Mac Tools by Tom Glander Digital
← Back to Mac Tools
Release preflight for macOS

Your build passed.
Now check what you’re actually shipping.

ShipCheck inspects the finished .app or .dmg you are about to hand to someone else — and gives you a clear release verdict before your users discover the problem first.

Download ShipCheck — Free See what it checks

Native macOS utility · No account · No subscription · Built for independent Mac developers

Clean release

READY TO SHIP.

The artifact survived preflight. The things that matter to distribution are visible in one place before release.

Release stopped

DO NOT SHIP.

A deliberately damaged release exposes the point of ShipCheck: find the ugly problems while they are still yours to fix.

One last check before release

A build can succeed and the thing you distribute can still be wrong.

Signing, notarization, Gatekeeper acceptance, package integrity, embedded-app state, metadata — ShipCheck looks at the release artifact itself, not just the project that produced it.

01 / SIGNATURE

Code signing

Checks the final artifact’s signature and surfaces the identity behind it instead of assuming the build step got it right.

02 / NOTARIZATION

Stapled ticket

Checks whether notarization evidence is attached where macOS expects it, so distribution does not depend on hope.

03 / GATEKEEPER

macOS acceptance

Asks the same security system your user’s Mac will ask and reports the result before the download leaves your hands.

04 / INTEGRITY

DMG integrity

Verifies the disk image itself before treating its contents as trustworthy release material.

05 / CONTENTS

App inside the DMG

A DMG does not get a free pass. ShipCheck also finds and inspects the packaged app inside the image.

06 / IDENTITY

Release metadata

Surfaces the app identity, version, build, executable, and minimum macOS information from the artifact you selected.

Two inputs. One purpose.

Drop the thing you intend to distribute.

ShipCheck automatically identifies what you gave it and runs the appropriate release preflight.

App Check

Inspect a .app directly.

Useful before packaging, after export, or whenever you want to verify the actual application bundle instead of relying on project settings.

DMG Check

Inspect the whole release package.

Checks the disk image and then goes inside it to inspect the packaged application too. The outer container and the app both matter.

Different job

ShipCheck is not another build monitor.

Development
Release artifact
Build tools
Tell you whether the project compiled and built.
Do not guarantee the final package is the thing you meant to ship.
Git / GitHub
Track source, changes, history, and development process.
Do not validate your final distributable artifact.
ShipCheck
Starts after the build is done.
Inspects the app or DMG that is actually leaving your Mac.

GitHub verifies the development process. ShipCheck verifies the release artifact.

Different layer. Different failure modes.
Readable verdicts

No forensic interpretation required.

ShipCheck rolls its findings into a release verdict: READY TO SHIP, REVIEW BEFORE SHIPPING, or DO NOT SHIP. Export Release Evidence when you want a record of exactly what was inspected.

Before somebody else downloads it

Know what you are actually shipping.

Drop in the final app or DMG. Let ShipCheck run the release preflight. Then make the release decision with evidence in front of you.

Download ShipCheck — Free