What does it mean when a software update needs to "send apple events"?

Question

I've recently upgraded macOS from some 4 year old version of macOS 10 to Sonoma 14.7.2.

I then installed a new version of Sublime Text, which frequently asks me to download the latest update. After clicking "download" and then clicking "install", a macOS message box opens warning me of Sublime Text's intention to access Finder and send "apple events".

I think that software updates will need to access Finder, but I've never before heard of sending apple events and I don't know what that means. Do the "events" refer to accessing Finder only, or does it refer to contacting the Apple corporation, or something else?

"Sublime Text.app" wants access to control "Finder.app". Allowing control will provide access to documents and data in "Finder.app", and to perform actions within that app.

A program run by Sublime Text requires sending apple events

Alas, I see too late that there is a "?" button on the top right, but an answer here will reach other readers as well, so I'll keep this question here.

"Sublime Text.app" wants access to control "Finder.app". Allowing control will provide access to documents and data in "Finder.app", and to perform actions within that app. A program run by Sublime Text requires sending apple events

Answer 1

This dialog gets informed consent before one application wishes to send control and commands to another. The tricky part is part of this is filled in by the OS and the last sentence about "apple events" comes from the developer. Many might look at Apple not being capitalized with side eye.

This looks to be a proper, unworrisome notice to me where one third party missed a capital A in an otherwise proper notification. It's good you questioned this security step intended by Apple to alert you of a cross-application control situation being enabled after you upgraded your OS.

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To a large extent, it covers the three items enumerated:

• read data and documents
• perform actions as if you initiated them (automation and script style)

The term Apple event is a formal inter-process communication that happens entirely on your computer. Here is a place to read more is the script editor user guide: https://support.apple.com/guide/script-editor/welcome/2.11/mac/15.2

Basically an event is a call - Tell finder to open, select the contents of the first window, set a variable to be the name of a file, etc... Each of those is an "event" so the applications can coordinate actions.

• Janus Bahs Jacquet: Any idea why it’s written in lowercase in the pop-up? I’ve never seen Apple write their brand name in lowercase like that before. (I mean, perhaps back when their logo included a lowercase version of the word, but not in recent times.)
• bmike: It certainly doesn’t follow the current style guide, @JanusBahsJacquet . The word event should be lower case per my understanding but not Apple.
• Janus Bahs Jacquet: It seems you’re quite right: "Capitalize the names of Apple events (but not the word event)". How odd – this is the kind of sloppiness that makes one suspect a non-genuine origin.
• rysch: Only the title of this pop-up is provided by Apple. The smaller text at the bottom of the pop-up is provided by the developer as an explanation of why their application is requesting the permission. It must be supplied by the developer in the NSAppleEventsUsageDescription entry in the application's Info.plist.
• bmike: Thank you all for the excellent comments and links and raising the issue so clearly.