cfprefsd:tldr:7d580

The "cfprefsd" command is a process that is related to the preferences system of macOS (formerly Mac OS X) operating systems. It stands for Core Foundation Preferences Daemon.

In macOS, application preferences are typically stored in property list (plist) files. These files contain information about application settings, configurations, and user preferences. The cfprefsd process is responsible for managing and caching these preference files.

When an application needs to read or write preferences, it communicates with the cfprefsd process instead of directly accessing the plist files. This helps improve the performance and efficiency of preference handling.

The cfprefsd process caches the preferences data, making it readily available to applications. It also handles synchronization of the preferences files across multiple instances of the same application or in a multi-user environment.

By using cfprefsd, macOS reduces the need for applications to constantly read and write preferences files from disk, improving overall system performance.