Your apps. One click.
No App Store needed.

A macOS Automator app that downloads popular applications directly from official vendor servers. Open it, edit it, make it yours.

Open source. Fully customizable. Built for Apple Silicon.

v1.0.0 macOS 12.0+ MIT License Apple Silicon
Download (.zip) View on GitHub
⚠️

Third-Party Software Disclaimer

This tool downloads applications directly from official vendor servers. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the software vendors. All trademarks belong to their respective owners. You are responsible for reviewing license agreements of any software you download. See the full disclaimer for details.

How to Use

Three commands. That's it.

Option A

Automator App (Recommended)

Build the app, double-click to run. Right-click to edit in Automator.

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/DJCastle/nonappstoreappsdownload.git
cd nonappstoreappsdownload

# Build the Automator app
./build-automator-app.sh

# Run it
open "Download Apps.app"
Option B

Shell Script

Prefer the terminal? Run the script directly.

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/DJCastle/nonappstoreappsdownload.git
cd nonappstoreappsdownload

# Run the download script
./download-apps.sh

Default Apps

Included out of the box. All downloaded from official vendor servers.

Application Source Format
Bambu Studio GitHub Releases (latest) .dmg
Brave Browser brave.com .dmg
Google Chrome google.com .dmg
ChatGPT Desktop openai.com .dmg
Grammarly Desktop grammarly.com .dmg
Visual Studio Code code.visualstudio.com .zip

Make It Yours

The whole point is to add your own apps. Here's how.

⚙️

Edit in Automator

Right-click Download Apps.app, choose Open With → Automator. You'll see the shell script with all the URLs. Add or remove lines and save.

📝

Edit the Build Script

Open build-automator-app.sh in any text editor. Find the APP LIST section, add your download lines, and rebuild with ./build-automator-app.sh.

💻

Edit the Shell Script

Edit download-apps.sh directly. Add a new line following the format: download "Name" "URL" "file.dmg". Run it from Terminal.

Each download is a single line:

download "App Name" "https://example.com/app.dmg" "FileName.dmg"

Find the direct download URL from the app's official website, add the line, and you're done.

How It Works

Simple by design.

⬇️

Direct Downloads

Every app is downloaded directly from the official vendor's servers. No middlemen, no mirrors, no package managers.

📂

Saved to Desktop

All files land on your Desktop. Open .dmg files to install, or unzip .zip files to get the .app.

🔒

Gatekeeper Verified

macOS Gatekeeper automatically verifies the code signature of every downloaded app before it runs.

🛠️

Built on Automator

Uses Apple's built-in Automator. No dependencies, no compiling, no Xcode. Just a shell script in an Automator wrapper.

💬

Completion Dialog

Shows a macOS dialog when all downloads finish with the option to open your Desktop and see the files.

🌀

Open Source

MIT licensed. Read every line. Fork it, customize it, share it. The code is yours.

Requirements

What you need to run this tool.

●
macOS 12.0 (Monterey) or later — Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
●
Internet connection — to download from vendor servers
●
Terminal access — only for building the Automator app (one command)

About

Non App Store Apps Download is part of CodeCraftedApps, an independent developer's collection of apps, tools, and open-source projects. Built to solve a simple problem: getting your essential apps onto a new Mac quickly.

No account needed. No package manager required. Just the apps you want, downloaded from where they come from. Fork it and make it your own.