Can I install or update Mac App Store apps through a command line using terminal?

Question

Is there an official way provided by Apple or a workaround so that I can install or update Mac App Store apps through Terminal?

Answer 1

there is a commandline app called softwareupdate that you have to run as root.

sudo softwareupdate --list for example will give you the list of apps that are set to update. You can then run sudo softwareupdate --install {app-name}

This won't let you install a new application that you haven't already downloaded though.

Answer 2

No. You can package an already downloaded application and distribute it internally using many tools (Casper Suite, sftp, rsync, etc...) and side load these apps. You do need to use the GUI to get the first copy of the application, however. So, if you already have the app, you can file share it over, but you can't get the App updated or installed solely from the terminal.

At present, the command line can only list software updates that come through the App Store the same as the previous Software Update server was used to download system updates and updates to apps that came on physical media. Terminal is not able to update apps that were bought electronically through the Mac App Store.