What is “com.github.squirrel” on the Mac?

If you’re a Mac user who watches system resource use by keeping an eye on Activity Monitor, htop, top, or any other monitor of deeper system processes, you may have seen a process called “com.github.squirrel” and wondered what it is, and perhaps even wondered if it’s bad. Is it dangerous or malware? github.squirrel has a funny name, so is it a legitimate process? What is it and what is it doing? Let’s clear up what com.github.squirrel is.

What exactly is com.github.squirrel and what is it associated with?

com.github.squirrel belongs to something called Squirrel, a framework that makes application be able to update in the background.

Many apps use Squirrel, so you might see com.github.squirrel running as a result of another application that could be running or updating in the background. Apps that use Squirrel include many Electron apps, Slack, Github, Visual Studio Code, and many others.

Squirrel is a legimate app updating framework for Mac and you can learn more about it at the Squirrel project homepage on github

Is com.github.squirrel dangerous or malware?

No.

com.github.squirrel is not malware, it’s not a virus, it is not spyware, or anything malicious. com.github.squirrel is part of the Squirrel framework, a legitimate open source framework that allows applications to self-update in the background.

So what does com.github.squirrel do?

Most likely if you see com.github.squirrel running in the background on your Mac, via Activity Monitor, htop, or another process monitoring application, that means another one of your apps is self updating. This could include pushing updates to the app, verifying and installing updates quietly in the background, and keeping apps current without you having to manually update the app yourself.

Again, many apps use the Squirrel framework, and many apps engage in self-updating in general, some with their own auto-update processes like the Microsfot AutoUpdate tool, which is basically Microsofts proprietary version of what Squirrel does.

What should I do if I see com.github.squirrel running?

If you see Squirrel running as com.github.squirrel, it’s likely that one of your other apps is installing an update, which is normal and expected behavior. Leave it alone, it won’t run forever. You can just let this process run on its own and it will eventually stop when whatever the associated app is, has finished updating.

Alternatively, you can also kill the process which isn’t particularly harmful either, except when you open the app that was trying to update, it will not have updated to the latest available version.

Have you seen com.github.squirrel running or had any interesting experiences with it? Share with us in the comments.