasticSCM.app/Contents/Applications/Unity VCS Tray.app) → the $HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray.plist should be recreated, and a reboot will cause the user’s login to load and start the tray app.
Also, please let me know which macOS version are you running.
Thanks again and apologies.
Thanks for the followup! I did the recommended steps as noted. The com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray.plist did indeed get recreated on tray app launch. However, a reboot did not start the tray app on login. Any suggestions? I am up to date on macOS 26.5.2 as of today.
Hi there,
We published yesterday a new UVCS version 11.0.16.10275 .
It comes with an improvement/bugfix related to this topic:
If you added the “Unity VCS Tray” as a “login item”, maybe you can try to remove it from the “Login Items & Extensions” and try installing this new version “11.0.16.10275” and reboot.
However, I tried to reproduce your problem without any luck
So if the .plist file recreation after installing version “11.0.16.10275” still does not cause the “Unity VCS Tray” to startup at user login, maybe the quickest workaround for you is to add the “Unity VCS Tray” manually as a “login item”, so it appears again in the “Login Items & Extensions” preferences.
Otherwise, please let me know the output of this command by running it after log-in in your macOS and open a terminal from the desktop session:
launchctl print gui/$(id -u)/com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray
And
launchctl list | grep codicesoftware
And, potential outcome by launching the command the .plist would trigger by hand:
open "/Applications/PlasticSCM.app/Contents/Applications/Unity VCS Tray.app"
Here are the initial results of the two launchctl commands while I continue to test things:
- launchctl print gui/$(id -u)/com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray
Bad request.
Could not find service “com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray” in domain for user gui: 501
- launchctl list | grep codicesoftware
20371 0 application.com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray.362094584.362094604
Launched tray app. Reboot. No Login entry, plist still present at ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.codicesoftware.unityvcstray.plist. Still no launch on login
I will continue with having the Login entry for now as a workaround.
Contents of plist:
