plist

plist.js

Apple property list parser/builder for Node.js and browsers. Supports XML, binary (bplist00), and OpenStep formats.

Try it in the browser →

Features

• Parse XML, binary, and OpenStep plists — format is auto-detected
• Build XML and binary plists from JavaScript objects
• TypeScript — written in TypeScript with full type declarations
• Browser-optimized — uses native DOMParser in browsers (zero dependencies)
• Lightweight — ~4 KB gzipped in the browser

Install

npm install plist

Quick Start

import { parse, build } from 'plist';

// Parse any plist format (auto-detected)
const obj = parse('<plist version="1.0"><string>Hello!</string></plist>');
console.log(obj); // "Hello!"

// Build an XML plist from a JS object
const xml = build({ name: 'My App', version: 42 });
console.log(xml);

Parsing

XML Plists

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
import { parse } from 'plist';

const xml = readFileSync('Info.plist', 'utf8');
const obj = parse(xml);

Binary Plists

Binary plists (bplist00) are auto-detected when passed as a Uint8Array or ArrayBuffer. You can also use parseBinary() directly:

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
import { parse, parseBinary } from 'plist';

// Auto-detected from binary data
const buf = readFileSync('Info.plist');
const obj = parse(new Uint8Array(buf));

// Or use parseBinary() directly
const obj2 = parseBinary(new Uint8Array(buf));

OpenStep Plists

The old-style ASCII format (used by defaults read on macOS) is auto-detected when the input starts with { or (:

import { parse, parseOpenStep } from 'plist';

// Auto-detected
const obj = parse('{ CFBundleName = "My App"; CFBundleVersion = 42; }');

// Or use parseOpenStep() directly
const obj2 = parseOpenStep('( item1, item2, item3 )');

Building

XML Output

import { build } from 'plist';

const xml = build({
  CFBundleName: 'My App',
  CFBundleVersion: '1.0',
  LSRequiresIPhoneOS: true,
  UISupportedInterfaceOrientations: [
    'UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait',
    'UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft',
  ],
});

Output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>CFBundleName</key>
    <string>My App</string>
    <key>CFBundleVersion</key>
    <string>1.0</string>
    <key>LSRequiresIPhoneOS</key>
    <true/>
    <key>UISupportedInterfaceOrientations</key>
    <array>
      <string>UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait</string>
      <string>UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft</string>
    </array>
  </dict>
</plist>

Binary Output

import { writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
import { buildBinary } from 'plist';

const data = buildBinary({
  CFBundleName: 'My App',
  CFBundleVersion: '1.0',
});

writeFileSync('Info.plist', data);

Type Mapping

Plist Type	JavaScript Type
<string>	string
<integer>	number
<real>	number
<true/> / <false/>	boolean
<date>	Date
<data>	Uint8Array
<array>	Array
<dict>	Object

Browser Usage

In bundled applications (Vite, webpack, etc.), just import normally — the browser-optimized build is selected automatically via conditional exports:

import { parse, build } from 'plist';

The browser build uses native DOMParser and string-based XML building, so @xmldom/xmldom and xmlbuilder are not included in the bundle.

Try the interactive playground →

API

parse(input)

Parse a plist. Format is auto-detected.

• input: string | Uint8Array | ArrayBuffer
• returns: PlistValue

parseBinary(data)

Parse a binary plist (bplist00).

• data: Uint8Array
• returns: PlistValue

parseOpenStep(input)

Parse an OpenStep/ASCII plist.

• input: string
• returns: PlistValue

build(obj, opts?)

Build an XML plist string.

• obj: PlistValue
• opts.pretty: boolean (default: true) — pretty-print with indentation
• opts.indent: string (default: " ") — indentation string
• opts.newline: string (default: "\n") — newline string
• returns: string

buildBinary(obj)

Build a binary plist (bplist00).

• obj: PlistValue
• returns: Uint8Array

PlistValue

type PlistValue =
  | string
  | number
  | boolean
  | Date
  | Uint8Array
  | PlistValue[]
  | { [key: string]: PlistValue }
  | null;

License

MIT

Similar packages

Other packages similar to plist

simple-plist

simple-plist is another npm package that provides similar functionality to plist. It allows for reading and writing plist files. Compared to plist, simple-plist may offer a simpler API and potentially fewer features, focusing on basic plist operations.

bplist-parser

bplist-parser is a package specifically designed to parse binary plist files. While plist handles both XML and binary formats, bplist-parser is optimized for binary plists, which might make it faster or more efficient for that specific use case.