macwifi

Wi-Fi scanning and Keychain password access for Go programs on macOS 13+.

The problem

macOS 14.4 removed /usr/libexec/airport, the CLI tool that backed almost every script and library that wanted to enumerate nearby Wi-Fi networks or get the BSSID, RSSI, and channel of the current connection.

Its replacement, wdutil info, requires sudo and returns BSSID : <redacted> for every entry. networksetup and ioreg don’t expose nearby networks at all.

The Apple-recommended path is the CoreWLAN framework, but scanForNetworks only returns real BSSIDs to apps that are signed with a stable Developer ID and have been granted Location Services permission. Apple’s Developer Technical Support team has confirmed on the developer forums that scripts and launchd daemons can’t satisfy these requirements:

I recommend that you try this with native code built in to a native app. TCC, the subsystem within macOS that manages the privileges visible in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy, doesn’t work well for scripts.

The Go libraries that previously did this — schollz/wifiscan, jarethdisley/wifiscanparser, and several others — parse airport output. None of them work on Sonoma 14.4 or later.

What macwifi does

macwifi is a Go package that embeds a Developer-ID-signed, notarized Swift helper bundle. Your Go binary spawns the helper on first use to trigger the macOS Location Services prompt; subsequent calls reuse the same helper process.

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"

    "github.com/jaisonerick/macwifi"
)

func main() {
    nets, err := macwifi.Scan(context.Background())
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    for _, n := range nets {
        fmt.Printf("%-32s %s  %d dBm  ch %d\n",
            n.SSID, n.BSSID, n.RSSI, n.Channel)
    }
}

The package returns rich metadata — SSID, BSSID, RSSI, noise floor, channel number, channel band (2.4/5/6 GHz), channel width, security mode, PHY mode, and current/saved flags. There’s also macwifi.Password(ctx, ssid) for reading saved Wi-Fi passwords from the Keychain after the user approves the system prompt.

Install

go get github.com/jaisonerick/macwifi

Requirements: macOS 13 or newer on Apple Silicon, Go 1.26+.

Just want a CLI?

If you don’t need a Go API and just want a working airport -s replacement on the terminal, install macwifi-cli:

brew install jaisonerick/tap/macwifi-cli

macwifi-cli scan
macwifi-cli info
macwifi-cli password "MyHomeWiFi"

What’s next

Getting started — full setup, Location Services dance, troubleshooting, and a longer worked example.
How it works — what the embedded helper does, why it exists, and the protocol it speaks back to Go.

Scope

macwifi is a macOS-only Go library. It is not a cross-platform abstraction, a packet capture library, a background daemon, or a workaround for macOS privacy controls. Location Services and Keychain prompts still go through the user, every time.